Symbolism and authors style and its effect on the plot
In literature, authors will often utilize symbolism in order to develop characters and plot. In The Bluest Eye, the author, Toni Morrison portrays an African American girl named Pecola, who is stricken with longing for a better life. As she muddles through her difficult childhood, her once innocent interpretation of race and beauty are deformed by the beauty standards that dominated the mid-20th century society. She believes that beauty is dependent upon love, and her self-image, in particular, her eyes, plays a big role in the novel. She consistently attributes her struggles and failures to her lack of blue eyes, and believes that by having blue eyes, her struggle will go away. As each
…show more content…
This unusual addition to the chapters and the beginning of the novel were primers that described a perfectly normal family. At first, the primer is normally spaced, and has all punctuation; however, as the reader continues down the page, the punctuation is removed, and the spacing gets closer together. These parts of the primer, seen throughout the book, are at first thought of as unimportant, but their importance is found within their placement in the plot. For example, “…SMILEFATHERSMILE” is directly foreshadowing Pecola’s father, and his interactions with Pecola (Morrison 132). Not only do the primers add to the meaning behind the story, but they also provide a sense of irony between Pecola’s unfortunate life and the life of Jane, the main character in the primer. When analyzing the overall style of the primer, it is clear to the reader that it was written by someone other than an adult. The primer contains short sentences and choppy language that mimics a child’s language. For instance, “See Jane. She has a red dress” clearly mirrors a child describing a house. The childlike nature of these primers reflects the intentional switch between narrative in the story, and expresses the relationship between innocence and maturity and their role in the