"The Bluest Eye" By Toni Morrison

"The Bluest Eye", published in 1970, is the first novel written by author Toni Morrison. Morrison is an acclaimed African American novelist, Pulitzer, and Nobel Prize winner whose works are praised for addressing the harsh consequences of racism in the US. This novel is also based on the topic of racism.

The Bluest Eye provides an extended depiction of the ways in which internalized white beauty standards deform the lives of black girls and women. Implicit messages that whiteness is superior are everywhere, including the white baby doll given to Claudia, the idealization of Shirley Temple, the consensus that light-skinned Maureen is cuter than the other black girls.

“The Bluest Eye” tells the story of an African – American girl named Pecola. Pecola is a young girl of may be 9 or 10 years old. She suffers mentally and physically. Her father is a drunkard and her mother works at the house of white wealthy family. Both of them don’t have time for Pecola. Both of them used to fight verbally and physically. Pecola suffers the racism at school, in her neighborhood and mostly every where. Once Pecola’s father raped her, and it happened again also. After raping second time Cholly runs away, by leaving pregnant Pecola behind. Then Pecola comes to know about their parents suffering by having black skin. Her baby born pre mature and that is why baby dies. Pecola now had lost her mental stability. Now she wish for blue eyes, which in hypocritically racist society believes as standard of beauty. At the end she also believes that she has got blue eyes, and that is why everybody has changed their behavior with Pecola.

So, this is how the racism affects the life of every African American person. Of this is what they suffer then there is something wrong in other peoples’ culture and thinking. That something wrong should be identify and removed, so others Pecola can live with their own eye color.

The prevalence of sexual violence in the novel suggests that racism is not the only thing that distorts black girlhoods. There is also a pervasive assumption that women’s bodies are available for abuse. The refusal on the part of parents to teach their girls about sexuality makes the girls’ transition into sexual maturity difficult.