FREE The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Essay (original) (raw)

Toni Morrison is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and the first black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her first novel, "The Bluest Eye," was published in 1970. In the book's foreword, Morrison explains her reasons for writing the novel. She states that the idea to write this novel came from her childhood friend who wished to have blue eyes. With this story, she wants to make a remark about the damage that internalized racism can do to a young girl.
The character Pecola is based on a real life girl whom Morrison met when she was 11 years old. She and the other little girl discussed whether or not there is a God. Morrison thought so, but the little girl disagreed. The reason was that the little black girl wanted blue eyes. This was a deep and heartfelt wish that she had not been granted for. Morrison recalls her reaction well. She had prayed for the blue eyes for two years. Morrison remembers looking at her. She saw something she hadn't seen before, an incredible beautiful face. Morrison couldn't understand why this young girl couldn't see her own beauty and why would she want the most obvious feature of a Caucasian face. When Morrison imagined her friend with the blue eyes that the latter wished for she was revolted. This memory of the little black girl who wanted blue eyes would stay with Morrison for the rest of her life. In 1965 she started writing 'The Bluest Eye." It was a peak of the "Black is beautiful"" movement. Morrison started to think about why the movement was needed. "Why, although reviled by others, could this beauty not be taken for granted within the community? Why did it need public articulation? " The characters in the bluest eye show exactly why such a movement was needed.
All of the characters value themselves according to their degree of blackness. Some of them even experience self-contempt and self-loathing because they are considered too black. Yet, others, like Geraldine, live their whole life keeping up appearances.

1. Black is Beautiful - The Works of Toni Morrison

In the novel "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, Morrison provides an interpretation of how whiteness is the standard of beauty, which warps the lives of black women and children, through messages everywhere that whiteness is superior and beautiful. ... "The Bluest Eye" has many elements that relate to Toni Morrison's own personal life. ... Through "The Bluest Eye", Morrison makes a statement about how vulnerable a young black girl, such as herself, is as she is exposed to this implied white beauty and superiority and racism. ... After twenty years later Toni ...

2. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye By: Toni Morrison Blonde hair, blue eyes, and white skin was the envy of most young African American girls in the 1940's. In the tragic novel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Pecola Breedlove, an eleven-year-old black girl is a victim of racial self-loathing and also rape by her father which results in pregnancy. ...

3. The Bluest Eye

Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye is about the life of the Breedlove family who resides in Lorain, Ohio, in the late 1930s. ... She wants the bluest eye. ... The name of the novel, "The Bluest Eye," is meant to get the reader thinking about how much value is placed on blue-eyed little girls. ... There are two major metaphors in The Bluest Eye, one of marigolds and one of dandelions. ... In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison tells the story of a little black girl who thinks that if she can live up to the image of the blue-eyed Shirley Temple and Dick and J...

4. The Bluest Eye - Literary Analysis

The variety of passionately displayed themes, interactions, and events presented in The Bluest Eye provide an understanding of Toni Morrison's inner thoughts and beliefs which were highly impacted by her various life experiences. ... In The Bluest Eye, Morrison thoroughly uses her previous experiences in aid to create the feeling of hardship and the melancholy tone of the novel. Toni Morrison was born as Chloe Anthony Wofford in Lorain, Ohio on February 18, 1931, to parents Ramah and George Wofford. ... It wasn't long before Toni met Harold Morrison, a young architect, who also taug...

5. Bluest Eye

The Eyes of Society In The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the central theme is society's negative influence on the individual. ... In The Bluest Eye, Claudia MacTeer provides a child's point of view-sometimes from an adult perspective while an omniscient voice relates information unknown by Claudia, like Pecola's thoughts. ... For example, the name of the novel, The Bluest Eye, is meant to get the reader thinking about how the desire for blue eyes dominated society and ruined the life of a child. ... The Bluest Eye illustrates the possible consequences of depend...

6. mrs dalloway

Portrait of a Victim: Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye (1970) is the novel that launched Toni Morrison into the spotlight as a talented African-American writer and social critic. ... In The Bluest Eye, Morrison's uses her critical eye to reveal to the reader the evil that is caused by a society that is indoctrinated by the inherent goodness and beauty of whiteness and the ugliness of blackness. ... Narration in The Bluest Eye comes from several sources. ... Morrison says, "First I wrote it [the section in The Bluest Eye about Pecola's mother] out as an I' sto...

7. Memory in toni morrison

In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the chapters are separated by the evolutions of seasons. ... Memory plays a crucial role in the major themes of The Bluest Eye. ... Pecola provides an extended depiction through her ideals of the ways in which internalized white beauty standards deform the lives of blacks, especially black women, in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. ... Toni Morrison's The Blues Eye is composed of sections that are labeled by the seasons: autumn, winter, spring, and summer. ... Evidently we can conclude from the readings: Toni Morrison's The Bluest Ey...

8. The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye tells the sad story of Pecola Breedlove, a poor prepubescent black girl, who wants to be loved and cared for by her family and society. ... She idolizes images of blond haired, blue-eyed white girls like Shirley Temple. ... The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest eyes of all. ... It would be ridiculous for Morrison not to include such a character and his motivations. ... Morrison would alienate the same readers she is trying to appeal to. ...

9. The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye tells the sad story of Pecola Breedlove, a poor prepubescent black girl, who wants to be loved and cared for by her family and society. ... She idolizes images of blond haired, blue-eyed white girls like Shirley Temple. ... The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest eyes of all. ... It would be ridiculous for Morrison not to include such a character and his motivations. ... Morrison would alienate the same readers she is trying to appeal to. ...

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