How did Pecola get her blue eyes?
When Pecola approaches him asking for blue eyes, he tells her to give meat to his landlord's dog, and that her wish will be granted if the dog reacts. However, he secretly poisons the meat, and the dog dies, contributing to Pecola's delusions that she has blue eyes.
How does Soaphead react to Pecola's request for blue eyes?
Soaphead buys poison to kill the dog but is too repulsed to go near it. At this point, Pecola comes to ask him to give her blue eyes. He is touched by this request—his own attraction to whiteness makes it easily comprehensible.
How is the idea of ugliness conveyed in the Bluest Eye?
As seen throughout The Bluest Eye, this idea of "ugliness" is conveyed through a variety of characters. For example, Pecola, the main character, wishes for blue eyes as a way to escape the oppression that results from her having dark skin.
What did Soaphead say to God about Pecola?
He tells God that he did not touch Pecola and brags that he has rivaled God by granting her wish—she will not literally have blue eyes, but she will believe she does. Soaphead closes his letter and thinks lovingly about all the miscellaneous objects he has collected. He is asleep when his landlord discovers her dead dog.
How did Pecola get blue eyes?
When Pecola is finally granted her wish for blue eyes, she receives it in a perverse and darkly ironic form. She is able to obtain blue eyes only by losing her mind. Rather than granting Pecola insight into the world around her and providing a redeeming connection with other people, these eyes are a form of blindness.
Did Soaphead give Pecola blue eyes?
He finishes the letter by telling God that he has given Pecola blue eyes because God had refused to do it himself, although nobody would be able to see them but her. The reader gains access to the severity of Soaphead Church's delusional mindset in the letter.
What do blue eyes mean to Pecola?
the beauty and happinessTo Pecola, blue eyes symbolize the beauty and happiness that she associates with the white, middle-class world. They also come to symbolize her own blindness, for she gains blue eyes only at the cost of her sanity.
Why did Pecola go crazy?
Pecola, a little black girl who thirsts for a pair of blue eyes, finally goes mad because of her never achieved wish. She can only live in her fantasy, persuading herself that she has a pair of beautiful blue eyes. She believes that only when she has a pair of blue eyes can she be loved.
How did Pecola get pregnant?
Pecola's father rapes her in their kitchen. Pecola visits Soaphead Church and asks him to give her blue eyes. Pecola gets pregnant with her father's child. Pecola's baby dies.
What has happened to Pecola at the end of the novel?
After the dog eats the meat, gags, and dies, Pecola believes her wish has been granted. Thus begins her sharp descent into madness. The fourth and final section (“Summer”) takes place after Pecola loses her mind. In the beginning, Claudia and Frieda learn that Pecola has been impregnated by her father.
What does Soaphead do to Pecola?
Unbeknownst to Pecola, Soaphead gives her poisonous meat to feed the dog. When the dog starts to gag and limp around, Pecola believes she is getting her wish for blue eyes. After Pecola runs away, Soaphead writes a long letter to God about being rejected by Velma.
What do Frieda and Claudia decide to do for Pecola?
Claudia and Frieda decide to help Pecola by praying and by giving a sacrifice; they will give up their seed money and plant the rest of the marigold seeds. They will bury the money by Pecola's house and bury the seeds in their own yard so that they can tend them.
What is the point of The Bluest Eye?
In the afterword to The Bluest Eye, Morrison explains her goal in writing the novel. She wants to make a statement about the damage that internalized racism can do to the most vulnerable member of a community—a young girl.
What does milk symbolize in The Bluest Eye?
Her excessive and expensive milk-drinking from the Shirley Temple is part of her desire to internalize the values of white culture—a symbolic moment that foreshadows her desire to possess blue eyes.
What do blue eyes represent?
Therefore, they are sometimes attributed to “eternal youth.” Blue eyes are heralded by some to be the most desirable and attractive of eye colors, and those who have them possess a calm and peaceful personality. Blue eyes are also representative of knowledge.
Does The Bluest Eye have a happy ending?
The novel ends with summer, which is the fulfillment of the year. Thus Pecola's life and the novel end ironically, for Pecola's creativity ends in the death of her baby, the fulfillment of her life is her madness, and no marigolds grow that year.
Why does Pecola have an imaginary friend?
Pecola's schizophrenia has created an imaginary friend for her because she has no real friends — Claudia and Frieda now avoid her. Not even her mother is a friend. Pauline Breedlove didn't believe that Pecola was an innocent victim of Cholly's drunken rape.
What happened to Sammy at the end of The Bluest Eye?
Pecola moves with her mother to the edge of town, Sammy runs away, and Cholly dies in a workhouse. Claudia believes the community, including herself, has dumped their garbage on Pecola, and uses her to feel better about their own lives.
Who is the father of Pecola's baby?
