The Bluest Eye Analysis
Carter 3
Taylor Carter
December 12, 2014
A6
Krygier
The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye is a tragic story about a young girl black girl, named Pecola. Pecola’s life is told from the point of views of herself, Claudia, and an omniscient narrator. Throughout The Bluest Eye, Pecola is told she is ugly from a very young age. She believes that the only way she can be beautiful and accepted is if she has blue eyes like the white actress, Shirley Temple, or the white dolls she gets every year for Christmas. Pecola has a very hard life and at the age of eleven, she gets raped by her father, which results in a pregnancy. Claudia, another black girl in the story, is the only one who wants Pecola’s baby to live, but tragically it didn’t. When Pecola’s baby dies, so does some of her. At the end of the novel, Pecola became crazy and began thinking that she has blue eyes. Pecola is now constantly terrorized by the thought that someone could have bluer eyes than her, for she wants the bluest eye. In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison uses symbolism, narrator point of view, and allusions to the 1930’s childhood book, Dick and Jane, to show that society’s perception of white beauty can affect many girls, in the black community, making them feel envy and hatred, towards those who have white features. The first literary device that Toni Morrison uses in The Bluest Eye is symbolism. In the novel, the image of perfect beauty would be someone with white skin, blonde hair, and most importantly blue eyes. “All the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl treasured” (21). Having blue eyes is defined as something to be treasured by Morrison, in her novel. The blue eyes symbolize the beauty and prestige that is associated with being white. Although, two characters, Claudia and Pecola, acknowledge the blue eyes in different ways. Claudia, for example, feels nothing but bitterness to her blue eyed dolls. “I only had one desire; to dismember it. To see
Taylor Carter
December 12, 2014
A6
Krygier
The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye is a tragic story about a young girl black girl, named Pecola. Pecola’s life is told from the point of views of herself, Claudia, and an omniscient narrator. Throughout The Bluest Eye, Pecola is told she is ugly from a very young age. She believes that the only way she can be beautiful and accepted is if she has blue eyes like the white actress, Shirley Temple, or the white dolls she gets every year for Christmas. Pecola has a very hard life and at the age of eleven, she gets raped by her father, which results in a pregnancy. Claudia, another black girl in the story, is the only one who wants Pecola’s baby to live, but tragically it didn’t. When Pecola’s baby dies, so does some of her. At the end of the novel, Pecola became crazy and began thinking that she has blue eyes. Pecola is now constantly terrorized by the thought that someone could have bluer eyes than her, for she wants the bluest eye. In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison uses symbolism, narrator point of view, and allusions to the 1930’s childhood book, Dick and Jane, to show that society’s perception of white beauty can affect many girls, in the black community, making them feel envy and hatred, towards those who have white features. The first literary device that Toni Morrison uses in The Bluest Eye is symbolism. In the novel, the image of perfect beauty would be someone with white skin, blonde hair, and most importantly blue eyes. “All the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl treasured” (21). Having blue eyes is defined as something to be treasured by Morrison, in her novel. The blue eyes symbolize the beauty and prestige that is associated with being white. Although, two characters, Claudia and Pecola, acknowledge the blue eyes in different ways. Claudia, for example, feels nothing but bitterness to her blue eyed dolls. “I only had one desire; to dismember it. To see