Back when I was in high school, I would groan at the thought of reading a book assigned to me by a teacher. I’ve always been quite picky with the books I read, and honestly, a lot of the books my teachers assigned me were flat out bad. But there is one book I read for assigned reading, during my sophomore year book club unit, that has stuck with me to this day. That book is Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” the tragic story of a young black girl growing up in Ohio following the Great Depression.
While not told from her own perspective, the main focus of this story is a young girl named Pecola Bredlove. Pecola moves in with the MacAteers after her alcoholic father tries to burn down her house and she witnesses several brutal fights between her parents. Her parents had also lived difficult lives before her, with her mother suffering from a disability, her father dealing with his own abandonment issues and the aftermath of being humiliated by two white men when they found him having sex for the first time. Pecola, a young and innocent girl at this point in the story, has an obsession with Shirley Temple, wishing to have her whiteness and her blue eyes.
After moving back with her family, things only get worse: her parents constantly argued and her brother constantly ran away. She loses herself in the movies even more, believing that if she too had blue eyes, her life might be better. This only worsens after her father sexually assaults her, impregnating her. When her mother came home to Pecola’s unconscious body on the floor, she dismisses her story and beats her. Eventually, after her baby is born prematurely and dies, she is sexually assaulted yet again by her father. Pecola then descends into madness, believing that she actually has blue eyes.
Pecola symbolizes the self-hatred that plagues the black community due to the way they have been treated. Other characters in the story acted out on this self-hatred by taking it out on Pecola. She served as a scapegoat for her community, for they felt better about their suffering while they saw her suffering more. However, as she is still alive despite losing her mind, at the end of the novel, this forever haunts the community.
Morrison published this novel in 1970, but the way it is still relevant to today’s society is almost frightening. We live in a country where our government no longer values diversity. This same thing goes for the beauty standards in this country. Just think about it, how do you think a young black girl will feel about the way she looks in a world that seems to only celebrate her white peers?
For the record, I am white, and I do have blue eyes, but the way this novel speaks to me is nearly indescribable. In my opinion, it’s very important that we as a society and as women, take the time to value the beauty of everyone, not just the white girls.