The Start of The Bluest Eye

I am in the process of reading The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison. This book grabbed my attention because it a part of Oprah’s book club and I highly respect Oprah and her philosophy. The Bluest Eye is also a winner of the Nobel Prize in literature and a national bestseller. In the novel, an eleven-year-old girl named Pecola Breedlove is caught up in this fascination for blonde, blue-eyed children and wishes that she had blue eyes as well in order to be beautiful. These characteristics unfortunately are what she thinks defines beauty. She seems to be desperate to have blue eyes. She prays and prays in hope to be something she is not. I am getting to experience this black girl’s universe through the novel’s events. I feel like this little innocent black girl wants to be a part of a white girl’s world for the loving attention that she is longing for. This novel is giving me a perspective of a black girl’s yearning and longing for “beauty.” This novel is a true test to a child’s innocence. Her father Cholly is a violent and drunk man who abuses both Pecola and her mother. I can see that her dysfunctional family situations spark Pecola’s unhappy existence. It is sad to see that Pecola thinks everything will be all right if only she had blue eyes and blonde hair. Morrison gives great depth and detail in chapter 2. Most of the objects are symbolic and meaningful to the novel’s purpose. I like how the novel is broken up by seasons, each being significant to the plot of the story.
Oprah’s website provided me with a lot of insight on the novel and its origin. It fully discusses how the novel came to be which is quite interesting. This website includes some readers own reactions to the novel. One woman named Diana said, “this book has served as a spiritual awakening to me, for it taught me to love my brothers and sisters for their humanity- not their color, religion, sexual persuasion but because we are one in the eyes of our beholder.” Sometimes reading other people’s reactions to the novel help build up my own opinions about it. I like comparing my own reactions to those other individuals who enjoyed the book. “Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" is an inquiry into the reasons why beauty gets wasted in this country” Leonard, John. The video i posted below is a great visual as to how this novel impacts the reader. This video includes significant quotes.