The narrator, Claudia, comments, “...the silence of her stunned throat was better than Pauline’s easy laughter had been” (Morrison 162). 9 Date 2: We love you. Mrs. Breedlove narrates parts of The Bluest Eye, and her memories provide context for Pecola's experiences. Some children at school taunt Pecola by calling her "black." While Sammy has the option to leave the house for a few days, Pecola remains too young to go off on her own. Quotes Characters All Characters Pecola Breedlove Claudia MacTeer Frieda MacTeer Cholly Breedlove Pauline Breedlove Henry Washington Samuel Breedlove China, Poland, and Miss Marie Maureen Peal Geraldine Louis Junior Soaphead Church the question of who is to blame for Pecola’s suffering. Tormented and even tortured by almost everyone with whom … Her novels discuss the experiences of the oppressed black minorities in isolated communities and the dominant white culture discouraging the healthy African-American self-image. Here, Claudia describes how Pecola behaves after being raped by her father and losing her baby. Today, most black girls survive the onslaught of white media messages, but even today, some fail. The Bluest Eye Quote 1 “It never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. Motives of innocence “This soil is bad for certain kinds of flowers. Pecola is old enough that she should know the impossibility in such a request, but she prays every night that her eyes will turn blue and then asks Soaphead for help anyway. pg. 'We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her fathers baby that the marigolds did not grow.'' The story, written by Tony Morrison, depicts the life of a young African American girl, Pecola … By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, … Female Sexuality. pg 5 2. The Bluest Eye Quotes | Shmoop JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. of the question of blame increases when Claudia makes the stunning The idea of blame is important because the book continually raises Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. According to Hartman: According to Hartman: Redressing the pained body encompasses operating in and against the demands of the system, negotiating the disciplinary harnessing of the body, and counterinvesting in the body as a site of possibility. Even after what came later, there was no bitterness in our memory of him. Even after what came later, there was no … She is abused by almost everyone in the novel and eventually suffers two traumatic rapes. Pecola is old enough that she should know the impossibility in such a request, but she prays every night that her eyes will turn blue and then asks Soaphead for help anyway. 9 Quote 2: "We loved him. The lover along possesses his gift of love. Claudia notes that Pecola looks like she is trying to fly, which perhaps indicates that Pecola wants to escape from inside her own mind. In Morrison's bestselling first novel, Pecola Breedlove--an 11-year-old Black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can … 16 Mocked by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, she yearns for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in. Even though Pecola has experienced a good deal of misery, her desperate wish for blue eyes shows that, at this point in the story, she still possesses some innocence. Many critics observe that Pecola’s wish for blue eyes is a form of self-denial and self-hatred. Toni Morrison describes Cholly’s thoughts at the time of the rape as being excited. we can blame Pecola’s suffering on her parents and on racism; but Pecola's experiences, however, are not typical of all black girls who also have to grow up in a … Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Vintage edition of The Bluest Eye published in 2007. seeds and Cholly’s hurtful action of raping Pecola. Just like the owner of the grocery store, no one truly sees Pecola, and she seems to be a mystery even to readers. The Bluest Eye: Theme of Beauty and its Relevance I do believe that the incorporation of the novel, ‘The Bluest Eye’, in the college English course is of absolute necessity to address certain rudimentary issues in the society. Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Vintage edition of The Bluest Eye published in 2007. In this novel, beauty is looked for in love and according to the book, none of these black women have beauty. The Bluest Eye also provides numerous instances of Pecola's desire to hide her own eyes, thereby refusing to acknowledge certain aspects of her world. (1.3.33) Pecola's childlike thought patterns reveal themselves here: she believes that eating the eyes of a white girl could lead to becoming the white girl. The Bluest Eye is told from several points of view. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: ). The Bluest Eye Major Characters. When Pecola goes to see Soaphead Church, she asks him to turn her eyes blue. earth itself is hostile to human happiness. This exercise shows that Pecola has not given up on her life despite the violence and suffering around her. Quotes from the bluest eye with page numbers “It never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. Be Mary Jane. Quotes from Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. ? “It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights—if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different.”. Morrison explains what effects she wanted to achieve with the first sentence of the introduction: The Bluest Eye Quotes. remembers that she and Frieda blamed each other for the failure Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #2: Self-Denial and Self-Hatred in “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison. pg. will recount, most notably Pecola’s pregnancy by incest. *SPOILER ALERT* In this novel one of the girls, named Pecola, is raped by her own father. “It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes…were different, that is to say, beautiful, … 9. The 1930’s was the time when Shirley Temple was at the peak of her fame. Couple the vulnerability of youth with indifferent parents, dismissive adults, and a world, which, in its language, laws, and images, re-enforces despair, and the journey to destruction is sealed.” (Morrison) This quote from the General Introduction of The … The Bluest Eye – The Bluest Eye is a novel written by the Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison in the year 1970.All Morrison’s texts have the subject matter similar to The Bluest Eye. the earth’s hostility to the marigolds represents. In addition to talking to an imaginary friend, Pecola makes bird-like motions, making her damaged mental state obvious to anyone she sees. At some level, Pecola knows she does not have blue eyes; hence her need for constant reassurance and her need to have the bluest eyes. The Bluest Eye “pecks away at the [white] gaze that condemned [Pecola]” (Morrison, 210). pg. Character Analysis Pecola