The Bluest Eye; Toni Morrison

Plot summary
Claudia and Frieda MacTeer live in Ohio with their parents. The MacTeer family takes
two other people into their home, Mr. Henry and Pecola. Pecola is a troubled young girl
with a hard life. Her parents are constantly fighting, both physically and verbally.
Pecola is continually being told and reminded of what an “ugly” girl she is, thus fueling
her desire to be a Caucasian girl with blue eyes. Throughout the novel it is revealed that
not only has Pecola had a life full of hatred and hardships, but her parents have as well.
Pecola’s mother, Pauline only feels alive and happy when she is working for a rich
white family. Her father, Cholly, is a drunk who was left with his aunt when he was
young and ran away to find his father, who wanted nothing to do with him. Both
Pauline and Cholly eventually lost the love they once had for one another. While Pecola
is doing dishes, her father rapes her. His motives are unclear and confusing, seemingly a
combination of both love and hate. Cholly flees after the second time he rapes Pecola,
leaving her pregnant. The entire town of Lorain turns against her, except Claudia and
Frieda. In the end Pecola’s child is born prematurely and dies. Claudia and Frieda give
up the money they had been saving and plant flower seeds in hopes that if the flowers
bloom, Pecola's baby will live; the marigolds never bloom.
In the afterword, Morrison explains that she is attempting to humanize all the characters
that attack Pecola or cause her to be the way she is.
Ideas of beauty, particularly those that relate to racial characteristics, are a major theme
in this book. The title refers to Pecola's wish that her eyes would turn blue. Claudia is
given a white baby doll to play with and is constantly told how lovely it is. Insults to
physical appearance are often given in racial terms; a light skinned student named
Maureen is shown favoritism at school. There is a contrast between the world shown in
the cinema and the one in which Pauline is a servant, as well as the WASP society and
the existence the main characters live in. Most chapters' titles are extracts from a Dick
and Jane reading book, presenting a happy white family. This family is contrasted with
Pecola's existence.
Characters
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Pecola Breedlove - The protagonist of the novel, a poor black girl who believes
she is ugly because she and her community base their ideals of beauty on
"whiteness". The title The Bluest Eye is based on Pecola's fervent wishes for
beautiful blue eyes. She is rarely developed during the story, which is purposely
done to underscore the actions of the other characters. Her insanity at the end of
the novel is her only way to escape the world where she cannot be beautiful and
to get the blue eyes she desires from the beginning of the novel.
Cholly Breedlove - Pecola's abusive father, an alcoholic man who rapes his
daughter at the end of the novel. Rejected by his father and discarded by his
mother as a four day old baby, Cholly was raised by his Great Aunt Jimmy.
After she dies, Cholly runs away and pursues the life of a "free man", yet he is
never able to escape his painful past, nor can he live with the mistakes of his
present. Tragically, he rapes his daughter in a gesture of madness mingled with
affection. He realizes he loves her, but the only way he can express it is to rape
her.
Pauline Breedlove - Pecola's mother. Mrs. Breedlove is married to Cholly and
lives the self-righteous life of a martyr, enduring her drunken husband and
raising her two awkward children as best she can. Mrs. Breedlove is a bit of an
outcast herself with her shriveled foot and Southern background. Mrs. Breedlove
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lives the life of a lonely and isolated character who escapes into a world of
dreams, hopes and fantasy that turns into the motion pictures she enjoys
viewing.
Sam Breedlove - Pecola's older brother. Sammy is Cholly and Mrs. Breedlove's
one son. Sam's part in this novel is relatively low key. Like his sister Pecola, he
is affected by the disharmony in their home and deals with his anger by running
away from home.
Claudia MacTeer - Much of the novel is told from the perspective of Claudia.
Frieda MacTeer - Claudia's older sister and close companion. The two
MacTeer girls are often seen together and while most of the story is told through
Claudia's eyes, her sister Frieda plays a large role in the novel.
Henry Washington - A man who comes to live with the MacTeer family and is
subsequently thrown out by Claudia's father when he inappropriately touches
Frieda.
Soap head Church (aka Eli hue Micah Whitcomb) - A pedophile and mystic
fortune teller who "grants" Pecola her wish for blue eyes. The character is
somewhat based on Morrison's Jamaican ex-husband.
