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The Bluest Eye: Analysis

The Bluest Eye: Analysis In the book, The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison, writes about a young African American girl named Pecola Breedlove who is convinced she is ugly because she does not have blue eyes. Through Pecola Breedlove, Claudia MacTeer, and several other characters in the book, Morrison demonstrates the result of the Western’s culture standard of beauty which leads to internalized racism and self-hatred. The standard of beauty created through advertisements and other media outlets has made it difficult […]

Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison Book Report

Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison Book Report The Bluest Eye is the first book written and published by Toni Morrison. The story tells of a teenage black girl( Pecolla) that wishes to look like a white girl. This drive to model the beauty of a white girl drove Pecolla into madness. While Pecolla is only eleven years old,the mindset she that was put upon her by the society that she has lived in. A society that was dominated by the […]

An Analysis of the Topic of the Concept of Responsibility and the Bluest Eye and Hamlet

Throughout this course, the concept of responsibility has been echoing over the novels and plays that we have read. I have come to observe that in The Bluest Eye and Hamlet, the characters rely on their responsibilities or the notion of responsibility to make their decisions. In such a case, the characters develop their own responsibilities, constantly changing their concepts of responsibility in order to make different decisions based on the situation. The Bluest Eye and Hamlet have shown me […]

How People React to Hard Realities as Described in “Hamlet” and “The Bluest Eye”

When faced with a horrific yet undeniable truth or action, literary characters respond with unorthodox measures. Tragedies reflect human nature as they focus on tabooed topics such as murder and rape. In Hamlet and The Bluest Eye, characters give the reader an insight to how people react to harsh realities. Analyzing the initial reaction and the ultimate consequences of how Hamlet deals with the murder of his father and how Claudia and Frieda deal with the rape of their friend […]

The Important Role of Society in the Development of an Individual’s Character and Identity in the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Black Boy by Richard Wright

In today’s world society plays an important role in developing one’s identity and character. Societal constructs dictate a person’s behavior and choices. In the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and excerpt of Black Boy by Richard Wright, the main characters are heavily influenced by the world they live in. In both writing pieces society equally affects the central characters but in Black Boy the main character decides to choose a different path. The Bluest Eye and Black Boy both […]

The Internal Conflict of Pecola Breedlove on her Appearance in the Novel the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Within oneself, one might experience mental struggle resulting from opposing needs, drives, or wishes. In other words, they may undergo an internal conflict. In the novel, “The Bluest Eye”, by Toni Morrison, Pecola Breedlove, an important character within the story, faces an internal conflict that revolves around her appearance. Moreover, her curiosity is captured by society’s standard of beauty, which she believes to be light skinned, haired, and eyed people. Being a dark-skinned African American, she just didn’t fit the bill. […]

The Real Meaning of Beauty in the Novel, the Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison

True Beauty What are the characteristics of a truly beautiful person? The average individual, commonly lost and confused; ask themselves whether they are beautiful or ugly. Beauty can not be defined by one person or any group because beauty is subjective. As humans grow and reach adulthood, it is easier to have a better understanding of self value and beauty. However, when there is an imbalance in equality, it is easy for confused people to stay confused and never develop emotionally. […]

The Portrayal of Cleanliness in the Novel, the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The Theme of Cleanliness in The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison uses literary techniques to portray cleanliness as a defining characteristic of “Polly” as she appears at the lake house. Polly is the nickname for Mrs. Breedlove, the mother of Pecola in this novel set before the civil rights movement. Its delineates the harsh effects of White standards of beauty and racism on Black people at the time. The skin colors of White and Black transgress into symbols of cleanliness and […]

The Adoration of Romantic Love and Physical Beauty in the Novel the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Conformity Glorified Throughout my childhood and even today, I have been accustomed to society’s views of romantic love and physical beauty, expressed through the media and even my peers around me. Back in 7th grade, I remember my friends and I having a crush on a girl named Victoria, who was considered to be the prettiest girl in our grade. Long blonde hair, skinny, blue eyes and outgoing, she had all the traits that I (and almost everyone else) found […]

The Internalization of Pecola in the Novel the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Internalizing Blue Eyes When we think of clean, white is the color that usually comes to mind. Sadly, this can also be the case with race. Toni Morrison takes white beauty standards in her novel, The Bluest Eye, and examines how they affect people and the black community. Not only does it attack the mental state of individuals, but puts ugly thoughts in the mind of the whole community as well. Morrison’s novel mainly follows the MacTeer children and Pecola Breedlove, […]

The Subject of Projected Reification in the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Projected Reification Projected reification is when an individual puts onto others a sort of hate that they have for themselves. One cannot constantly live hating themselves; to overcome that, they allow it to radiate around them. This is generally demonstrated as the creation of stereotypes. Projected reification follows a gradual course, starting with self-reification, and if severe enough, ending with rage and violence. The Bluest Eye provides the best example of such a process with the actions and thoughts of […]

