Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye, is the story of Pecola
Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be
beautiful, and in turn, be loved. The story takes place in Lorain, Ohio in
1941. Pecola is an African-American girl coming from a broken home.
Pecola's father is an alcoholic and he and her mother constantly fight both
verbally and physically. The story is told from the perspective of Pecola's
friend Claudia MacTeer. After Pecola's father goes to jail for some time,
she goes to stay with the MacTeers. This is the only time in her life that
she is able to see what a "normal" family life is like. Even though the
MacTeers are poor-lower class, their family structure still has some sort of
stability. The fact that the narrator is a child has a huge impact on the
novel as a whole. The reader is better able to understand how much children
are affected by their surroundings, something that we often overlook. Too
many times adults do not give children enough credit for being as perceptive
to the world around them. The little girls in the novel model their lives
after their surroundings, like most children do. Their sources of
entertainment are white baby dolls and Shirley Temple films. They are young
African-American girls and have nothing in their lives to model themselves.
So, they are presented with a skewed notion that white is beautiful.
Throughout the novel, Morrison outlines issues of racism and child abuse as
well as standards of beauty in American society. This is an important novel
for mature audiences. It would be most appropriate for young adults between
the ages of 16-18. |
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