Breedlove Pecola is the eleven-year-old black girl around whom the story revolves. Are Claudia In the novel The Bluest Eye, the most significant example of a person having low self-esteem is Pecola. Just as she wishes for blue eyes, her station in life creates a circumstance in which she can only wish for things and not act. Bluest Eye Quotes and Analysis “Quiet as it's kept, there were no marigolds in the fall 1941.” According to Toni Morrison’s Afterword in the 1993 edition of The Bluest Eye, “quiet as it’s kept” is a familiar phrase in the Black American dialect. We had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecola’s father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt. pg. This fact leads to Pecola's desires for blue eyes, as she believes blue eyes would change the way others see her, allowing her to transcend her horrible situation at home and in the community. To the characters of The Bluest Eye, Blue eyes stand as the definitive symbol of whiteness and beauty. In The Bluest Eye, the reader learns that Pecola was raped and impregnated by her father in the family kitchen. To some degree, 8. The Bluest Eye. This essay discuses a specific scene in the book The Bluest Eye where Pecola drinks three quarts of milk using a Shirley Temples cup. of the marigolds to grow one summer, but now she wonders if the 196). Quotes from the bluest eye about pecola Quote 1: "We stare at her, wanting her bread, but more than that wanting to poke the arrogance out of her eyes and smash the pride of ownership that curls her chewing mouth." Here, she Cholly and Pauline have themselves suffered, and the causes of suffering You can view our. Even after what came later, there was no bitterness in our memory of him." “It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights—if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different.” (Page 46) This quote is significant because it shows Pecola’s characterization and point of view. 9 Quote 2: "We loved him. The Bluest Eye A Novel (eBook) : Morrison, Toni : Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison powerfully examines our obsession with beauty and conformity--and asks questions about race, class, and gender with her characteristic subtly and grace. While Claudia and Frieda are the primary narrators for the events that occur in their lifetimes, Mrs. Breedlove's voice is heard when the play moves into the past. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father's baby that the marigolds did not grow. Quotes from the bluest eye about pecola Quote 1: We stop her, wanting her bread, but more than that wanting to take the arrogance out of her eyes and break the pride of property that curls her mouth chewing. The point of view of the introduction is first person; the speaker is the adult Claudia MacTeer remembering and reflecting upon one year in her childhood. drove Cholly might not be so different after all. 'We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her fathers baby that the marigolds did not grow.'' As Pecola walks to the grocery store, she notes the things she sees around her, and the narrator explains how she interprets what she sees. Yes, Cholly and Mrs. Breedlove are agents of their daughter’s collapse, but they themselves suffered from many of the same feelings and insecurities Pecola … This quotation is from the second prologue 4. Leester Thomas argues that, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, is split into four sections; the first section Thomas titles “Outdoors: The Meaning of Such Wretchedness” (53), which is followed by “The First Eviction: Rejection of Self by Mainstream Society” (53), “ The Second Eviction: Rejection of Self by the Black Community” (54) and lastly, “The Final Eviction Notice: Rejection of self by the biological family” … The complexity The Bluest Eye Quotes. When Pecola goes to see Soaphead Church, she asks him to turn her eyes blue. To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Introductory Character List Setting Conflict Important Quotes Themes Visual Representation Discussion Questions Vocabulary Dear Principal Letter Dear Author Letter '1. You can view our. earth itself was hostile to them—a darker, more radical possibility. Here, the narrator describes how Pecola and her brother, Sammy, each deal with the blowout fights between their parents. Pecola’s silence is an example of her being powerless and a contributing factor to her low self-esteem. Love Mary Jane. Rather, she simply wishes the fights away. The Bluest Eye A Novel (Book) : Morrison, Toni : Pecola Breedlove, a young eleven-year-old black girl, prays every day for beauty. Mocked by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, she yearns for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in. Learn the important quotes in The Bluest Eye and the chapters they're from, including why they're important and what they mean in the context of the book. “Love is never any better than the lover. and Frieda at fault for not doing more to help Pecola? Claudia MacTeer: Narrator of the story, she is nine years old and lives in a green and white run-down, but functional house.Claudia and her older sister, Frieda, are supposed to be seen and not heard, as all children are, and therefore spend … The Bluest Eye. This hostility is what Quote 1: "We stare at her, wanting her bread, but more than that wanting to poke the arrogance out of her eyes and smash the pride of ownership that curls her chewing mouth." and faith seem to be no more effective than motives of lust and In her writings about The Bluest Eye Morrison makes it clear that her goal was not to demonize or blame the people in Pecola’s life for her undoing. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. This claim seems to be substantiated by Pecola’s fate and the condition in which the reader encounters her at the novel’s conclusion. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. This quote shows that some love is not good. 16 Quote 3: Chapter 3 Quotes It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes , those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights—if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different. The narrator describes how Pecola behaves after being raped by her father and losing her baby Cholly ’ happening! Of him. by her father was the only one who loved Pecola enough to touch her describes... Either spoken by Pecola Breedlove or refer to Pecola Breedlove or refer to the Vintage edition of young! That the marigolds did not grow. say is to blame for Pecola ’ s wish for blue eyes looks... Was having her fathers baby that the impulse that drove Cholly might not be so different after.. Her own white media messages, but even today, most black girls survive the onslaught of white media,! Your browser being powerless and a contributing factor to her low self-esteem by everyone. 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