Skin Colour and Beauty in Toni Morrison’s the Bluest Eye

In Toni Morrison’s book, The Bluest Eye, which won the Nobel Prize in Literature, is a great example of how one’s loss of innocence becomes their own mental disorder. The story is about three girls who lose their true purity during the late Great Depression Era. Claudia Macteer is the main character who narrated the darkest time in not her own, but her sister and their friend Pecola. The Macteer sisters were poor children whose parents ran a boarding house, where […]

The Psychological Abuse of Louis Junior in the Bluest Eye, a Novel by Toni Morrison

Abuse and the Consequences Most people refer to child abuse as a broken bone or dark bruises found on one’s skin, but abuse can be considered at a much larger range. Child abuse varies from physical abuse to neglect and emotional. Sometimes the kids that show little damage are the ones that are the most damaged within. Louis Junior, a character in Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye, has endured physiological abuse from his mother which builds him into the […]

The Life of Cholly in the Bluest Eye, a Novel by Toni Morrison

Cholly’s early life in The Bluest Eye is told and a significant event that takes place during that time is when Cholly and Darlene have sex, but are caught by two white men. The passage that will be analyzed is the day after, when Cholly is reflecting on the situation and what to do from there. In this passage, descriptive diction, comparison and symbols are used to develop meaning. As Cholly remembers the past night’s experience, his mood and thought rationale […]

The Concept of the Evils of Society in the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Two Kinds by Amy Tan, and i Want to be Miss America by Julia Alvarez

“Two Kinds” “TBE” “Miss Amer” A person can transform themselves or individuals around them because of the pressure of culture’s assumptions and rate of interests. Throughout “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, as well as “I Want To Be Miss America” by Julia Alvarez, the main point of the wickedness of culture is regularly mentioned as well as checked out. In “The Bluest Eye”, Pecola preferred to be approved, but over time her interaction with […]

The Relationships between Race, Beauty, and Identity in the American South through the Black Women in the Bluest Eye, a Novel by Toni Morrison

In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison explores the relationships between race, beauty, and identity in the American South through the lens of several black women and girls. Just prior to this excerpt, Pecola had knocked a berry cobbler onto the floor, incurring the wrath of her mother, Polly. In this passage, Morrison uses personification and lists to argue that the proliferation and perpetuation of black stereotypes in twentieth century American society enables the continuation of the antebellum South’s assumption of […]

The Importance of Every Relationship in the Bluest Eye, a Novel by Toni Morrison

All of Pecola’s friendships with the rest of the girls are important and offer positive interaction because of both their similarities and differences. The reason each relationship is vital is because Pecola receives knowledge through her experiences with each girl, in different ways. Not having a sister, and having a runaway brother, Pecola can lean on each girl and look at them all as a sibling. Frieda, who is often protective of her own sister and vice versa, has a […]

Society Tells People

Society tells people, as a generation, how to act, talk, and dress in a way that is socially acceptable. In a racialized society, society tells people that they need to look a certain way in order to fit in with the crowd. In today’s society, being a person having blonde hair and blue eyes is what is considered as beautiful. It is like living in a world where whiteness is used as a standard of beauty and anything other, African […]

A High-yellow Dream

Motif of Color 1. Quote: A high-yellow dream child with long brown hair braided into two lynch ropes that hung down her backThere was a hint of spring in her sloe green eyes (Morrison 62) Analysis: The ideal image in this book is of a fair-skinned girl who has blue or green eyes. Claudia describes Maureen Peal, a half-African and half-white classmate, in this quote. Maureen is seen as a much more beautiful character based on the standards in this […]

Identity Crisis in a Racist World

Identity Crisis in a Racist World as reflected by Toni Morrison in The Bluest Eye Abstract The present paper is an attempt to study the thematic concerns of the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. In her first novel The Bluest Eye (1970), Toni Morrison has shown thrown light on the black consciousness of the 1960s that was characterized by identity crisis resultant of struggle for personal and racial identity. The novel revolves around the tragic tale of a […]

Toni Morrison’s Contribution to American Literature

Chapter One: Toni Morrison’s Contribution to American Literature Paradoxically, immortality is not achieved through the defeat of biological death, but rather through the indomitability of the spirit, which leaves behind the fruits of wisdom and humanity, putting forevermore things in a different perspective for generations to come. This, however, is not a smooth and linear process and nor does it leave one untransformed. Referring to the motto above, Toni Morrison’s lifelong work has been an accurate reflection of her and […]

About The Bluest Eye
Originally published : 1970
Author : Toni Morrison
Pages : 224 pp (hardcover edition)
Followed by : Sula
Characters : Pecola Breedlove, Claudia MacTeer, Pauline Breedlove, Sam Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove
Genres : Novel, Fiction, Bildungsroman

The Bluest Eye Essays