FREE The Bluest Eye Essay (original) (raw)
The Bluest Eye, written in 1940 by Toni Morrison, is constructed to reveal a very powerful point that applies not only to the book, but also to many societies of the present day. Morrison's argument is how society can greatly influence a person and how firmly a societies views and ideas can be almost forced on that person. The ideas and views present in The Bluest Eye are related to beauty and what makes one beautiful. The tragedy of Pecola Breedlove beautifully illustrates how this facade of beauty can dishevel one's life until finally leading one to madness. Thus, Morrison demonstrates to the reader what a negative effect society's stubborn ideas and views can have on a person and how those views and ideas can change a persons life forever. .
In the opening of The Bluest Eye, the passage from the Dick and Jane story, becomes a representation of an ideal white person's life. The race of the Dick and Jane family is never stated in the story, but the reader automatically thinks of a happy, carefree, and white family. The perfect white world of the Dick and Jane story becomes Pecola's reverse reality. The second and third version of the Dick and Jane story take away the punctuation and then the spacing. This turns the story into a mess of nonsense becoming a parallel of Pecola's life in the story. The decline into nonsense also parallels Pecola's decline into insanity. Each repetition, by compacting the form of the sentence , speeds up the pace at which it must be read. One tends to rush through the last repetition, hardly understanding what one read. Pecola holds on as tight as possible to the standards of the white world to the very end, even as she begins to go insane. Her insanity is not a relief from the idealized forms of white life; her insanity causes her to feel the entire force of whites" perspective of beauty. The metaphor of the land to Pecola suggests that the soil itself might have been barren, and by relating the soil with Pecola, the land itself made growth impossible for the marigold flowers, just as society and situations make growth physically and mentally impossible for Pecola in America.
Essays Related to The Bluest Eye
1. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Her first novel, "The Bluest Eye," was published in 1970. ... In 1965 she started writing 'The Bluest Eye." ... " The characters in the bluest eye show exactly why such a movement was needed. ... Pecola Breedlove is the central figure in "The Bluest Eye." ... "The Bluest Eye" focuses on Pecola Breedlove, a lonely adolescent black girl in the late 1940's. ...
- Word Count: 2371
- Approx Pages: 9
- Grade Level: High School
2. 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. ... Instead of conventional chapters and sections, The Bluest Eye is broken up into seasons, fall, winter, spring, and summer. ... 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. ...
- Word Count: 1112
- Approx Pages: 4
- Grade Level: High School
3. Intro - The Bluest Eye
Toni Morisson'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 narrative structure of The Bluest Eye is important in revealing just how pervasive and destructive social racism is. ... Instead of conventional chapters and sections, The Bluest Eye is broken up into seasons, fall, winter, spring, and summer. ... 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. ...
- Word Count: 609
- Approx Pages: 2
- Grade Level: Undergraduate
4. The Bluest Eye
Fighting, drinking, seducing Abusive, impulsive, vulnerable Charles (Cholly) Breedlove In the novel The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison, the protagonist was Pecola Breedlove and the antagonist was her father, Cholly Breedlove. ... The Bluest Eye. ...
- Word Count: 402
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5. 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. ... The Bluest Eye was Morrison's first novel. ... Moses expresses the fact that in traditional blues songs, the singer is the subject, however, in The Bluest Eye, Claudia tells Pecola's story instead,...
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6. The Bluest Eye Summary
In the Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison uses abuse and hardship to show the tragic consequences that come from racism. ... The Bluest Eye shows ways in which white beauty standards hurt the lives of black girls and women. ... The characters in the Bluest Eye are faced both directly and indirectly by racism. ... Three characters from The Bluest Eye that I will be describing are Pecola , Claudia and Pauline. ... Toni Morrison shows us what racism produces in the Bluest Eye. ...
- Word Count: 971
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7. 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. ... Her mother, Pauline, reinforces this belief by dedicating her life to this rich white family and doting over their blond, blue-eyed little girl, while at the same time completely ignoring her own little girl. ... The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest...
- Word Count: 1291
- Approx Pages: 5
- Grade Level: High School
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. ... Her mother, Pauline, reinforces this belief by dedicating her life to this rich white family and doting over their blond, blue-eyed little girl, while at the same time completely ignoring her own little girl. ... The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest e...
- Word Count: 1289
- Approx Pages: 5
- Grade Level: High School
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