Critical Analysis of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

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Introduction to Pecola’s World

The Bluest Eye begins with a brief story about Dick and Jane. The story repeated three times to make sure the readers aware that the line of the story will be the heading of every chapter. The Bluest Eye presents Claudia MacTeer is the narrator of the story. She and her sister, Frieda MacTeer, are lived in Lorain, Ohio, after The Great Depression. They lived with their parents, although their parents didn’t give them much attention, their life seems good. Claudia didn’t tell the story about herself. She mostly narrates about an African-American girl, Pecola Breedlove. She is the center of this story.

Pecola’s Struggles and Dreams

Pecola’s life was not easy. Her parents always fight each other. Her mom works while her dad gets drunk. She never got the attention she should have. In school, she also didn’t have friends. The other children always mock or teasing her like she is not a human being. She teased by Maureen Peal, a light-skinned girl. And also, by Junior, a boy who pretends to be kind to her but wants to trap Pecola. She started to think about how was her life if she has a pretty face, white skin, and blue eyes, just like people she met, maybe her life will be much better. Pecola stayed in MacTeer’s house when her father hits her mother and tried to burn their house. When she was there, she got her first menstruation. She was confused. She is very innocent to know about that thing. Mrs. MacTeer finally knew about it and tried to help her cleanse herself.

Besides of the sorrow she had, some women still be kind to her. They are Miss China, Miss Marie, and Miss Poland. They lived above Pecola’s house. They are prostitution women but still want to be friends with Pecola and like to talk about anything with her.

In the spring, Claudia found out Frieda was crying. She said that because Mr. Henry touched her private parts (her breast) and when she told her parents, her dad beats Mr. Henry and drove him out.

The Impact of Family and Community

There are parts of the story which describe Pecola’s parents and their past. Before they’re married, and all of the struggles they have in life until now. About how Pauline Breedlove, as Pecola’s mother, through her life before and after marriage. How she raised both of her children and how she deals with her life. She never sees her family as her family, as we know that Pecola calls her Mrs. Breedlove, while the child in her work calls her Polly. The story also tells about the past of Cholly Breedlove. As a man with two children, he never acts like a father. He ignored his family and going home drunk.

It relates to the present when Pecola washing dishes, he found her. He was drunk and thought that Pecola was Pauline, her wife. Then, he raped her. Pecola faints. She wakes up when Mrs. Breedlove looking at her, and when she told her about the raped thing, Mrs. Breedlove doesn’t believe her and hits her. Shortly after, Pecola realized that she was pregnant. It must be her father’s child. She feels depressed and goes to Soaphead Church and told him about her dreams. She wants to see the world with her beautiful blue eyes. At first, the Soaphead shocked. But then, he wants to grant Pecola’s dream. He gives Pecola meat to feed the dog. He said that if the dog died, she can get her dream. The Soaphead just hates the dog, but Pecola doesn’t know that the meat poisoned. So, when the dog died, she feels very happy and believes that she will get her blue eyes soon.

The Tragic Outcome of Pecola’s Wish

Claudia and Frieda know about the pregnant from the neighbors who talked about it. People want her child to die, but Claudia and Frieda don’t. They want to grow a marigold flower, which means that they want the baby alive as the flowers will blossom. But the baby died. Pecola has lost her mind because she believed that she has blue eyes. At the end of the story, Pecola talks to the mirror, which is herself, and admiring the blue eyes she had, that actually not.

Character Analysis and Their Roles

There are six main characters in The Bluest Eye, First, Claudia MacTeer. She is a nine-year-old African-American girl and has dark skin. She is the narrator of the story. Sometimes she felt insecure about herself, but she didn’t want it to stop her. So, she acts like normal and ignored any mockery that talked about her. She also has a sister, Frieda MacTeer. She is older and smarter than Claudia. She was also braver and more mature than her.

And then, Pecola Breedlove. Her life narrated by Claudia in this story. She is eleven years old African-American girl. She was born with black and dark skin, from an unhappy family, and poor. She never felt great, nor with herself. She thought that she is the unluckiest girl in the world. Every mistake or problem in her life, she always thought that is because she’s ugly. Her life was hard. Her mom and dad never gave her attention. One day, she raped by her dad, and when her mom knows, she didn’t believe her. After that, she goes to Soaphead Church. She told him that she wants to have blue eyes. But the Soaphead gave the meat that already poisoned, and told her to give it to the dog. He said if the dog acts strange, she will get the blue eyes. And then the dog coughed and died. She didn’t know that the meat poisoned, so she goes away, and thought that soon, she will get the blue eyes. She finally lost her mind and talked to the mirror, like she has the most beautiful blue eyes, which is not.

