Summary

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison's debut novel, offers a powerful exploration of racism and the corrosive impact of white beauty standards on Black girls and women in America. Set in  Lorain, Ohio, Morrison's hometown, shortly after the Great Depression, it tells the heartbreaking story of Pecola Breedlove, an 11-year-old African American girl who prays for blue eyes, believing they will make her beautiful and loved in a society that prizes whiteness.

Published in 1970, The Bluest Eye is widely recognized as a seminal work of African American literature. Morrison's lyrical prose and unflinching examination of difficult themes like child abuse, incest, and self-hatred earned her critical acclaim. The novel's innovative structure, which incorporates fragments of a “Dick and Jane” primer, highlights the gap between idealized white families and the harsh realities faced by characters like the Breedloves.

Plot

Set in Lorain, Ohio, in 1941, The Bluest Eye tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, an 11-year-old African American girl. Pecola comes from a troubled family and suffers from low self-esteem, believing herself to be ugly. She prays for blue eyes, thinking this will make her beautiful and loved.

The novel is narrated primarily by Claudia MacTeer, a young girl whose family takes Pecola in as a foster child after Pecola's father burns down their home. Through Claudia's perspective and an omniscient narrator, we learn about Pecola's difficult life and the experiences of her parents, Pauline and Cholly Breedlove.

As the story unfolds, we see how racism and poverty have shaped the Breedlove family. Pauline finds solace working as a maid for a white family, while Cholly's traumatic past leads him to become an abusive alcoholic. In a horrifying turn of events, Cholly rapes Pecola, leaving her pregnant.

Pecola's pregnancy causes a scandal in the community. She seeks help from a charlatan named Soaphead Church, asking him to give her blue eyes. Though he cannot actually do this, Pecola descends into madness, believing her wish has been granted. By the novel's end, she is completely detached from reality, talking to an imaginary friend about her “blue eyes” while the child she was carrying does not survive.

Themes

• The destructive power of beauty standards

• Racism and colorism, and their effect on children 

• Internalized feelings of inferiority and self-hatred

• Sexual violence and trauma

• The impact of poverty and social class

• Loss of innocence and coming of age

• Family dysfunction and abuse

• The failure of the American Dream for African Americans

Setting

The Bluest Eye is set in Toni Morrison’s hometown of Lorain, Ohio, in the early 1940s, shortly after the Great Depression. The story takes place against the backdrop of World War II and unfolds primarily within the African American community of this industrial Midwestern town. Morrison vividly depicts the harsh realities of life for Black families struggling with poverty, racism, and limited opportunities during this era.

Within Lorain, much of the action occurs in the impoverished neighborhoods where characters like young Pecola Breedlove and her dysfunctional family reside. The novel also provides glimpses into other settings that shape the characters' experiences, such as their schools, local businesses, and the more affluent white areas of town. Through flashbacks, Morrison additionally explores the Southern backgrounds of some adult characters, illuminating how their pasts continue to influence the present.

Importantly, the novel's setting extends beyond physical locations to encompass the cultural landscape of 1940s America. Morrison deftly portrays how pervasive white beauty standards and racist ideologies of the time profoundly impact her African American characters, especially impressionable young girls like Pecola. By contrasting the grim realities of characters' lives with the idealized white world presented in popular culture of the day, Morrison highlights the destructive effects of internalized racism within this community.

Characters

• Pecola Breedlove: The novel's protagonist, an 11-year-old African-American girl who yearns for blue eyes. Pecola suffers abuse and trauma throughout the story, leading to her descent into madness. Her internalized racism and low self-esteem drive her obsessive desire to conform to white beauty standards. Pecola's tragic journey serves as a powerful critique of racism in American society.

• Claudia MacTeer: One of the novel's narrators, a young African-American girl who befriends Pecola. Claudia is independent and passionate, often rejecting societal beauty standards. She provides a counterpoint to Pecola, demonstrating a more resilient response to racism. Claudia's perspective offers insight into the impact of racial prejudice on young Black women and girls.

• Frieda MacTeer: Claudia's 10-year-old sister. Frieda is more worldly than Claudia and fiercely protective of her loved ones. She stands up for Pecola against bullies and supports Claudia.

• Cholly Breedlove: Pecola's abusive, alcoholic father. Traumatized by his own difficult upbringing and experiences of racism, Cholly inflicts violence on his family. His rape of Pecola is a pivotal moment in the novel.

• Pauline Breedlove: Pecola's mother, who favors the white family for whom she works over her own. Pauline internalizes white beauty standards and often neglects her daughter. Her character illustrates how racism can damage maternal bonds.

• Sammy Breedlove: Pecola's older brother. Sammy copes with his dysfunctional family life by frequently running away from home. His character represents another way children react to abuse and neglect.

• Maureen Peal: A light-skinned, middle-class African-American girl who briefly befriends Pecola before turning on her. Maureen's treatment of Pecola demonstrates how colorism operates within the black community.

• Soaphead Church: A self-proclaimed “Reader, Adviser, and Interpreter of Dreams” who deceives Pecola about granting her wish for blue eyes. His character represents the exploitation of vulnerable individuals seeking acceptance.

Quick facts

• The Bluest Eye was Toni Morrison's first novel, published in 1970 when she was 39 years old.

• Morrison wrote the novel while working as an editor at Random House and raising two young children as a single mother.

• The story is set in Morrison's hometown of Lorain, Ohio, in the 1940s.

• The Bluest Eye was not an immediate commercial success, selling fewer than 2,000 hardcover copies in its first year.

• The novel has faced numerous censorship attempts and appeared on the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books.

• Morrison said she wrote it to explore the damaging effects of white beauty standards on African-American girls.

• The character of Pecola was inspired by a girl Morrison knew in elementary school who wished for blue eyes.

• The Bluest Eye employs multiple narrators and non-linear storytelling techniques that became hallmarks of Morrison's style.

• The book's title comes from Pecola's wish for blue eyes, which she believes will make her beautiful and loved.

• In 2000, Oprah Winfrey selected The Bluest Eye for her book club, dramatically increasing its readership and popularity.

About the Author

Toni Morrison was one of the most influential and celebrated American authors of the 20th century. Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in 1931, Morrison became the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Her novels, including The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Beloved, explored the African American experience with poetic prose and unflinching examinations of racism, identity, and trauma.

Morrison's career spanned more than five decades, during which she worked as an editor at Random House, taught at Princeton University, and published 11 novels as well as children's books, essays, and other works. Her 1987 novel Beloved, inspired by the true story of an enslaved woman who killed her child to save her from slavery, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and is considered Morrison's masterpiece. The novel's challenging structure and haunting portrayal of the psychological scars of slavery cemented Morrison's reputation as a literary pioneer.

Beyond her contributions to literature, Morrison was an influential voice on issues of race and culture in America. She spoke openly about politics and advocated for expanding the literary canon to include more diverse voices. Morrison rejected writing for the “white gaze” and instead focused on authentically portraying Black life and history. Her works have become staples of high school and college curricula, introducing generations of students to nuanced explorations of race, gender, and American identity.

Morrison passed away in 2019 at the age of 88, leaving behind a profound literary legacy. Her life and work opened doors for other writers of color and reshaped the landscape of American literature. Morrison's unflinching examination of America's racial history and her lyrical, innovative prose style ensure her place as one of the most significant authors of the modern era. Her influence continues to be felt in literature, academia, and cultural discourse today.