Exploring the Bluest Eye (The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison)

Member Name: Starshine_lady

Product:	The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
Date:	08/11/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Delves into dominant concepts of beauty and how this shapes the experiences of young black girls.

Disadvantages: Heartbreaking and explicit descriptions of abuse.

The Backdrop of the Bluest Eye is Americas mid-west, Lorain Ohio to be exact. The story zooms in on the world of Pecola Breedlove and her two closest allies, sisters Claudia and Frieda MacTeer. The story explores the narrative of the young, black female child in a world where ideals of white superiority and beauty are dominant. Indeed this is illustrated when Claudia narrates- 'all the world had agreed a blue-eyed, yellow haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured.'

Pecola's narrative is harrowing. As her home life is highlighted, themes of domestic violence, neglect and incest come to the fore. A broken home and world consisting of a broken mother who prefers to comb the long blonde hair of the child she looks after rather than the afro hair of her own child is revealed. This denotes the extent of racism prevalent in the society that they live in and how this racism is then internalised manifesting in family members and in their actions towards one another.

It is this internalised racism which heavily underlines the struggles of Pecola Breedlove who so badly desires to have blue eyes. To her blue eyes are the ultimate symbol of beauty and for her to possess them would place her at the pinnacle of this ideal enabling her to be loved and adored by all. But Pecola is not loved at all and because she is not considered pretty or worthy by others we see the way in which her life is shaped by these tragic events.

The Bluest Eye is one of the most critically acclaimed fiction pieces in African American literature and secured a place in Oprah's book club. The novel provides a vivid and moving insight into the way in which race brutally intersects with gender and class in 1940's America.

Summary: A harrowing and insightful narrative on a black female child in 1940's America.