The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye is, most simply, a story of beauty and what makes beauty. More specifically, it tells the story of Claudia, her sister Frieda, and their neighbor and sometimes friend Pecola Breedlove. Pecola and Claudia, while often not getting along – Pecola is a bit of the town oddball, and everyone knows how cruel kids can be – share similar feelings about beauty in relation to race. 

Claudia hate Shirley Temple and some of her fellow white classmates because they’re white and, thus, are given attention and praise. Pecola also realizes the power behind being white, but instead of becoming angry, she desires to be like them. More specifically, she desires to have blue eyes, because she believes that blue eyes are what make white people so beautiful. However, more than a story of just beauty, The Bluest Eye also makes comments on race, gender, and getting caught in a life you didn’t intend. Themes that, if you’ve ever read Morrison, you know she’s touched on in practically all her other books.

Morrison’s writing style is always addicting. At once complicated and simple, the book hits on a level that somewhat goes beyond conscious understanding. While her individual sentences can sometimes be convoluted, and there are many times when you just have to trust her, trust that it will all be explained in due course, the power of her story comes through and comes through swimmingly.