Great Aunt Jimmy - Cholly's aunt who takes him in to rise after his parents
abandon him. She dies when he is a young boy.
Della Jones- Henry Washington's landlady before the Macteers.
Hattie- Della's sister.
Aunt Julia- Della and Hattie's aunt.
Peggy- The woman having an affair with Della's husband.
Old Slack Bessie- Peggy's mother.
Maureen Peal - A light-skinned, wealthy mulatto girl who is new at the local
school. She accepts everyone else’s assumption that she is superior and is
capable of both generosity and cruelty. She changes her attitude throughout the
novel towards Pecola.
Bay Boy- One of the black boys from school who teases Pecola about her
daddy.
Woodrow Cain- One of the black boys from school who teases Pecola about
her daddy.
Buddy Wilson- One of the black boys from school who teases Pecola about her
daddy.
Junie Bug- One of the black boys from school who tease Pecola about her
daddy.
Mrs. MacTeer- The mother of Claudia and Frieda. She houses Pecola when her
family is "put out."
Mr. MacTeer- The father of Claudia and Frieda.
China- One of the prostitutes who live above the Breedlove residence.
Physically, she is extremely skinny.
Poland- One of the prostitutes who live above the Breedlove residence. She
speaks the least out of her, China, and Miss Marie.
Maginot Line (aka Miss Marie)- One of the prostitutes who live above the
Breedlove residence. She is known for being very plump.
Dewey Prince- An old boyfriend of the Maginot Line.
The Fishers- The rich, white couple who employ Pauline as their servant.
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Geraldine- A socially-conscious black woman in the community who tries to
over exaggerate the fact that she is above traditional black stereotypes, and is
more "civilized" than other black families in Lorain, Ohio.
Louis- The husband of Geraldine.
Louis Junior- Geraldine's son who picks on Pecola, and blames her for the
killing of his mother's favorite cat.
Rosemary Villanucci- The little girl of the MacTeer's next door neighbor who
constantly tries to get Claudia and Frieda in trouble.
Blue Jack- Cholly's boyhood mentor.
M'Dear- Medicine woman in Cholly's hometown who tends on Aunt Jimmy.
Essie Foster- Aunt Jimmy's neighbor whose peach cobbler is blamed for her
death.
Miss Alice- One of Aunt Jimmy's friends.
Jake- Cholly's cousin that he first meets at Aunt Jimmy's funeral.
Darlene- Young girl from Cholly's hometown whom he shared his first sexual
experience with.
Mr. Yacobowski- The immigrant grocery store owner where Pecola goes to buy
Mary Janes.
Samson Fuller- Cholly's father who lives in Macon, GA.
Chicken and Pie- The nicknames of Pauline's younger, twin siblings.
O.V. - Aunt Jimmy's half brother.
Themes
Whiteness is beauty
In this book whiteness stands for beauty. This is a standard that the black girls
cannot meet, especially Pecola, who has darker skin than the rest. Pecola
connects beauty with being loved and believes that if she would just have blue
eyes all the bad things in her life would be replaced with love and affection. This
desire that is obviously hopeless leads her to madness by the end of the novel.
Beauty is subjective
Pecola’s story is essentially her quest to find beauty. While she believes that the
blue eyes of a white girl will make her beautiful, this view of beauty is not
Pecola’s. Her society has revered whiteness, so she begins to see that as the
essence of beauty. At the end of the book, Pecola believes that she got her
wish. She has an eerie conversation with herself, which seems to reveal that
Pecola has traded her sanity for the blue eyes she has always dreamed of.
However, Claudia clarifies that “A little black girl yearns for the blue eyes of a
little white girl, and the horror at the heart of her yearning is exceeded only by
the evil of fulfillment”. By trying to conform to everyone else's ideas of beauty
instead of her own, Pecola never actually obtains what she wants. She thinks
blue eyes are beautiful simply because society thinks that blue eyes are
beautiful, which is what fuels her desire for them. The conformity in the end
does not lead to Pecola’s true satisfaction, as what she is satisfied with she
cannot have. Although she believes that she has the blue eyes, it is clear to
everyone except Pecola that the pleasures of being white, and blue eyed is not
attainable. Although the goal is unattainable physically, Morrison makes the
point that it is unattainable metaphorically as well. We cannot achieve beauty
unless we achieve our own idea of beauty, not just what others have led us to
believe is beautiful.
