Rhetorical Analysis Essay On The Bluest Eye
Read the Following passage and in a well written essay discuss how the author Toni Morrison uses stylistic devices to convey the tone of the time period (1941‘s) through Claudia's eyes.
Passage: Pg 10
Stylistic Essay: The Bluest Eye In the passage from The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, the author writes about difficult challenges that not only the young girls in the book have to face but everyone of that time has to endure. Taking place in the 1940’s the author uses many stylistic devices to demonstrate life at the time, such as The Great Depression, and the realization young girls grow up to find. The early 1940s brought about the end of The Great Depression leaving the country in economic turmoil. Growing up in this time could not have been …show more content…
easy families were split apart in search for jobs, and nothing would grow on the dry grounds. In the passage Claudia reflects over a time in the life when she remembers nothing would grew and having to face difficult challenge of growing up. The passage starts with Claudia saying “there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941” an allusion to the ending of The Great Depression, a time of economic hardship, started by the stalk market crash and the lack of crop yielded. Claudia reflects back now understanding what was happening saying “our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout”. Claudia continues on admitting “ but so deeply concerned we were with the health and safety of Pecola’s baby”; explaining that Claudia and her sister planted marigold, thinking that if they sprouted it would bring about the safe and healthy delivery of Pecola's baby. The author uses a popular quilocial symbolism of the south at the time to convey the “magic” Claudia and her sister are attempting to bring about; “we could think nothing but of our own magic; if we planted the right seed and said the right words, everything would be alright.” It was common in the south at the time for the blooming of marigolds to represent life, the author uses this quiloquial symbolism to make the reader understand the “magic” the young girls thought they possessed. In the last part of the passage the author uses a smilie to convey Claudia's now mature vision of what happened.
Claudia says “we had dropped our seeds in our little plot of black dirt like Pecola's’ father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt”. This simile conveys that Claudia now understands that Pecola’s father impregnated his daughter, comparing it to her planting the marigolds. In the next line the author uses a sharp juxtaposition comparing the girls innocence and Pecola’s fathers lust, many people after the Depression were left distraught facing mental illness; Pecola’s Father is a presentation of the unstable mental state of many people at the end of the 1940’s. Claudia realized that not everything in life was magical and would always be ok, he innocence was lost with this realization, like many young girls coming to terms with this same realization, many of whom had never faced economic hardship. Claudia reflects for the last time saying her innocence was lost and all that was left was the “unyielding earth”. Like many girls her age she realizes in the end that not all people are good, and things are not always going to be ok, this loss of innocence helped her to grow and
mature. Following The Great Depression the country lay in an economic reaction that brought about despair and loss of hope for many people. This despair made many people mentally unstable, up until then many young girls had not had the chance to experience this type of hardship, like Claudia the were forced to grow up in order to survive. Claudia's story is a representation of the struggles a young girl faced growing up in the 1940’s. It was a time when childhood fairytales were exposed leaving the whole country feeling as if they had lost some of there innocence as well. The earth did not produced as it always had throwing the delicate stock market out of balance, no marigolds bloomed for america in the 1940’s.
Passage: Pg 10
Stylistic Essay: The Bluest Eye In the passage from The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, the author writes about difficult challenges that not only the young girls in the book have to face but everyone of that time has to endure. Taking place in the 1940’s the author uses many stylistic devices to demonstrate life at the time, such as The Great Depression, and the realization young girls grow up to find. The early 1940s brought about the end of The Great Depression leaving the country in economic turmoil. Growing up in this time could not have been …show more content…
easy families were split apart in search for jobs, and nothing would grow on the dry grounds. In the passage Claudia reflects over a time in the life when she remembers nothing would grew and having to face difficult challenge of growing up. The passage starts with Claudia saying “there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941” an allusion to the ending of The Great Depression, a time of economic hardship, started by the stalk market crash and the lack of crop yielded. Claudia reflects back now understanding what was happening saying “our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout”. Claudia continues on admitting “ but so deeply concerned we were with the health and safety of Pecola’s baby”; explaining that Claudia and her sister planted marigold, thinking that if they sprouted it would bring about the safe and healthy delivery of Pecola's baby. The author uses a popular quilocial symbolism of the south at the time to convey the “magic” Claudia and her sister are attempting to bring about; “we could think nothing but of our own magic; if we planted the right seed and said the right words, everything would be alright.” It was common in the south at the time for the blooming of marigolds to represent life, the author uses this quiloquial symbolism to make the reader understand the “magic” the young girls thought they possessed. In the last part of the passage the author uses a smilie to convey Claudia's now mature vision of what happened.
Claudia says “we had dropped our seeds in our little plot of black dirt like Pecola's’ father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt”. This simile conveys that Claudia now understands that Pecola’s father impregnated his daughter, comparing it to her planting the marigolds. In the next line the author uses a sharp juxtaposition comparing the girls innocence and Pecola’s fathers lust, many people after the Depression were left distraught facing mental illness; Pecola’s Father is a presentation of the unstable mental state of many people at the end of the 1940’s. Claudia realized that not everything in life was magical and would always be ok, he innocence was lost with this realization, like many young girls coming to terms with this same realization, many of whom had never faced economic hardship. Claudia reflects for the last time saying her innocence was lost and all that was left was the “unyielding earth”. Like many girls her age she realizes in the end that not all people are good, and things are not always going to be ok, this loss of innocence helped her to grow and
mature. Following The Great Depression the country lay in an economic reaction that brought about despair and loss of hope for many people. This despair made many people mentally unstable, up until then many young girls had not had the chance to experience this type of hardship, like Claudia the were forced to grow up in order to survive. Claudia's story is a representation of the struggles a young girl faced growing up in the 1940’s. It was a time when childhood fairytales were exposed leaving the whole country feeling as if they had lost some of there innocence as well. The earth did not produced as it always had throwing the delicate stock market out of balance, no marigolds bloomed for america in the 1940’s.