Literary Analysis #5: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.
This novel is about a young girl named Pecola. From a young age she believes that the only way to be beautiful and be accepted is to have blue eyes like all of her dolls and Shirley Temple. Her entire life she's only known that she is ugly. She is made fun of by many of the kids at her school and has never been called beautiful. Both her parents have a difficult life and together have a violent relationship that then transpires onto Pecola's life. Her confused and angry father, Cholly, rapes Pecola and leaves her pregnant. Pecola then goes to see Soaphead Church. She asks him to make her eyes blue. This man has been wanting to kill a dog but was not able to do it. He then asks Pecola to feed him a poisoned piece of meat. If the dog reacts to the piece of meat, she will be granted her wish. The dog has some convulsions and then dies. Pecola then fleas thinking she has  blue eyes. Everyone in the town is talking about her pregnancy and how they want it to die. Claudia, one of the narrators, and her sister are the only ones that want the baby to live. The baby is born prematurely and dies. Pecola thinks that people are avoiding her because they are jealous of her blue eyes. In reality, they ignore her because they are disgusted by her. The novel ends with Pecola talking to a friend who is not there, thinking she has blue eyes. 


2.Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches
The theme that I found to be the most prominent  is the need to feel beautiful or beauty in general. I think that if Pecola had just one time heard that she was beautiful, she would have been saved from her fate. She did not feel beautiful and because of this she felt she did not deserve to be happy.


3. Describe the author's tone. Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
This novel is  a tragedy. It does not end in the death of any of the main characters but does end with the demise of the protagonist Pecola. The tone of the novel remains consistent-depressing, serious, and melancholy. 

• "Cholly Breedlove is dead; our innocence too. The seeds shriveled and died; her baby too."
• "...all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl treasured. 'Here,' they said, 'this is beautiful, and if you are on this day 'worthy' you may have it.'"
• "Thrown, in this way, into the binding conviction that only a miracle could relieve her, she would never know her beauty. She would only see what there was to see" the eyes of other people."

4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone. Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.


1.)One literary technique that Morrison used is point of view. There are three different narrations that I picked up throughout the novel. There is Claudia, third person omniscient, and at the very end Pecola. They all offer different perspectives on what beauty is. The third person point of view is able to narrate Pecola's parents' lives. Caludia could not have offered this  information. This passage is in third person omniscient:

• The pieces of Cholly's life could become coherent only in the head of a musician....Only a musician would sense, know, without even knowing that he knew that Cholly was free. Free to feel whatever he felt-fear, guilt, shame, love, grief,pity.

2.)Irony was also a major element, this was through the names she chose. For example the last name Breedlove for Pecula and her family. If you break it apart to 'breed' and 'love' it literally means to make love or produce it. It is ironic because Pecola's family did not bring any love or comfort to her. Names play a significant role in the novel. Pecola means to rarely experience tranquility and also to appreciate beauty. Cholly means a strong, free man (refer to passage on point of view).

3.)There is one important allusion in the novel. It is a reference to "Dick and Jane." Dick and Jane, in the eyes of Pecola are the epitome of beauty. They are happy and are part of the perfect family and everything Pecola wishes to have.

• "Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, Jane, live in the green-and- white house. They are very happy."

4.) The author also uses a lot of direct and indirect characterization. The direct characterization is used when describing the appearance of the characters. The author had a vivid idea of what she wanted her characters to look like and really wanted that to come across. This passage again shows why Pecola yearned to be beautiful. 

• "It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question" 

5.) The author also uses a lot of symbolism throughout the novel. The most important symbol in the novel is the pair of blue eyes. Blue eyes represent everything that Pecola ever wanted: beauty and acceptance. The significance of this symbol is proved because it is the title itself.