The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

There are many beautiful things in this world. There are beautiful people, beautiful places, and beautiful things. When telling a story there are ways to portray beauty. Then, on the other hand there are ugly things in this world. Things like the way people look, how situations can be, or how people can be treated. In every book the author will either look to tell the good parts of a story, or to show the bad in the situation. For example, an author could take a person and tell about how fat or poor the person is, and looks to entertain by pointing out those facts. Then on the other hand the author could talk about how perfect and rich a person’s life is, and looks to entertain by talking about this. Well in the novel The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison does not portray beauty, but instead shows the ugliness in the world.

Toni Morrison shows that it was very hard for Pecola in everyday life. For starters, Pecola was not the richest person. In fact, she and her family where very poor and living in poverty. As stated by Toni Morrison in the novel “Although their poverty was traditional and stultifying, it was not unique.” (Morrison 38). This quote is talking about the financial issues if the Breedloves family. It states that it is the average poor person situation. There’s nothing too deep about the issue. Instead of Toni Morrison talking about how poor the family is, she could have just shed more light on the good things out of the situation. She shows the way Pecola had to feel every time she wakes up. Out off all of the good things going in the world Pecola has bad things happening to her. Pecola also has to deal with being ugly. In The Bluest Eye it was also stated “No one could have convinced them that were not relentlessly and aggressively ugly.” (Morrison 38). This quote is showing the attitude that they had about themselves. It says that they felt no one could say much to prove them as not being ugly. They didn’t really think highly of themselves. Toni shows how horrible life was for Pecola and her whole family being reminded every day that they are not beautiful. Having in the back of their minds that nobody feels that they are beautiful.

In the novel The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison shows how sick and cruel people can be. Racism was shown very heavily towards Pecola’s father Cholly when he was caught in the woods with a white girl. Two racist white men picked the perfect opportunity to show the sickness of racism. A recent article stated “and we observe Cholly’s humiliating and traumatic sexual experience at the hands of two white, racist hunters.” (Blumenthal 118). The quote tells about a sexual encounter with Cholly. He is caught in the act by two white racist hunters. They proceeded to humiliate him. In the world today sex goes on pretty much everywhere, but it is even worse that in this particular incident a black man was caught in the act by two racist whites. And, instead of just going about their business they just had to humiliate him by forcing him to continue as they watched. The two white men showed no remorse. Also, in The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison began to shed a little light on the cruelty of a father’s relationship. A recent article shows a readers feelings about the situation, ” ‘Father will you play with Jane’ becomes indicative of something darker” (Blumenthal 117). This quote shows hidden darkness. It shows how one phrase can become something totally different. It implies that the father is a negative character. It’s just shows the sickness of how a father can go and begin to have feelings for his very own blood daughter. Toni portrays this in the novel, and in fact has an entire section in it about the father not controlling his feelings, and actually getting physical with his daughter. Toni has no problem showing how evil the minds of people can be in this day and time, and its only getting worse.

Toni Morrison shows how dreams never became reality, and how a young child’s is never answered in the particular situation. In the novel Pecola sees her friends and other people around her with beautiful families. She sees this and starts to get ideas about how it would be to have a family like this. In a recent article from a reviewer of The Bluest Eye it was stated “she also wants a family unlike her own.” (Hirsch 3). In this quote the author is pointing out what Pecola wants. She wants a family not like her own. She doesn’t like the one she has. This shows that there is a real issue due to the fact that a poor little girl has to go through feeling as if her family isn’t so great, and that she could use a new, more perfect like family. Also Toni Morrison begins the novel off putting in how a perfect family would be with the Dick and Jane story. She does this almost as if to tease the reader that the story will be a perfect life time story. A reviewer recorded “Mother, Father, Dick and Jane live in the green -and- white house. They are very happy.” (Hirsch 3). This quote shows the perfect family of Dick and Jane. It tells about the house they live in. It is also very vague on details. The reason for Toni Morrison putting this in the beginning of the book was to show you a model beautiful family. Then she writes a novel about a very dysfunctional family. She points out almost everything that could be bad about a family. She shows a daughter being raped, a little girl being inappropriately touched, and a black man being forced to continue to have sex with a girl in front of two racist men.

In the novel The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison shows the difficulties and struggles people had to deal with during this time. Most of the time a person is judged only on how they look, and are treated accordingly. In the novel a woman was decribed in these exact words “Pauline’s blackness, her pregnancy, and every other manifestation of her physicality are entirely absent from her visual and cultural intake.” (Rokotnitz 396). The quote is talking about Paulines physical appearance. It says that she I basically different on the inside than she is on the outside. She may look a certain way but it doesn’t mean she feels that way. Even though she has a very different personality than the way she looks, she still has to deal with those who do not know her personally. She is constantly judged off of the first look. This is just one of the many situations that where dealt with during this time. Another incident deals with a little girl feeling guilty about something that she didn’t fully understand. An article for a reader mentions from the novel “Claudia holds herself responsible, believing she was to blame for these premature deaths. (Rokotnitz 401). The quote shows that Claudia feels guilty. She feels responsible for the death of the babies. She is too young at the time to understand the entire situation. This shows the ugliness of the novel. A young girl feels guilty of a death. This isn’t something a young child should have to go through. Just imagine the hurt she feels and how she will be scared.

Toni Morrison portray’s the ugliness of the world in the novel The Bluest Eye. For starters, she shows how difficult life can be for the young girl Pecola growing up. Pecola and her family where not wealthy at all. They were actually poor and nothing was unique about them, They were just another poor family, and she had to wake up and deal with this every day. Not only was her and her family poor, but they were also very ugly. No one, including themselves, felt that they were beautiful. They had no hope or self esteem for themselves. Morrison also shows the cruelties of the way people were treated with the two white racist hunters forcing Cholly to continue to have sexual relations. And also, how sick a father could be to harness impure thoughts about a very own blood daughter. Morrison also shows that nothing good happens in this girls life. She dreams of having a perfect family unlike the one she has. In the end, Toni Morrison pointed out nothing beautiful in the story.