The Bluest Eye, By Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison is a novel set in 1941. It explores the life of Pecola Breedlove, an African American foster child who lives in Lorain, Ohio. Pecola is constantly called ugly by her neighbours which results in her feeling inferior to everybody around her. Her one and only wish is for blue eyes, as she thinks it is associated with “whiteness,” which she thinks will make her seem less ugly in the time period where racism and segregation is rampant in the United States.

One part of this novel that I thought really made an impact on me was the constant references to Dick and Jane- two children in a seemingly perfect “white” family. Pecola desired blue eyes instead of her brown eyes and brown skin, so the contrast between the lives of Dick and Jane and Pecola was shown. The book made references to
“It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes...were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different,” this quote shows Pecola thinks that if she looks different, she will become better liked within her community. At the beginning of the book, Morrison put an excerpt which talked about the green and White House that Dick and Jane lived in. She then talked about it in the middle of the novel when describing how the Breedlove’s lived in a storefront, not a house. This made me think about the parallels between the two families and how it is partly similar to New Zealand where there is a large gap between rich and poor. This also helped the novel flow because it would not have made sense to us if Morrison didn’t discuss it at the beginning. The author uses “aggressively ugly” to