Another character is Cholly Breedlove. He is Pecola’s father. He ruined Pecola’s life. His life told as a flashback. In the story, when he was 4 days old, he almost dumped by his mother. He has unforgettable sexual experience. He finally met a woman in Kentucky, who later becomes his wife, Pauline Breedlove. She is Pecola’s mother. Though she never makes a ‘mother’ vibe in Breedlove’s family. Pecola calls her Mrs. Breedlove, while a child in a white family her works calls her Polly. He never sees love from her family, she found it in movies which told about romantic love and physical beauty.

The last is Soaphead Church or Elihue Micah Whitcomb. He is an advisor and a dream reader. In his letter, he said that he does the thing that God can’t. It because Pecola asks him about blue eyes. He wrote, ‘I did what You did not, could not, would not do: I looked at that ugly little black girl, and I loved her. I played You. And it was a very good show!’ (p.182). There are also some supporting characters, such as Mr. and Mrs. MacTeer, Miss Poland, Miss China, Miss Marie, Sammy Breedlove, Mr. Henry, Aunt Jimmy, Geraldine, Junior, and Maureen Peal.

The story took place in Loraine, Ohio, United States of America. This place is a place where Toni Morrison, the author, was born. She was born on 18th February 1931. The perspective that she used in The Bluest Eye was from a nine-year-old girl in 1941, the year when Morrison at the same age. She is an African-American writer who succeeded in her career. The Bluest Eye was the first novel that she wrote while she is the writer’s group at Howard University (Toni Morrison Biography). She got a lot of prizes because of her works, ‘Beloved’ is one of them. She also got the Noble Prizes in 1993 (Fox,2019). She was born in 1931 during The Great Depression. Her dad works in three different jobs to support the needs of the family during an economic crisis.

The Bluest Eye was written in the 1950s or 1960s when there was a Civil Rights movement in America. Many people supporting the rights of women and blacks. At that time, blacks with many whites rally for asked for equality for blacks in the United States. they demand equality under the law and eliminate discrimination against blacks. African-Americans had more than enough prejudice and violence against them. But Morrison wrote about an innocent little girl who suffers in the middle of dissimilitude that happened around her, including racism, discrimination, rape, and another mess (History, 2019)

Themes and Symbols: Beauty Standards and Racial Discrimination

The themes of the story are whiteness as beauty standards and racial discrimination. In this story, most of the characters are African-Americans who have dark skin thought about their lives if they have white skin they surrounded by happiness. At that time, women with white skin became respected by many people who flattered them. Surely this makes Africa-America jealous about have white skin as the beauty standards. For example, first, of course, Pecola Breedlove. She even wanted to change his eyeballs to blue because she thinks, beauty was in the color of his skin and blue eyeballs. Then, Pauline Breedlove who saw that white was like in movies, so she was seen by others. She also prefers his employer’s white child to her daughter, Pecola. Claudia has a doll with white skin and blue eyes, Shirley Temple as an idol at that time who has a perfect beauty standard, etc.

Beauty standards actually not always have white skin and blue eyes. A person’s beauty cannot be judged only by their appearance. When someone makes a standard of beauty, they make it for themselves. Every human being has its beauty and uniqueness. If you want to make a beauty standard for everyone, then it will not be owned by anyone. In this story, African-Americans who have dark skin, are not included in the standard of beauty. They are never satisfied with what they already have. It makes them lose their confidence.

If we take a look at the story, African-Americans often became a joke by their friends or are the talk of society. In this story, Pecola Breedlove often experienced racial discrimination. She was ridiculed by some boys in her school, Maureen, and by Junior, who accused her of killing his mother’s cat. All that makes Pecola feel that having dark skin and not blue eyes makes her always live in misery and sadness. She thought that if she had white skin and blue eyes like Mary Jane, other people would respect and be nice to her. If that happens, then all she feels is happiness and calmness. And finally, these feelings make her lost her mind. Worse than his previous African-American life.

The Point of View of the story is a bit tricky. Claudia, as the narrator, told the story about her past using the present tense. She mostly told about Pecola’s life than herself. She tried to understand Pecola’s feelings so she can describe Pecola well. The reader could easily understand when she describes herself or when she describes Pecola. And in the other part, there were told the past of some characters such as Pauline Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove, Soaphead Church, etc. This Point of View uses a third person to tell their stories. The third person knows everything about the person, like what they feel and think. We can say that the third person is omniscient. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, Omniscient is having or seeming to have unlimited knowledge. So, that’s why the third person is Omniscient.

