Activity One   Where does the story happen? When?

 

Set in 1941 in Lorain, Ohio,Toni Morrison's novel centers on a particularly difficult year in the life ofeleven year old Pecola Breedlove.  Pecolacomes from a poor and poorly adjusted black family.  She feels ugly and unaccepted by the worldaround her, and longs for blue eyes—Shirley Temple eyes—which she believes willmake her beautiful, happy and finally accepted.

But   Pecola's story encompasses much more: 

the effects of poverty felt by so many families,

especially poor black families during the

Depression;the effects of racism and segregation;

distortion of self-image encouraged by media

depictions of beauty and happiness; the struggles

of rural families who moved north to find work in

industrial areas.

Many of these problems still exist, of course, but changes in social and governmentpolicies have helped to change the nature and severity of the 

problems.

1. BackgroundInformation

As Toni Morrisonhas become one of America's most celebrated contemporary authors, her firstnovel The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, has gained increasing attention fromliterary critics. Most of the novel is narrated by a young black girl, ClaudiaMacTeer, who is part of a poor but loving black family in Lorain, Ohio, in the1940s. However, the primary focus of the novel is on Pecola Breedlove, anotheryoung black girl who lives in very different circumstances from Claudia and hersister Frieda. Pecola's mother, Pauline, is cruel to her family because theyare a constant reminder that her life can never measure up to the ideal worldof the white family for which she works as a maid. Not only is her motherdistant and aloof, but Pecola's father is also unreliable for any comfort orsupport. Cholly Breedlove drinks excessively and later rapes Pecola. She bearshis child, who dies shortly after birth. Because Pecola, like Pauline, yearnsto be seen as beautiful, she longs for the blue eyes of the most admired childin the 1940s: Shirley Temple. After visiting Soaphead Church, a"spiritualist" who claims he can make Pecola's eyes blue, Pecolabelieves that she has the bluest eyes in the world and now everyone will loveher. Clearly, Pecola is the truest kind of victim. Unlike Claudia, whopossesses the love of her family, Pecola is powerless to reject theunachieveable values esteemed by those around her and finally descends intoinsanity. The Bluest Eye portrays the tragedy which results when AfricanAmericans have no resources with which to fight the standards presented to themby the white culture that scorns them.

Activity Two Q & A Read Par.1 of the text and anwer the questions:

1. Who are they?

2. Where are they from?

3. What are they doing?

Activity Two  What is the plot of the story?

Activity Three Who are the major characters in the story?

Activity Four  What is the structure of the text and what's the point of view

of the narrative?