Analysis of the Bluest Eye

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In The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, we are made aware of the many struggles that African Americans have gone through. Morrison showed not only how they struggled to make a living and survive in a cruel world but demonstrated their social and emotional struggle. In the book Morrison tells the story of several individuals that settled in Lorain, Ohio. The Most memorable in the story was a young girl named Pecola because of her many challenges and her extremely low self-esteem. In today’s world most African Americans no longer have to put up with major racial problems, though many of the social issues that existed still present now. Although Pecola’s story was most memorable, the world they lived in seemed to be a little different in the eyes of Claudia Macteer. Claudia showed how the world looked from the perspective of a 9 year old. She unlike many of the other little girls around her didn’t admire Shirley Temple and she didn't understand why they gave her these white skinned blue eyed dolls for Christmas. She lived in a home with two parents who cared for her. Her home was very stable, because of this Pecola was sent to live there because her father “…had burned up his house, gone upside his wife’s head, and everybody as a result, was outdoors.”. Being outdoors in Claudia’s eyes was a very bad thing because that meant you had nowhere to go. The relationship Claudia and her sister developed with Pecola sometimes helped her because they looked out for her when they could. The author showed the extreme detachment Pecola has from society, caused by racial and life hardships. She associated having blue eyes like Shirley Temple, as beautiful. She felt that by being beautiful all of her problems would be solved. Pecola witnessed her drunken father and mother fight often, “She struggled between an overwhelming desire that one would kill the other, and a profound wish
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