Through fragments of gossip, Claudia and Frieda learn that Pecola is pregnant and that the baby's father is Pecola's own father. According to gossip, only a miracle can save the baby.
What does summer symbolize in The Bluest Eye?
Traditionally, maturity and knowledge are associated with summer. However, Pecola loses knowledge in madness and finds comfort in an imaginary friend.
How old is Pecola in The Bluest Eye?
eleven years oldLike all the principal characters in “The Bluest Eye,” Pecola lives in Lorain, Ohio, where Morrison, who died last August, was born in 1931. When we meet Pecola, she is eleven years old but already ancient with sorrow. Her only escape from the emotional abuse that her family and her classmates heap on her is to dream.
Does Pecola have schizophrenia?
As a result, Pecola suffers from schizophrenia, and spend the rest of her life in her own world. She is influenced by perceptual distortion, rational disorganization, emotional instability and loss of control.
How does Pauline treat Pecola?
After she has been fired by a white employer and treated like an animal by white doctors, she begins perversely to treat her daughter, Pecola, with the same contempt. She is often cruel, cold, and aloof to Pecola as she looks at her daughter's eyes and sees only ugliness.
What did Soaphead Church do?
A light skinned West Indian man, Soaphead Church is a self-proclaimed misanthrope. After failing as a preacher, he deems himself a "Reader, Adviser, and Interpreter of Dreams", and provides counsel to community members.
What does Soaphead Church represent?
Soaphead Church is the most extreme example of loveless religiosity. Soaphead is made into a parody not only to make obvious to us that he is a bad person. Through his character, Morrison also wishes to critique yet another deceptive method of dealing with racial self-hatred.
What happened Cholly Breedlove?
In a confused state of love and lust, fueled by drunkenness, he rapes his daughter, Pecola, and leaves her on the kitchen floor. Eventually he dies in a workhouse.
Who is Beatrice in The Bluest Eye?
Soaphead married a woman named Velma, but she left him two months afterward. The reference to “Beatrice” is an allusion to a character from Dante's Inferno; Beatrice is Dante's great love who shows him the way to heaven.
Why was The Bluest Eye banned?
Since its publication in 1970, there have been numerous attempts to ban The Bluest Eye from schools and libraries because of its depictions of sex, violence, racism, incest, and child molestation; it frequents the American Library Association’s list of banned and challenged books .
Who is the main narrator of Pecola?
Pecola’s story is told through the eyes of multiple narrators. The main narrator is Claudia MacTeer, a childhood friend with whom Pecola once lived. Claudia narrates from two different perspectives: the adult Claudia, who reflects on the events of 1940–41, and the nine-year-old Claudia, who observes the events as they happen.
How many chapters are there in The Bluest Eye?
The Bluest Eye is divided into four sections, each of which is named for a different season. (The novel begins with “Autumn” and ends with “Summer.”) The four sections are further divided into chapters. Most of the chapter titles are taken from the simulated text of a Dick and Jane reader. Three versions of the simulated text appear at the beginning of the novel. The first version is clear and grammatically correct; it tells a short story about “Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane,” focusing in particular on Jane, who seeks a playmate. The second version repeats the message of the first, but without proper punctuation or capitalization. The third version lacks punctuation, capitalization, and spaces between words. It reads:
What does Geraldine call Pecola?
At this point Geraldine appears, and Junior promptly tells her that Pecola has killed the cat. Geraldine calls Pecola a “nasty little black bitch” and orders her to leave. The third section of the novel (“Spring”) is by far the longest, comprising four vignettes.
Where is the Bluest Eye set?
The Bluest Eye, debut novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, published in 1970. Set in Morrison’s hometown of Lorain, Ohio, in 1940–41, the novel tells the tragic story of Pecola Breedlove, an African American girl from an abusive home. Eleven-year-old Pecola equates beauty and social acceptance with whiteness;
Who narrates Pecola and Geraldine?
Friendly at first, Maureen ultimately humiliates Pecola and her friends by declaring herself “cute” and Pecola “ugly.”. The second vignette, narrated by a third-person omniscient narrator, focuses on Geraldine and Louis Junior, a young mother and son in Lorain, Ohio.
Is the Bluest Eye a classic?
Although largely ignored upon publication, The Bluest Eye is now considered an American classic and an essential account of the African American experience after the Great Depression. Britannica Quiz. 49 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Literature Quizzes.
When was The Bluest Eye first performed?
An adaptation of The Bluest Eye by Lydia R. Diamond was first performed in Chicago, Illinois in 2005, before seeing further adaptations around the United States. The Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois commissioned Lydia R. Diamond to adapt the novel into a full-length stage production.
Where was the book The Bluest Eye challenged?
