ipl-logo

Symbols In The Bluest Eye

614 Words3 Pages

In the novel the Bluest Eye by Tori Morrison, Morrison uses the Blue eyes as a symbolic way to reflect on white hegemony and its characteristics impacting the way black lived. The blue eye is symbolic because it represents how america used to be back in the days and when black were treated differently because of the color of their skin and how still today they struggle more than anyone because of the color of there skin. Blue eyes appear to be symbolize the way blacks were treated and how through white's eyes they were seen as in America. Main characters in the book react to blue eyes in many different ways. Claudia uses the bluest eye with her white dolls seeing their relationship with big disappointments because she feels different because …show more content…

she had lovely blue eyes in reality, Pecola envisions, individuals would not have any love to do good things before her or to her. The view of this understanding is confirmed by her experience of being teased by others in her school. “The Bluest Eye were familiar with images of an ugly Jesus perhaps they could imagine even Pecola as a Christ figure” (Jerome bump) in a way this can be true as the way she has blue eyes she wishes this change the way people see her and wish it could change other. Morrison said her writing "should try deliberately to make you ... feel something profoundly in the same way that a Black preacher requires his congregation ... to expand on the sermon that is being delivered" (Jerome) I think the way Morrison writes she writes to set a message and I believe the message is not to judge someone of because of the color of there skin. The first words of the book says “To the two who gave me and the one who made me free” (Morrison) I believe this has to do with the racism deal and how all her life she wanted to treated as a good person and she wanted others to cherish her but as much as she tried to change her ways she never going to be free and I feel like to the end of the book she is free from all her feeling and all the stuff she held down inside

Show More
Related
692 Words | 3 Pages

When an author uses symbolism, a dove can symbolize peace, and a black bird can be the picture of death. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities in a story through motions, words and objects. It evokes a spark in the reader to give them an opportunity to get an insight of the writer’s mind and how they view the world. Symbolism works together with other writing tools to create a deeper meaning in a story like Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin. Baldwin created a big picture with little symbols that he worked in throughout his story.

Read More
1483 Words | 6 Pages

She wrote that her inspiration for the story was a conversation she had had when she was little with another little black girl who had a fascination with blue eyes, much like her character Pecola Breedlove. Morrison is known for her stories that circle around how racism and misogyny affect black women. For The Bluest Eye, a little girl named Pecola Breedlove goes insane from the inhumane treatment she faces as an eleven-year-old african american girl in the Great Depression. There are many points in the book where she is dehumanized and treated less than dirt, even by her own parents. Her father in a bid to feel in control despite how much white men have controlled him, rapes his daughter and she becomes pregnant with his child.

Read More
668 Words | 3 Pages

Symbolism, conveying messages through ideas or images, is a principle in Anthem, Divergent, and The Ones who walk away from Omelas. While reading the texts of Anthem, The Ones who walk away from Omelas, and Divergent, I found the authors used very similar symbolism throughout their works. The authors often placed symbolism to add depth and meaning into the texts, using it to intertwine the theme with the story. One symbolic element that was used in all three texts are eyes. While the authors used the same symbol and the basis for the symbol was the same, each story had the motif portraying a different meaning and impact to the overall text.

Read More
944 Words | 4 Pages

The essence of a location is often embodied in the traits and traditions that it’s people hold dear. The term “local color” summarizes this concept very well and it explains that “the customs, manner of speech, dress, or other typical features of a place or period that contribute to its particular character.” This idea is prevalent in many author’s writing and can help humanize and bring to life the scene that the story takes place in. Zora Neale Hurston uses local color in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. This book describes the life of a young woman Janie and her journey throughout Florida and the lessons and life experiences she gained while visiting these diverse places.

Read More
2275 Words | 10 Pages

In the short story, “Sonny’s Blues”, by James Baldwin there the notion or a reoccurring theme of a conflict between light and dark. The notion is carried all through the story of two brothers finding their own lights and trying to work towards a better life. In the late 50’s after the Harlem Renaissance adolescents faced drugs being sold everywhere and crime sprees around every corner, this is the darkness of the story. Kids begun to form bad habits that revolved around drugs and crime because it was what the kids became used to seeing in their everyday routine. Later on in life they would find themselves in unthinkable situations and not finding a way out.

Read More
492 Words | 2 Pages

When we talk about darkness, it can have many different meanings. For example, darkness can mean shadow, sadness, wickedness, evil, iniquity, gloom, or without light. As we read the novel Sonny Blues by James Baldwin, the word “darkness” appeared frequently throughout the reading. I think the significant of darkness for this particular situation of this book is fear and suffering. It shows how the characters are shocked and are in the state of panic fearing of the situation they are in and all the sufferings they have to go through.