The tone used by the narrator in this story is sympathy but still neutral. At first, when Claudia tells about herself and the people around her, she tends to use language that is easy to understand and still in her establishment. When she told about Pecola, it appeared that he was very sympathetic to Pecola. She tried her best to describe how Pecola’s feelings and what she does in a day. Though she doesn’t have a connection with the characters she told, she pretty well to explain their story. This story using Claudia’s perspective when she was a child, so the language Morrison used could be easily understood. It tends to be descriptive and metaphorical. She is also detailed in, but because of the children’s point of view, the details she keeps remain simple.

The Bluest Eye, as the story’s title, becomes the main symbol in this story. It represents a beauty standard in that era. People who didn’t have blue eyes thought that they’re ugly. They felt like they don’t deserve to be happy and respect from other people. Beauty standards in that era had white skin and blue eyes. The Bluest Eye means that everybody will get their happiness if they have bluest eyes from other people. This beauty standards also became a standard for other people to get a better life. To African-American people like the characters of this story, lived in a place where beauty can affect their life, is not easy. They should face the fact that they will be disrespectful people. The Eye also becomes a symbol because eyes are a place where we can see the world and reality. When the eyes are closed, it’s the same as closing yourself to see the world and reality. When Pecola didn’t want her eyes because she thought it’s ugly, it means that she ignores the fact and reality. She blinds because of her fault that she didn’t want to accept her life.

The other symbol of this story is the marigold. This flower symbolizes the growth of Pecola’s baby. Marigold is the plant that easies to grow, which means that when Claudia and Frieda plant this flower, they hope that the baby will flourish like how marigold grows. Only Claudia and Frieda that still wants the baby alive. They bury their desire to buy a bicycle to plant the marigold. They pray to God to save the baby, and they said they promise to be a good person for a whole month (p. 191). But unfortunately, the baby was dead, and the marigold didn’t grow. Their expectations shattered.

Foreshadowing in this story is in the prologue that told about a family, the Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane. The prologue describes the house and the family briefly. It was in 1941, the year after The Great Depression. Jane wants to play. She asks the cats, dogs, Mother, Father, and Dick to play, but they refused her. And then comes a friend, they play together.

This prologue divided into several sentences for the heading in each chapter. And these headings become a foreshadowing for each chapter. For example, ‘HEREISTHEFAMILYMOTHERFATHERDICKANDJANETHEYLIVEINTHEGREENANDWHITEHOUSETHEYAREVERYH’ (p.38). It was the heading of the chapter told about the Pecola family. Or ‘SEETHECATITGOESMEOWMEOWCOMEANDPLAYCOMEPLAYWITHJANETHEKITTENWILLNOTPLAYPLAYPLAYPL’ (p.81). It was the heading of the chapter told about Junior, Geraldine, and their cats. When Pecola went to Junior’s house to see a cat, something terrible happened. Junior kills the cat. He accuses Pecola, so Geraldine was angry at her.

Then, in the next paragraph, there is also foreshadowing. When Claudia told about her past in 1941, and how marigolds didn’t grow that year. Morrison told this as a clue to the ending of The Bluest Eye. Anything that happened in Pecola’s life after the great depression, and also about marigolds, which symbolize the destruction of Claudia and Frieda’s hopes of wishing that the baby Pecola survived.

Besides its popularity and meaningful story, ‘The Bluest Eye’ (1970) was ranked as the second most banned book in the United States by the American Library Association (When Murakami, Toni Morrison, J D Salinger’s Books Were Banned, 2018). From 1994 until 2015, noted that about 15 countries have already banned this book (Banned Library, 2016). The reason why those countries banned the book is that it’s contained violent content, a lot of sexual scenes, racism, and some bad words which inappropriate to taught at school. Some parents also complain to the school about the book the school gives to their child.

References

Fox, M. (2019, August 6). Toni Morrison, Towering Novelist of the Black Experience, dies at 88. nytimes. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/books/toni-morrison-dead.html
Toni Morrison Biography. Notablebiographies. https://www.notablebiographies.com/Mo-Ni/Morrison-Toni.html
History. (2019, August 28). Civil Rights Movement. History. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement
When Murakami, Toni Morrison, J D Salinger’s Books Were Banned. (2018, August 7). Economictimes.indiatimes. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/when-murakami-toni-morrison-j-d-salingers-books-were-banned/women-in-love-by-dh-lawrence/slideshow/65303739.cms
Banned. (2016, July 3). Banned Library. http://www.bannedlibrary.com/podcast/2016/6/23/banned-62-the-bluest-eye-by-toni-morrison

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