Bluest Eye, The, A Novel (MAXNotes Literature Guides)

Christopher Hubert

• Publisher: Research & Education Association
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780738672380
• Topic: Aides à l'étude
• Subtopic: Guides d'étude

REA's MAXnotes for Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, A Novel

MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work. MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independent thought about the literary work by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions.

MAXnotes cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed, and has study questions and answers.

SECTION ONE

Introduction

The Life and Work of Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18, 1931. Her birthplace was Lorain, Ohio, which also serves as the setting for The Bluest Eye. Her parents both moved to Lorain from the South in search of better living conditions. Young Chloe was influenced greatly by her parents and their never-ending quest to improve the lives of their children. The small community was also very supportive of others and, although she was a shy girl, she remembers fondly the support she received as a youngster.

Toni was an excellent student, with a particular fondness for literature. She graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in English and received a master’s degree from Cornell University two years later. At Howard, she changed her name to Toni and was an active participant in their drama club. She continued to love literature, however, and after receiving her master’s degree, she taught literature at Texas Southern University briefly before returning to Howard.

It was at Howard University that she met Harold Morrison, an architect, whom she later married. The Morrisons had two sons together but divorced in 1965. Morrison then relocated to Syracuse, where she became an editor for Random House. By 1967 she was a senior editor, but still desired some sort of release for her creative energy.

She was active in writers’ support groups while at Howard but still had not published any works. In Syracuse, she decided to rewrite a short story she had written at Howard about “a girl who wanted blue eyes.” She was encouraged by a fellow editor, Alan Rancler, to turn this story into a full-length novel. The Bluest Eye was turned down by a few publishing companies before being printed by Holt, Rhinehart, and Winston in 1970. The book was given favorable reviews and established her as a talented new writer with a gift for language. A second novel, Sula, was published in 1973 and received a nomination for the National Book Award.

It was her third novel, Song of Solomon, that catapulted her to national prominence. Published in 1977, this novel also won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her most famous novel is undoubtedly 1987’s Beloved, which won the Pulitzer Prize. The Bluest Eye, as well as Morrison’s other novels, have been studied in schools around the country. In addition to writing, Morrison has produced a play, taught and lectured at Yale, Berkeley, and Princeton, and edited anthologies and critical studies of African-American literature. In 1993, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the first African-American woman to do so. Further information about Toni Morrison can also be found in the MAXnotes® literary digests for Beloved, Jazz, and Song of Solomon.

Historical Background

The Bluest Eye is set in a steel mill town in the 1940s. During the Great Depression, many people migrated in search of jobs, and the characters of the novel, much like Toni Morrison’s family, come to Lorain in search of better lives and better jobs. However, economic recovery did not come to America until the start of World War II, and life in these towns was wracked with poverty and squalor.

A prominent theme in the novel is the idea of beauty and its standards. One of the most famous child actresses at the time was Shirley Temple, whose movies in the 1930s and 40s were immensely popular. Most of her films were family pictures, slight in plot and optimistic in tone, made with the intention of uplifting the spirits of those who were suffering through the depression (one of her films was entitled The Little Princess). Other actresses mentioned are Greta Garbo, Ginger Rogers, and Hedy Lamarr, all white women who epitomized the standards of beauty at the time.

Black actors and actresses in movies of this era usually portrayed waiters or maids and were chiefly employed as comic relief. Although their choices of roles were limited, a few black actors and actresses managed to gain fame and stardom. Hattie McDaniel won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the 1939 film Gone With the Wind, becoming the first black person to do so. As these actors gained prominence, they attempted to protest the lack of quality roles for blacks, but could do practically nothing to change the rigid stereotyping of Hollywood. Some independent production companies, such as Toddy Pictures, managed to release a few films featuring all-black casts that were designed for black audiences. These films were usually inexpensive to make, because of the lack of financing available, and designed to provide light entertainment rather than commentary on social issues. During an era when Franklin Roosevelt integrated the armed forces and government offices, the film industry definitely was not progressive in terms of civil rights.

Master List of Characters

Claudia MacTeer—A young black girl who lives in an old house in Lorain; fiercely independent and resents the adults who give her orders; has an uncontrollable hatred for the white dolls that she receives for Christmas.

Frieda MacTeer—Claudia’s older sister; protective of Claudia but is more good-natured; considers herself to be wiser than Claudia but still acts like a little girl in many situations.

Mr. and Mrs. MacTeer—Claudia and Frieda’s parents; They are harsh to their children at times but are fiercely protective of them.

Pecola Breedlove—An ugly twelve-year-old girl who wants blue eyes more than anything else in the world; constantly teased by children at school and abused by her parents; believes that the world will treat her differently once she is beautiful

Cholly Breedlove—Pecola’s father; a man who is constantly drunk and fighting with his wife Pauline.

Pauline (Mrs.) Breedlove—Pecola’s mother; a woman who is a live-in maid with a white family and seems more concerned with her employer’s family growth and progress than the health of her own family; stays with Cholly in order to chastise him for his drinking.

Sammy Breedlove—Pecola’s older brother; a boy who either is running away from home or fighting with others.

Poland, China, and Miss Marie (the Maginot Line)—Three prostitutes who occupy the apartment above the Breedloves’ place; Pecola visits them often, and they treat her well.

Mr. Yacobowski—Owner of a local grocery store.