In September 2017, The Bluest Eye was challenged at North Buncombe High School in Buncombe County, North Carolina, by a parent, Tim Coley. Tim Coley, a self-described "Christian single dad", took notice of the book for its sexual content and formed a committee concerning the removal of the book in the English honors academics. Coley told WLOS-13 that "It's astounding really that somebody thinks it's OK for kids to be reading this in school." Eric Grant, the English coordinator, defended the book by making the committee aware that the school offered an alternative assignment for those who were not comfortable with the book. He also mentioned that the book was in the syllabus that was handed out at the beginning of the year. The committee was given time to read the book and determine if there was academic value offered from the book.
What is the book Bluest Eye about?
30110136. Followed by. Sula. The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison. The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression.
Why was the book The Bluest Eye removed from the reading list?
In 1999, parents of students at Stevens High School in Claremont, New Hampshire, objected to the book's being assigned to lower grade levels. The case started when parents complained to the school that they thought the book contained content that was sexually inappropriate for children. As a result, the school decided to remove the book from freshmen and sophomore reading lists, and deemed that the novel was only "suitable" for juniors and seniors. In addition, the school also ruled that teachers must send reading lists to parents early on in the year to get their approval as to which books their children could read and discuss in class. While some parents would have preferred heavier restrictions against the book at Stevens High School, they were glad that action was taken, as they viewed The Bluest Eye to be an "adult book."
What was Morrison's graphic storytelling within The Bluest Eye?
Morrison's graphic storytelling within The Bluest Eye challenged existing attitudes about keeping children's literature free of sex and violence. The lifestyle standards found in Dick and Jane were not achievable for many children who shared backgrounds similar to Pecola.
Why is The Bluest Eye banned?
The Bluest Eye has frequently landed on American Library Association 's (ALA) list of most challenged books because it contains offensive language, sexually explicit material, and controversial issues, as well as depicting child sexual abuse and being unsuited for the age group. The ALA placed it on the Top Ten Most Challenged Books Lists for 2006 (5), 2014 (4), 2013 (2), and 2020 (9). Ultimately, it became the 34th-most banned book in the United States 1990-1999, the 15th-most banned book 2000-2009, and the 10th-most banned book 2010-2019
Where does the Bluest Eye take place?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison. The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression. Set in 1941, the story tells that she is consistently ...
What did Pecola struggle with?
Though the methods varied, the pain was as consistent as it was deep. She struggled between an overwhelming desire that one would kill the other, and a profound wish that she herself could die.
What does the narrator say about Pecola?
As the narrator describes how each Breedlove feels about and uses his or her perceived ugliness, she explains that Pecola uses hers as a shield from others. Just like the owner of the grocery store, no one truly sees Pecola, and she seems to be a mystery even to readers. Throughout the novel, she continues turning into herself, living in a fantasy world where she has blue eyes and looks beautiful.
What does Pecola ask Soaphead to do?
When Pecola goes to see Soaphead Church, she asks him to turn her eyes blue. Pecola is old enough that she should know the impossibility in such a request, but she prays every night that her eyes will turn blue and then asks Soaphead for help anyway. Even though Pecola has experienced a good deal of misery, her desperate wish for blue eyes shows that, at this point in the story, she still possesses some innocence.
Who is Pecola's brother?
Here, the narrator describes how Pecola and her brother, Sammy, each deal with the blowout fights between their parents. While Sammy has the option to leave the house for a few days, Pecola remains too young to go off on her own. Rather, she simply wishes the fights away.
How does Pecola behave after being raped?
Here, Claudia describes how Pecola behaves after being raped by her father and losing her baby. In addition to talking to an imaginary friend, Pecola makes bird-like motions, making her damaged mental state obvious to anyone she sees. Claudia notes that Pecola looks like she is trying to fly, which perhaps indicates that Pecola wants to escape from inside her own mind.
Summary
The narrator tells the history of Soaphead Church, a self-declared “Reader, Adviser, and Interpreter of Dreams” in Lorain’s black community. A light-skinned West Indian, he was raised in a family proud of its mixed blood. His family has always been academically and politically ambitious, and always corrupt.
Analysis
Like Geraldine and Pauline, Soaphead Church is another example of how the worship of whiteness and cleanliness can deform a black life. His mixed blood gives him a false sense of superiority, which he maintains with delusions of grandeur. Indeed, he half-convinces himself that he can work miracles and that he has a direct line to God.
Who was Pecola's father?
Pecola was placed with the MacTeers by social services after her father, Cholly Breedlove, burned down the family's apartment and beat his wife. While staying with the MacTeers, Pecola got her first menstrual period.
What did Maureen do to Pecola?
After the girls rescued Pecola, Maureen ridiculed Pecola by repeating a rumor that she had heard about Pecola seeing her father naked. After trading insults with Maureen, the MacTeer girls headed home, where they caught their boarder, Mr. Henry, entertaining the sex workers that lived above the Breedlove apartment.
