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A review by wolfdan9
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
4.0
The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison’s first novel. It deals with the experience of growing up oppressed based on race, and particularly from the perspective of youngsters. I view Morrison as one of the few writers who can write compelling stories centered around children characters. There are incidents of overt and subtle racism throughout the book which demonstrate the difficult path followed by millions of black Americans. Some examples include Pauline’s, Pecola’s mother, pregnancy. The doctors talk disparagingly about her body and suggest black women give birth more like horses than white women. In another instance, Pecola, the main character, accidentally knocks over a pie that her servant mother made. Her mother badly threatens her and scolds her, but when the employer family’s white child enters the room, Pauline is profusely apologetic to the white child. The theme of power dynamics is especially important in The Bluest Eye. Even white children had power over black adults, while black adults only have power over their own children. Since the adults are so horribly mistreated, the oppressive attitude is transferred doubly to their children.
Somewhat ironically, at least on the surface, Pauline loves her role as a house servant. Her life before it was extremely harsh. Being able to escape that life by living in a pleasant environment perfectly symbolizes the predicament of post-Great Depression blacks. She envies the wealth and excess of the home she serves in to the point it redefines her identity. She “wants to be white,” but that isn’t actually the case. She just wants a good life — which is standard for whites. So her envy is not fundamentally based on race, but rather what opportunities are available due to being white.
A huge portion of the novel is devoted to the experiences and history of Pecola, Pauline, and her husband Cholly. This dysfunctional family has been formed by the extremely difficult experiences they faced growing up. It’s worth noting that the story is narrated by a separate little girl, Pecola’s friend, presumably based on Morrison.
In Cholly’s back story, he is forced to have sex by white men, abandoned by his parents, and also lives an impoverished life. He ultimately molests his prepubescent daughter Pecola on a whim at the climax of the book. The scene is really jarring.
Afterward, Pecola goes to a phony spiritualist (who is also a child molester) and asks him to give her blue eyes. He agrees, knowing he can’t, in exchange for her killing his annoying dog. He writes a blasphemous letter to God wishing he could truly change her eye color for her.
At the end of the story is a suggestion of magical realism, but only a suggestion. Pecola obtains her blue eyes. She has a conversation with a mysterious companion (inside her head) obsessing over the blue eyes. The companion informs her she is leaving and Pecola desperately assumes she needs “the bluest eyes” to keep her around. It’s revealed that this is all just a fantasy, but it does point out the desperate, Sisyphean nature of wishing for more as an oppressed black person. We learn that Pecola goes crazy, gets pregnant by her father, and the baby dies after birth, destroying Pecola completely.
Morrison seems to suggest that being white is an unobtainable fantasy for blacks. By “being white” or having “blue eyes” she is not really suggesting that blacks want to be white, as I pointed out already, but that they want some chance at an opportunity in society. She ends the story pessimistically. She comments on the countless destroyed lives and the repulsive/racist system that allows for a perpetually nightmarish society for blacks to exist within. According to Morrison, America is not a good place for black people to thrive. It is poisonous to the success of black society. Moreover, whiteness should not represent an ideal for blacks. The Bluest Eye was among the best reads of this year; expect more Morrison.
Somewhat ironically, at least on the surface, Pauline loves her role as a house servant. Her life before it was extremely harsh. Being able to escape that life by living in a pleasant environment perfectly symbolizes the predicament of post-Great Depression blacks. She envies the wealth and excess of the home she serves in to the point it redefines her identity. She “wants to be white,” but that isn’t actually the case. She just wants a good life — which is standard for whites. So her envy is not fundamentally based on race, but rather what opportunities are available due to being white.
A huge portion of the novel is devoted to the experiences and history of Pecola, Pauline, and her husband Cholly. This dysfunctional family has been formed by the extremely difficult experiences they faced growing up. It’s worth noting that the story is narrated by a separate little girl, Pecola’s friend, presumably based on Morrison.
In Cholly’s back story, he is forced to have sex by white men, abandoned by his parents, and also lives an impoverished life. He ultimately molests his prepubescent daughter Pecola on a whim at the climax of the book. The scene is really jarring.
Afterward, Pecola goes to a phony spiritualist (who is also a child molester) and asks him to give her blue eyes. He agrees, knowing he can’t, in exchange for her killing his annoying dog. He writes a blasphemous letter to God wishing he could truly change her eye color for her.
At the end of the story is a suggestion of magical realism, but only a suggestion. Pecola obtains her blue eyes. She has a conversation with a mysterious companion (inside her head) obsessing over the blue eyes. The companion informs her she is leaving and Pecola desperately assumes she needs “the bluest eyes” to keep her around. It’s revealed that this is all just a fantasy, but it does point out the desperate, Sisyphean nature of wishing for more as an oppressed black person. We learn that Pecola goes crazy, gets pregnant by her father, and the baby dies after birth, destroying Pecola completely.
Morrison seems to suggest that being white is an unobtainable fantasy for blacks. By “being white” or having “blue eyes” she is not really suggesting that blacks want to be white, as I pointed out already, but that they want some chance at an opportunity in society. She ends the story pessimistically. She comments on the countless destroyed lives and the repulsive/racist system that allows for a perpetually nightmarish society for blacks to exist within. According to Morrison, America is not a good place for black people to thrive. It is poisonous to the success of black society. Moreover, whiteness should not represent an ideal for blacks. The Bluest Eye was among the best reads of this year; expect more Morrison.