The Bluest Eye Theme Essay

The Bluest Eye is a novel by Toni Morrison that takes place at the end of the Great Depression in Ohio. In the novel, the MacTeer family first takes in a young boarder named Pecola Breedlove after her father Cholly has attempted to burn down the family home, but she is soon reunited with her own family despite their hardships. The MacTeer family are essential to the novel because one of the young daughters, Frieda, seems to suffer from a much less severe racism than most other characters, going as far as to destroy a white doll she is given. Cholly drinks, and Cholly and Pecola’s mother Pauline are physically abusive towards each other, leading her brother Sammy to run away from the home. A main theme in the novel is that Pecola believes traditionally white features such as blue eyes are seen as more beautiful than her own black features and often longs for them, thinking it will make her life easier if she was prettier, and other characters in the book, like
The character Pecola idolizes the young actress Shirley Temple and believes that if she had blue eyes the hardships in her life will be ended and she will be respected and even showered with affection, and lighter-skinned Maureen is seen as cuter than the dark-skinned girls. The black mothers in this novel, such as Pauline Breedlove and Geraldine, understand the general consensus is that white is superior, and seem to take their hatred for this out on Pecola, with Geraldine blaming Pecola for killing her cat because she is a “nasty black bitch,” when it was actually her son Junior. The only character who appears to disagree with this racism is Claudia and Frieda MacTeer. Claudia believes that Pecola’s baby will be beautiful despite being black. However, several times, it is implied that racial self-loathing the characters face is brought on by maturation, and Claudia will soon face the issue