Read More
1630 Words | 7 Pages

Pecola wanted to have blue eyes because things may have been easy for her and her life may be better. Pauline messed up foot and fallen teeth made her feel so ugly and she did not wanted to fit in with society was of beauty she didn’t love herself. Cholly had always been neglected by her parents society and he had never learned how to love it affected him in the long run and a traumatic event in his life had scared him as a result. It is why beauty is undeserved for those who are called ugly according to

Read More
1648 Words | 7 Pages

Likewise, Morrison also uses symbolism for the duration of the novel to establish how people can judge a person based on their economic standing. For instance, symbolism is represented through the blue eyes that is repeatedly mentioned in the novel. The blue eyes represent the idealistic white middle class life that Pecola dreams of having since white people commonly have blue eyes. The reader can infer this suggestion because whenever Pecola is experiencing bad things she wishes to have blue eyes. Morrison writes, "If she looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different and Mrs. Breedlove too…Each night, without fail, she prayed for the blue eyes…

Read More
807 Words | 4 Pages

The first piece in my portfolio is a piece of Pecola with blue eyes. One of the overarching ideas presented throughout The Bluest Eye is that white features, specifically blue eyes, is the epitome of physical beauty. Throughout the book, there is vivid visual imagery of blue eyes such as those of “lovely Mary Jane” (Morrison 50). The use of the word lovely further correlates her physical appearance and blue eyes with beauty. This causes Pecola to crave blue eyes so desperately that “every night, without fail, she prayed” in order to gain what she and everyone else unanimously view as beauty (46).

Read More
1647 Words | 7 Pages

In The Bluest Eye, Morrison offers multiple perspectives to help explain the intensity of racism and what it means to be oppressed and degraded in society. Through the eyes of various characters, readers are taken on a journey during the 1940s to demonstrate how each black character copes with the unfair standards and beliefs that society has. While some of the characters internalize self-hatred and have the desire to be someone else, others do not wish to change themselves to fit into the societal standards. Throughout the novel, there are clear and distinct remarks that are made to help distinguish the difference between white characters and black characters which is quite crucial. Morrison uses dirt and cleanliness to symbolize how society

Read More
1002 Words | 5 Pages

The social standards of beauty and the idea of the American Dream in The Bluest Eye leads Mrs. Breedlove to feelings of shame that she later passes on to Pecola. The Breedloves are surrounded by the idea of perfection, and their absence of it makes them misfits. Mrs. Breedlove works for a white family, the Fishers. She enjoys the luxury of her work life and inevitably favors her work over her family. This leads Pecola to struggle to find her identity, in a time where perception is everything.

Read More
3280 Words | 14 Pages

It is the mother’s vulnerability to the racial standards of beauty that is transmitted to the daughter and ultimately leads to her victimization. In fact, the reason of Pauline’s vulnerability to the racially prejudiced notions of beauty lies in her relationship with her own mother. The relationship between Pecola Breedlove, the protagonist, and her mother, Pauline Breedlove, is ironically characterized by lack of love, and emotional attachment, indifference, frustration and cruelty. Set in a small town in Ohio, during the Depression, The Bluest Eye is the story of eleven year old Pecola Breedlove, who, victimized by the racist society, yearns for blue eyes, which, she believes, will make her worthy of love, happiness and acceptance in the

Read More
1542 Words | 7 Pages

The Bluest Eyes open with an anecdote of Dick and Jane to show how racism destroys the mental stability of black people. It equates whites with success and happiness while blacks with poverty and unhappiness. This traumatises the minds of Blacks and they begin to dislike their own heritage and skin colour in the white world of Dick and Jane.

Read More
835 Words | 4 Pages

Morrison 's first novel, The Bluest Eye, examines the tragic effects of imposing white, middle-class American ideals of beauty on the developing female identity of a young African American girl during the early 1940s. Inspired by a conversation Morrison once had with an elementary school classmate who wished for blue eyes, the novel poignantly shows the psychological devastation of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who searches for love and acceptance in a world that denies and devalues people of her own race. As her mental state slowly unravels, Pecola hopelessly longs to possess the conventional American standards of feminine beauty—namely, white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes—as presented to her by the popular icons and traditions of white culture. Written as a fragmented narrative from multiple perspectives and with significant typographical deviations, The Bluest Eye juxtaposes passages from the Dick-and-Jane grammar school primer with memories and stories of Pecola 's life alternately told in retrospect by one of Pecola 's now-grown childhood friends and by an omniscient narrator. Published in the midst of the Black Arts movement that flourished during the late 1960s and early 1970s, The Bluest Eye has attracted

Read More
1563 Words | 7 Pages

African- American writings have dealt with manifold themes throughout history. The American Civil War can be considered a break-through in the political as well as literary history. Many texts were born with subtle experiences of racist attitudes in America. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye can be pinned to the African- American writings after the American Civil War movement of the 1960’s, representing a “distinctively black literature” what Morrison calls “race-specific yet race-free prose”.

Read More

More about Symbols In The Bluest Eye

Related Topics

Open Document