Mr. Henry Washington—A middle-aged man who rents a room from the MacTeers for a brief period of time; kicked out of the house by Mr. MacTeer after he molests Frieda.

Maureen Peal—A light-skinned black girl who quickly becomes the most popular girl in school; the other students want to be her friend because they think she is beautiful. She befriends Pecola for a short time before turning on her.

Geraldine—A light-skinned lady who devotes herself to removing all the passion from her life in exchange for security in marriage; harbors a bitter resentment towards dark-skinned blacks and forces her son to stay away from other black boys.

Louis Junior—Geraldine’s son; hates his mother and the cat that is the object of his mother’s affections; plays a cruel trick on Pecola and attacks the cat in the process.

Soaphead Church—A man who analyzes dreams and promises to fix family problems; tricks Pecola into believing she has blue eyes.

Rosemary Villanucci—A rich girl who lives next door to Claudia and Frieda; teases the MacTeer girls often from the window of her father’s car.

Aunt Jimmy—The aunt of Cholly Breedlove’s mother, who had abandoned Cholly right after he was born; raises Cholly herself rather than return him to his natural mother.

Blue Jack—An old man who worked at the feed store with Cholly Breedlove; used to entertain Cholly with stories.

M’Dear—A respected midwife who also prescribed home remedies for the ladies of the town in which Cholly Breedlove grew up.

O. V.—Aunt Jimmy’s brother.

Jake—An older cousin who tries to pick up girls with Cholly Breedlove.

Darlene—Cholly Breedlove’s first girlfriend.

Samson Fuller—Cholly’s natural father.

Bay Boy, Woodrow Cain, Buddy Wilson, and Junie Bug—Four boys who tease Pecola in the playground.

Ada and Fowler Williams—Pauline Breedlove’s parents.

Chicken and Pie Williams—Pauline’s younger twin brothers.

Ivy—A singer in Pauline’s childhood church.

The Fishers—The white family that hires Mrs. Breedlove as a maid; The father works as a real estate agent.

The Fishers’ daughter— Mr. and Mrs. Fisher’s adorable little daughter.

Velma—Soaphead Church’s ex-wife.

Summary of the Novel

Claudia MacTeer is a young black girl growing up in the small mill town of Lorain, Ohio. Life for her is difficult, because her parents are too busy to show loving compassion. Claudia often finds it necessary to fight for herself, because other children try to put her down while adults are too busy with their own affairs and only notice children when there is work to be done. Claudia finds a lot of her anger and aggression directed towards the little white dolls that she receives as presents. It seems to her that these white dolls are given more love and attention than a flesh-and-blood black child.

The lives of Claudia and her sister Frieda take an interesting turn when Pecola Breedlove is temporarily placed in the MacTeer home by county officials. Pecola’s father burnt down their home, and Pecola needs a place to stay while her father serves his jail sentence. Claudia and Frieda like Pecola because she is quiet and shy, and responds to their offers of graham crackers and milk. The milk is brought in a Shirley Temple mug. Pecola and Frieda both love Shirley Temple and soon become involved in a discussion about her. Claudia finds it hard to relate to this topic but nevertheless they enjoy each other’s company.

The Breedlove family soon comes together again and finds a different home in an ugly house on the corner of a forgotten street. We learn that the entire Breedlove family has serious problems with self-esteem. The Breedloves go through life believing in their ugliness. Pauline, or Mrs. Breedlove, devotes her time to fighting with her husband Cholly and taking care of a white family. Cholly, when he is not fighting his wife, spends his days drinking. Their children are either abused or neglected, and each child has coped with this abuse or neglect in a special manner. Sammy has already run away from home many times, while Pecola spends her time trying to be invisible. Pecola prays for blue eyes, because she believes that if she were a beautiful girl, everyone in town would treat her nicely.

Pecola, however, is abused by almost everybody in the town. One day, she is brutally teased by a group of boys when she is unexpectedly saved by Frieda, Claudia, and a new girl named Maureen Peal. Maureen Peal is a beautiful light-skinned girl that becomes friendly towards Pecola for a while. However, Maureen soon turns on the other girls, using her own beauty as a weapon against them. Pecola is also the victim of a cruel prank by a light-skinned boy named Louis Junior, who is resentful towards dark-skinned blacks.

The reader is shown how Pecola’s parents met each other. Pauline Williams’ dreams are dashed at an early age when she steps on a nail and develops a crippled foot. It is only when she meets Cholly Breedlove that she begins to feel the magic of life. However, when the newly married couple move to Lorain, they begin to drift apart from each other. Pauline takes solace in the movies, watching the pretty actresses and emulating their hairstyles, but she becomes uglier and uglier. Once she has two children, she begins to spend most of her days taking care of a white family, so she can at least keep the illusion of being beautiful.

Cholly also had a difficult childhood, having been abandoned by both parents. The only person who takes care of him is his Aunt Jimmy, but she dies while Cholly is still a young boy. At Aunt Jimmy’s funeral, Cholly meets another girl and they go off into a nearby field. Their kissing is interrupted by two white hunters, who order Cholly to make love to the girl while they watch. Cholly, shamed and humiliated, transfers this anger to the girl rather than the hunters. Soon after this incident, Cholly travels to Macon, Georgia in search of his natural father. Cholly finds his father but is too afraid to int...