The Bluest Eye

So What?

Characters-

• Pecola Breedlove- The protagonist of the novel, who is black and believes she is ugly and that having blue eyes would make her beautiful, like Shirley Temple. She endures the abuse of everyone around her including her family and other children and she is raped by her own father. She is fragile and innocent when the novel begins but is completely destroyed by violence in the end of the novel.
• Cholly Breedlove- Pecola's father and Pauline's husband. He is very violent towards the women in his life and rapes Pecola because he doesn't know another way to show affection. He was left by both his father and mother and raised by an aunt. As a child he was humiliated by many people, including two white men and his own father.
• Pauline Breedlove- Pecola's mother who also believes she is ugly and this makes her cold and lonely. She has a crippled foot and can be as violent as her husband. She finds relief in her work and movies.
• Claudia MacTeer- The narrator of parts of the novel. She is not afraid to stand up for herself and does not have the self hatred that Pecola experiences. She is strong minded and does not submit to the white standard of beauty.
• Freida MacTeer- Claudia's older sister who allows the standards of beauty to effect her more, but is sometimes braver and more knowledgeable about the adult world.
• China, Poland, Miss Marie- The neighborhood prostitutes. They are the only people who show any real affection toward Pecola. They live in the apartment above the Breedlove's storefront.

Essential Plot Elements-

• The novel opens with Pecola living with Claudia and Freida because she was removed from her home. Pecola is then returned to her home where you first witness the abuse that occurs within the home mostly between Cholly and Polly. Pecola closes her eyes and pretends she has blue eyes and is not in the current situation. We also learn that her brother, Sammy, frequently runs away.
• People continually make fun of Pecola and confirm her belief she is ugly. Maureen, a light-skinned girl, temporarily befriends Pecola then makes fun of her family
• Pecola is then invited inside a "perfect" woman's home by her son who kills the family cat and blames Pecola when his mother returns home.
• Then we flashback to when Pauline was much younger. We learn about her lame foot, her previous love for Cholly, her obsession with the movies which confirms her self hatred, she loves her work in a white woman's house more than she like her own life.
• Then the story flashes back to Cholly's past. We learn his parents abandoned him and his great aunt raised him. After his aunt's death, two white men find him and a girl while they are having sex and make him continue while they watch, he then finds his father and is rejected by him. He loved Pauline at one point but in the current time feels trapped in his marriage.
• Cholly then, with mixed motives, rapes Pecola. When Pauline finds Pecola and hears her story and beats her.
• Pecola is impregnated by her father and begins to go crazy.
• Cholly dies in a work related accident.
• Pecola visits Soaphead Church and asks for blue eyes, and believes she receives them.
• Pecola loses the baby and goes mad believing she has blue eyes.

Setting-

• Takes place in Lorain, Ohio in 1940-1941. Occurs in a lower class, mostly black neighborhood. There is constant mention of a white standard of beauty and a desire for that beauty from many of the characters. There is also a violent background to the novel that drives much of the conflict forward.

Central Conflicts-

• Pecola desperately needs love and approval, but she does not receive it from anyone. Her parents have their own deep rooted issues in violence and lack of self confidence. Claudia and Frieda try to support Pecola, but, as children, they are not fully capable. Everyone in the story has been damaged in someway and Pecola seeks but does not receive love from these people.

Major Themes-

• Beauty- Beauty is a constant theme driving the novel forward. The Breedloves all believe they are ugly, and there is a constant focus on beauty. There is also a standard of white as beautiful, the lighter skinned people such as Maureen are considered beautiful, Shirley Temple and other movie stars are also seen as the ideal for beauty throughout the novel. The children learn from their mothers that white is the standard of beauty and there are constant pressures for conformity to this standard of beauty. It is an obsession of Pecola's as well as others.
• Abuse- Abuse is seen throughout The Bluest Eye. Pecola is the subject of the abuse of her family, peers, and adults in her community. Cholly was abused and neglected by his parents and white people during his youth. Pauline and Cholly abuse each other and their family. Sexual abuse is also present several time during the novel. Cholly is forced to perform sexual acts in front of two white men, Cholly rapes Pecola, Soaphead Church is attracted to little girls, and Claudia is fondled by the male boarder in her house. Abuse is a trend in this novel passed from one generation to the next.

Emotion-

• This story is moving because Toni Morrison takes the reader inside a story that most people would never see or want to see. It is a story of violence and abuse and the endless and fruitless search for beauty. However, Morrison brings a different light on abuse and makes it almost understandable. She illustrates that abuse comes from abuse and that some people are bad people because of what has happened in their lives, and that some people, like Soaphead Church are just evil. You almost understand why Cholly rapes his daughter even though you can't excuse it. Morrison forces the reader to look deeper into eac character and their motivations.

How?

Organization/Structure-

• Flash backs- Toni Morrison uses flashbacks to explain why adults in The Bluest Eye act the way they do. She brings a different view to the causes of abuse. She gives and explanation for abuse but not an excuse. The flashback to Cholly's past offers an explanation for the way he treats Polly and why he rapes Pecola. The abuse he endured as a younger person has taught him nothing but abuse and he doesn't know how to show Pecola love any way but sexually.

Figurative Language-

• Motifs in novel- The Dick-and-Jane narrative that occurs throughout the novel offers a contrast between the more ideal world of Dick and Jane and the reality of Lorain, Ohio. Before Pecola is introduced there is a repetition of Jane's character. Jane is not better than Pecola, just different.
• Symbols- the blue eyes are constantly a symbol of beauty for Pecola. She believes that if she had blue eyes she would be beautiful.