Interpretive Response To Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

Interpretive Response to The Bluest Eye - Not only does Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye reveal the undeniable theme that white is beauty. She also affiliates sex and sexuality with humiliation instead of something pleasant. The idea of whiteness as the beauty ideal mainly revolves around Pecola, but is first introduced in the story through a toy doll. Dolls typically represent the favourable traits of young girls, in this case; blonde hair and blue eyes. Although the novel does takes place in 1941, a time where racism and division of white people and coloured people still existed. Therefore it is not remarkable that such beauty standards exists. Throughout the story it is clear that Pecola’s only desire is to have blue eyes. She truly

She opens up the novel with the line “Quiet as it’s kept” and explains why she did this at the end. Morrison sees the line as an anecdote. As if “ No one is allowed to know this” (212) or “ secrets “we” shared and those withheld from us by ourselves and by the world outside the community (212). She aimed for this line to create “intimacy between the reader and the page” (212). One of the most recognizable uses of symbolism would be the blue eyes. The idea of having blue eyes in this novel refers to the fact that the only people who had blue eyes were white. During this time, which was 1941, being white meant that you were better off. They seemed to have more power and more wealth. The blue eyes represented beauty. It was no surprise that young Pecola dreamed and prayed for them. To her it was an icon of being beautiful. Another use of symbolism would be the marigold flowers. They were used to symbolize the life/birth of Pecola’s pregnancy. The MacTeer girls thought that if they planted the marigold seeds and prayed, Pecola’s baby would survive. The story begins mentioning that “there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father’s baby that the marigolds did not grow” (7). Pecola’s baby did not survive as it was a product of rape and incest. The marigold flowers did not grow as the “country was hostile to marigolds that year. This soil is bad for certain kinds of flower. Certain seeds will not nurture [...]” (206). This symbolizes how nature runs its course. In addition, Toni Morrison breaks up the book in four parts; Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. The story begins in 1941, which is the beginning of the Great Depression. Like autumn, it is the beginning of something. Often times we associate autumn as the beginning of many things, like