John Kotre's How Memory Speaks describes memory as: "A scene we experience for a moment-and only once-remains clear in our minds for a lifetime, yet we forget the looks of things we see and touch almost every day." There is a scene that exists for every memory in the mind. Also existing with each are parallel meanings of these settings when they are thought of literally and also collectively with the thoughts of memories. In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the chapters are separated by the evolutions of seasons. These conjugate the moods that are brought about within the text of the characters, but a certain irony as well. John Kotre speaks of the remembrance of people's lives and what they remember best. His argument is that we remember things most important, most influential, and what is loved most. The readings of William Carlos" The Widow's Lament in Springtime and A. E. Housman's To an Athlete Dying Young show the different strong holds memories posses and a greater remembrance through diction, tone, and mood exemplified by the author through characters. Authors often attempt to write through their characters what they remember most and is evident in the characters Pecola, the Widow, and the narrator of To an Athlete Dying Young.
Memory plays a crucial role in the major themes of The Bluest Eye. It is through Pecola's childhood memories that her life is formed. Pecola provides an extended depiction through her ideals of the ways in which internalized white beauty standards deform the lives of blacks, especially black women, in Toni Morrison's .
The Bluest Eye. Her implicit messages, that whiteness is superior, are everywhere, including the white baby doll given to Claudia, the idealization of Shirley Temple, the consensus that light-skinned Maureen is cuter than the other black girls, the idealization of white beauty in the movies, and Pauline Breedlove's preference for the little white girl she works for over her daughter.
