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The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye
By Toni Morrison
About the Author
About the Author
Growing up, storytelling was part of family life. She said that as a child I had to retell those stories to other adults. These tales were pretty much horror stories about life as an African-American. Her novels are known for their epic themes, exquisite language and richly detailed African-American characters who are central to their narratives. In each of her works, Morrison manages to find a new way to think about and look upon blackness as it stands in American life. As she brings strong visionary as well as poetic patterns, it brings life to the American reality.
What was the purpose for writing the novel?
What was the purpose for writing the novel?
She wants to make a statement about the damage that internalized racism can do to the most vulnerable member of a community—a young girl. The book deals with topics such as racism, incest, and child molestation, though at its heart is a story simply about the desire to belong.
Summary: The novel, which takes place in Ohio, tells the life of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grows up during the years following the Great Depression. black adolescent girls struggle to achieve white ideals of beauty. Pecola Breedlove longs to have "the bluest eye" and thus to be acceptable to her family, schoolmates, and neighbors, all of whom have convinced her that she is ugly, especially the blond blue-eyed children in town.
Summary: The novel, which takes place in Ohio, tells the life of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grows up during the years following the Great Depression. black adolescent girls struggle to achieve white ideals of beauty. Pecola Breedlove longs to have "the bluest eye" and thus to be acceptable to her family, schoolmates, and neighbors, all of whom have convinced her that she is ugly, especially the blond blue-eyed children in town.
What was life like in the 1940s?
What was life like in the 1940s?
- When World War II began in 1939, devastation from the Great Depression began to recede, and the U.S. economy found new life.
- After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States entered the war. ... Women and minorities found new opportunities in the wartime economy. .
- Many African Americans in particular had mixed feelings about supporting the war effort when their own country did not offer them the freedom America was fighting for overseas.
- The blacks could not eat in the restaurants. They could not drink in the white fountain. They was separate fountains. Separate sections of the bus that they could not ride in. The trains, if they were big enough, they had separate coach. They also suffered racial discrimination.
The Doll Test
The Doll Test
The doll test was a psychological experiment performed in 1947 by Mamie and Kenneth Clark, aimed at examining the negative and long-lasting effects of segregation on children. For the test, children were asked to choose between a white or black doll when proposed questions like “show me the doll that you like to play with”; “show me the nice doll... And the doll that’s a bad doll?” The study showed that a majority of segregated students rejected the black doll, and had a preference for the white one. Dr. Clark accounts that when the children were asked to show the doll that looks most like them, some became “emotionally upset at having to identify with the doll that they had rejected,” with some crying, and even storming out of the room. This experiment was particularly significant as it played a role in the desegregation of schools through Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
First Impressions: My first impressions of the book so far were a little weird because the first paragraph was very simple with little sense and I was very confused. Then, the next page, the second paragraph had the same thing but with no punctuation and then the last paragraph no punctuation and no spaces. It was really weird at first and I didn’t understand what was going on but throughout the book, it mentions certain quotes from it at the beginning of each chapter, most likely explaining what it means. But after that intriguing part, the writing was more understandable and proper to my sense. I thought the word choice was carefully picked, coming out powerful through Toni’s voice
First Impressions: My first impressions of the book so far were a little weird because the first paragraph was very simple with little sense and I was very confused. Then, the next page, the second paragraph had the same thing but with no punctuation and then the last paragraph no punctuation and no spaces. It was really weird at first and I didn’t understand what was going on but throughout the book, it mentions certain quotes from it at the beginning of each chapter, most likely explaining what it means. But after that intriguing part, the writing was more understandable and proper to my sense. I thought the word choice was carefully picked, coming out powerful through Toni’s voice
After Reading: Well, I don't want to spoil anything, but all I have to say is that it was bad for Pecola.
After Reading: Well, I don't want to spoil anything, but all I have to say is that it was bad for Pecola.
The Bluest Eye Comparison between Pecola and the person she desires to be or physical appearances to have
The Bluest Eye Comparison between Pecola and the person she desires to be or physical appearances to have
The hymn “Precious Lord” was written by Thomas Dorsey
Precious Lord take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.
Though the storms, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me on
When my way grows dear
Precious Lord linger near
When my life is almost gone
Hear my cry hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me on.
Another book that caught my attention while reading this one is....
Another book that caught my attention while reading this one is....
If you enjoy ...
If you enjoy ...
- COMEDY!!!
- Sad
- Cartoons
- Reality
- Mrs. Frost (who recommended this book to me)
- And a more happy vibe of the same topic compared to the other book
then this is the book for you.
then this is the book for you.
Summary: In The Absolutely True Diary of a Party-Time Indian, Arnold Spirit Jr., called Junior by his friends and family, is a 14-year-old living in poverty with his family on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. To make sense of his world, he draws cartoons. But then later on he makes a choice to leave the rev and go to an all white school.
Summary: In The Absolutely True Diary of a Party-Time Indian, Arnold Spirit Jr., called Junior by his friends and family, is a 14-year-old living in poverty with his family on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. To make sense of his world, he draws cartoons. But then later on he makes a choice to leave the rev and go to an all white school.
Since he draws cartoons, I thought I would draw one too. What inspired me to draw this one particularly is when Arnold said: " I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.
Comparing and contrasting the two books, one of the themes that is definitely in here is race. Race is a pretty huge deal for this novel because it gives Arnold a good deal of trouble in his search for self. Arnold feel like he's only half an Indian – or as he says a "part-time Indian" – once he transfers to the white school of Reardan. He then gets split into two: Junior on the Indian reservation and Arnold in his white high school. This all suggests that one's racial or ethnic identity can change depending on place or social setting.
But I don't want to give away too much if your going to read this book, so I'll finish this presentation with a fun fact about Toni Morrison : Toni's REAL first name is Chloe but she changed it because when she went to Howard University, nobody knew how to pronounce her name!
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