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lafilitalian 's review for:
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I guess I was on a self-loathing kick because I went straight from Giovanni's Room to this. Toni Morrison and James Baldwin knew each other well in real life, and it makes sense that their works would have influenced one another. Although, living in a society that makes you hate yourself is a pretty widespread experience.
While Baldwin's David was cruel and destructive in his hatred, it is cruelty and destruction that leaves Pecola Breedlove so distraught with her appearance. Everyone tells her she is ugly and unloved, and she believes it wholeheartedly. We see so much of the book through the eyes of children who are still learning how to navigate societal expectations and why they are treated the way they are.
The book makes you feel like there is no hope for some people. Like some situations are so impossible to escape from that fate only has one path it can lead you down. It goes back decades to show us how trauma inflicted on the parent goes down the line until you have a child who loses herself praying for blue eyes.
By the end, everyone feels accountable for Pecola's situation. In being so utterly othered by the world, they othered the weakest among them to make themselves feel better. They accepted and integrated themselves into the social structures that define them as less than, because they know if they do so at least they won't be at the bottom, so long as Pecola is around.
I think making the main characters children made reading this possible. It would have otherwise been too bleak to accept. But through it all, the kids in this story are still kids, instilling fantastical kinds of meaning behind everything that happens. In almost grounds the story in a kind of frank honesty - things just happen and pass, as it goes with kids.
I am glad I went back to this book. This was another one I read in high school. I remember people in class making racist jokes about it. It is hard, where I come from, to realize how big the world is. It was good to return to the book on my own, at a time in my life when I have seen so much more than I had back then.
While Baldwin's David was cruel and destructive in his hatred, it is cruelty and destruction that leaves Pecola Breedlove so distraught with her appearance. Everyone tells her she is ugly and unloved, and she believes it wholeheartedly. We see so much of the book through the eyes of children who are still learning how to navigate societal expectations and why they are treated the way they are.
The book makes you feel like there is no hope for some people. Like some situations are so impossible to escape from that fate only has one path it can lead you down. It goes back decades to show us how trauma inflicted on the parent goes down the line until you have a child who loses herself praying for blue eyes.
By the end, everyone feels accountable for Pecola's situation. In being so utterly othered by the world, they othered the weakest among them to make themselves feel better. They accepted and integrated themselves into the social structures that define them as less than, because they know if they do so at least they won't be at the bottom, so long as Pecola is around.
I think making the main characters children made reading this possible. It would have otherwise been too bleak to accept. But through it all, the kids in this story are still kids, instilling fantastical kinds of meaning behind everything that happens. In almost grounds the story in a kind of frank honesty - things just happen and pass, as it goes with kids.
I am glad I went back to this book. This was another one I read in high school. I remember people in class making racist jokes about it. It is hard, where I come from, to realize how big the world is. It was good to return to the book on my own, at a time in my life when I have seen so much more than I had back then.