Love is only as good as the lover
The Bluest Eye is a novel that contains several relationships, although the
relationships never end pleasantly. Morrison sees love as a dynamic force,
which can be extremely damaging depending on who is doing the loving. The
biggest example of this is the relationship Cholly has with his daughter Pecola.
Cholly is the only character in the whole book that can see past Pecola’s
seemingly revolting shell enough to touch her. While this sounds like a beautiful
thing, in actuality it is the violent rape that serves as the climax of the story. As
Claudia points out in the final chapter of this novel, “Love is never any better
than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak
people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly” While Cholly definitely loves,
the core of his personality forces him to manifest this love in violent ways.
Because he is not a good person, his love is extremely tainted. The reader can
look at this in one of two ways. It can be seen as a very pessimistic view,
claiming that true love can only be achieved if the lover is a good, honest
person. However, the reader can also see this as uplifting. Even though love
can be distorted, Morrison makes the point that everyone can, in fact, love.
Even if an evil person loves evilly, they still love.
Motifs
Dirty/Uncleanliness
Morrison continually places the idea and image of dirt and impurity-both
figuratively and literally-in each new setting. In the beginning she introduces an
ill Claudia plagued with bronchial and flu-like symptoms, cooped up in an “old,
cold, green” house. The Breed loves own appearance and home is poor and
ugly. Pecola befriends the prostitutes living above her, who are impure in their
own nature. They sleep around, refute religion, are caked with make-up,
surrounded themselves with smoke and are overweight. Altogether, the
characters live in a dusty, hot town, separate from the upper-class whites. They
themselves are dark and not pristine in appearance with their dark skin and
nappy hair; Pecola is especially insecure about her differences and
imperfections. Morrison uses this repetitive concept to emphasize the severity
of their lifestyles and their desperation to keep up appearances.
Sacrifice
Most of Morrison’s characters are a martyr to some cause or some person.
Claudia and Frieda’s mother gave up youth and her own life to stay at home
and care for a family. Pecola believes she’s ugly so that others may be
beautiful. Her body is sacrificed to Cholly for his self-fulfillment. Claudia and
Frieda gave up their bike money and flower seeds to “make magic” for Pecola
and her baby. Mrs. Breedlove gave up her family, wealth, and status for Cholly
and the trouble he brings economically, physically, and emotionally. Even the
Maginot Line and China gave up their bodies and social position to have a roof
over their heads and food in their bellies. The book’s constant discussion of
sacrifice, sin, and an unattainable redemption stresses a larger idea of life’s real
purpose and the struggle to make it through something that yields no reward.
Blue Eyes and Vision
Believing a new pair of eyes will change the way she sees things as well as the
way she is seen, Pecola’s one deep desire is to have the bluest eyes in the
world. The young girl’s innocent wish is marked by her perception of a world
where the cruelty and hardships she suffers are a result of her appearance as
an ugly black girl with dark eyes. She imagines having blue eyes will earn her
respect and possible admiration. This is demonstrated when Pecola is teased
by the little boys on the playground—when Maureen approaches staring at
them with her light eyes, the boys back down and behave in a more respectable
manner. Furthermore, Pecola wishes specifically for new eyes rather than
lighter skin because she also hopes to literally views the world in a better way.
At home and all around her, Pecola is tortured by the cruelty and dirtiness she
constantly witnesses; if she were blessed with new eyes, she would be able to
see herself and her world in a new, beautiful way. Pecola’s desire for blue eyes
makes a connection between how a person is seen and what he or she sees.
Whiteness
Throughout the novel, white skin is identified with beauty and purity. There are
many recurring implications to the superiority of whites over blacks, specifically
in women. The adoration of the Shirley Temple doll given to Claudia, lightskinned Maureen being cuter than the other black girls, and Pauline Breedlove's
preference for the little white girl she cares for demonstrate the prevailing
dominance of whiteness. As a result, women learn to hate themselves for being
black and in turn relay this disgust to their daughters. This is most apparent
within the Breedlove family, where Mrs. Breedlove despises the ugliness she
sees in her own daughter. Pecola is most affected by this connection of beauty
with whiteness, believing that beauty is associated with love and is necessary
for affection and respect. Her hopeless desire to be identified as a white girl
eventually drives Pecola to insanity.