What happened to Pecola in Autumn 1941?
In "Autumn," the first division of the novel, Claudia describes the fall of 1941 as a cold, lean one when the MacTeer house was cash-strapped due to cutbacks at the plant where Mr. MacTeer worked. That fall was also the first time Claudia heard the gossip about the Breedloves. Pecola was placed with the MacTeers by social services after her father, Cholly Breedlove, burned down the family's apartment and beat his wife. While staying with the MacTeers, Pecola got her first menstrual period. A third-person narrator describes the violent, loveless home life Pecola deals with at her house and her efforts to change her eyes to blue ones through prayer.
What does Pecola panic about?
Pecola panics as she begins to suspect that she does not have the bluest eyes. Claudia resumes the narration at the end of the novel. Pecola's baby died shortly after birth, and Pecola descended into madness, which made the entire community avoid her.
What happened to Claudia in Spring?
In "Spring," the third division of the novel, the narration reverts to Claudia, who discovered her sister crying in their bedroom one afternoon. Frieda told Claudia that she was molested by Mr. Henry, who was chased away by their parents with a shotgun. The girls thought being “ruined” meant being obese, so they sought out Pecola to see if she could give them some alcohol (the other ruined women they knew were skinny because they were malnourished alcoholics). They found Pecola at the Fishers, the white family for whom Pauline works, but the visit ended in disaster after Pecola knocked over a dessert.
What is the bluest eye study guide?
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.
Why did Pecola feed her dog meat?
Eager to show up God and rid himself of his landlady's loathsome dog, he told Pecola that she needed to feed a piece of meat (secretly laced with poison by Soaphead) to the dog in order to receive a sign of God's willingness to grant the favor. When the dog died, Pecola believed her wish for blue eyes had been granted.
Overview
The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison. The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression. Set in 1941, the story is about how she is consistently regarded as "ugly" due to her mannerisms and dark skin. As a result, she develops an inferi…
Plot summary
In Lorain, Ohio, nine-year-old Claudia MacTeer and her 10-year-old sister Frieda live with their parents, a tenant named Mr. Henry, and Pecola Breedlove, a temporary foster child whose house was burned down by her unstable, alcoholic, and sexually abusive father. Pecola is a quiet, passive young girl who grows up with little money and whose parents are constantly fighting, both verbally and physically. Pecola is continually reminded of what an "ugly" girl she is by members …
Characters
• Pecola Breedlove: Her insanity at the end of the novel is her only way to escape the world where she cannot be beautiful and happy due to her family situation and the beauty and social standards of that time. She believes that having blue eyes would make her more accepted.
• Claudia MacTeer: Narrates the majority of the novel and is also a young black girl. She is the child of Pecola's foster parents and is Frieda's sister. She is not only Pecola's fostering sister but she is …
Author's intentions
When asked about her motivations for writing The Bluest Eye in an interview, Morrison stated that she wanted to remind readers "how hurtful racism is" and that people are "apologetic about the fact that their skin [is] so dark." Reminiscing about her own experience, she recalled: "When I was a kid, we called each other names but we didn't think it was serious, that you could take it in." Expanding on this point of self-esteem, Morrison elaborated that she "wanted to speak on behal…
Analysis
Morrison's writing of the book began because she was "interested in talking about black girlhood." Dr. Jan Furman, professor of English at the University of Michigan, notes that the book allows the reader to analyze the "imprinting" factors that shape the identity of the self during the process of maturing in young black girls. She references parts in the book where the main characters are taught to feel less than human, specifically when the shopkeeper avoids touching Pecola's han…
Genre/Style
Toni Morrison's work The Bluest Eye breaks the long tradition of narratives that discuss the hardships of war and depression in the 1940s, as she brings forth a unique and untold point of view in American historical fiction. Morrison purposefully writes stories that defy the “American mainstream ideology” by focusing in on the realities of African-American life at the time. Thus, The Bluest Eye serves as a counter narrative, a method of the telling the accounts of people whose s…
Reception
The novel received minimal critical attention when first published; however, it was placed on many university reading lists in black-studies departments, which promoted further recognition. Morrison was praised for her handling of difficult themes: critic Haskel Frankel said, "Given a scene that demands a writer's best, Morrison responds with control and talent." The first major sign that the book would succeed was an extremely positive review in The New York Times in November 197…
Book-banning controversies
The Bluest Eye has frequently landed on American Library Association's (ALA) list of most challenged books because it contains offensive language, sexually explicit material, and controversial issues, as well as depicting child sexual abuse and being unsuited for the age group. The ALA placed it on the Top Ten Most Challenged Books Lists for 2006 (5), 2014 (4), 2013 (2), and 2020 (9). Ultimately, it became the 34th-most banned book in the United States 1990-1999, …