Novel Guide: The Bluest Eye
STYLE:
SYMBOLS/ MOTIFS:
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CHARACTERS:
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THEMES:
- Beauty is not simply something to behold; it is something one can do. Physical beauty is one of the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. It originated in envy, thrives in insecurity, and ends in disillusion. And in equating physical beauty with virtue, society binds the mind and collects self-contempt in bounding heaps.
- The outdoors is the end of something, an irrevocable, physical fact, defining and complimenting our metaphysical condition.
- Often times, internalized white beauty standards deform the lives of black girls and women because they feel they are unable to meet these standards pushed upon them.
- Stories hold a power beyond comprehension; stories are told to make sense of life and stories of this nature have powers for both good and evil. stories are also just as likely to distort the truth as they are to actually reveal it.
- Sexual coming of age is often humiliating and fraught with peril, especially in an abusive environment. And this peril or lack thereof is brought upon the child by the parents.
- No matter how messy and sometimes violent human desire is, it is also the source of happiness: denial of the body begets hatred and violence, not redemption.
- There is a relationship between sight and being seen: a person hopes that what they see is better than how they are seen by others.
POINT OF VIEW:
The point of view in this novel, as opposed to the other two, was more centered on the first person, from the point of view of Claudia, who seems to be the real main character of the novel, but not the protagonist. This aids the novel the way that Toni Morrison wanted it to be aided , by having the reader feel close to the story. This can only be achieved through the first person point of view because with first person a character or a relation of one of the characters narrates the story making the reader feel as if they are right there with the narrator being told the story in a first-hand nature. Now, the rest of the novel, not the majority, is told by a third person omniscient narrator. This just simply, yet also still elegantly, allows for other parts of the story to be brought to the light for the reader since, when told by a character in the first person, not all information from all the characters is available to the character doing the narration.
The very last chapter has to be my favorite all around, but is the most interesting because of her stylistic choice of the point of view for the chapter. The point of view seems to fluctuate between Pecola and her inner confidence/conscience/imaginary friend; the two basically have a conversation about the new found eyes (and after a more "in-depth" look, beauty) that she acquired from Soaphead Church by making a sacrifice. At first a reader, or at least I did, wonders if Pecola has gone mad because of these eyes, but as you read the second party becomes clearer. Then the final few paragraphs are back to the original type of point of view in order to reach and tie together all of the philosophical and thematic points and commentary that Morrison wanted brought to light.
The point of view in this novel, as opposed to the other two, was more centered on the first person, from the point of view of Claudia, who seems to be the real main character of the novel, but not the protagonist. This aids the novel the way that Toni Morrison wanted it to be aided , by having the reader feel close to the story. This can only be achieved through the first person point of view because with first person a character or a relation of one of the characters narrates the story making the reader feel as if they are right there with the narrator being told the story in a first-hand nature. Now, the rest of the novel, not the majority, is told by a third person omniscient narrator. This just simply, yet also still elegantly, allows for other parts of the story to be brought to the light for the reader since, when told by a character in the first person, not all information from all the characters is available to the character doing the narration.
The very last chapter has to be my favorite all around, but is the most interesting because of her stylistic choice of the point of view for the chapter. The point of view seems to fluctuate between Pecola and her inner confidence/conscience/imaginary friend; the two basically have a conversation about the new found eyes (and after a more "in-depth" look, beauty) that she acquired from Soaphead Church by making a sacrifice. At first a reader, or at least I did, wonders if Pecola has gone mad because of these eyes, but as you read the second party becomes clearer. Then the final few paragraphs are back to the original type of point of view in order to reach and tie together all of the philosophical and thematic points and commentary that Morrison wanted brought to light.