I have a new friend here in North Carolina who's originally from Ohio. She's a well-read lady who is savvy on the topics of both spiritual reads and literary fiction, so when I saw her yesterday, I said, “Hey, I'm wrapping up Toni Morrison's THE BLUEST EYE right now. Have you read it?”

She surprised me by saying, “No. I've actually never read anything of hers.”

I was like, “Dude, you're from Ohio! She's the best writer that the state of Ohio has ever produced. How have you never read her work?”

She said, “I know. I know,” and she wrote down THE BLUEST EYE on the notepad that was in front of her. Then she asked, “So, it's wonderful?”

I bit my lip.

“Um, no, it's not wonderful. I mean. . . it's some of the best writing you'll ever read in your life, but I wouldn't describe it as wonderful.”

She was like, “But it's great, obviously.”

I started to rub an eyebrow. “Well, no, I wouldn't call it great. I mean. . . the writing is great, but it's like. . .” I couldn't finish my sentence.

She looked like she was ready to draw a solid line through the title, but instead she asked, “What's it about?”

I started to pick lint off of my black yoga pants. “Um. . . like rape. And incest. Animal abuse. Poverty.”

She raised her eyebrows.

I could see I was losing my audience. “But the writing is amazing. I think she's the best female writer ever to come out of the U.S.”

She nodded her head and said, “I've always meant to read something of hers.”

I nodded my head back. “Yeah,” I hesitated. “But, like, be warned if you ever read Beloved. It's the scariest story you'll ever read. You should probably start with this one. It was actually her debut.”

She looked doubtful and said, “The one that's about rape and incest and animal abuse?”

“Yeah.”

We looked at each other, then started talking about Louise Hay.

As we talked, she started to doodle on her notepad. By the time I stood up to walk out the door, I could no longer make out the title on the piece of paper.

The Bluest Eye war das letzte Buch, das ich 2022 beendete. Ich hatte mir in dem Jahr vorgenommen, wieder drei Romane von Morrison zu entdecken. Da ich aber erst im Herbst zu einer ersten Lektüre kam – ich las Tar Baby – wollte ich im Dezember dann wenigstens noch ein Werk schaffen. Ich las The Bluest Eye innerhalb von zwei Tagen, was bei einer Länge von nur 205 Seiten nicht verwunderlich ist; in der Rückschau kommt es mir, aufgrund der Tiefe der Themen, doch etwas schnell vor. Ich hätte mir durchaus mehr Zeit für diesen Roman nehmen können.

Eigentlich lese ich Morrisons Werk in chronologischer Reihenfolge; bisher sparte ich The Bluest Eye jedoch aus, da ich es vermeide über den sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern zu lesen. Mir ist dieses Thema einfach zu heftig und obwohl es wichtig ist, möchte ich mich damit eigentlich nicht beschäftigen. Da jedoch mein Interesse, Morrisons Gesamtwerk zu erschließen, größer war, als meine Angst vor diesem Thema, fasste ich mir ein Herz und gab dem Roman eine Chance. Was ich sehr erleichternd fand, ist die Tatsache, dass der Missbrauch nur in einer Szene des Romans explizit geschildert wird, ansonsten gibt es zwar viele Referenzen auf Pecolas Schwangerschaft und die Tatsache, dass der Vater der Täter ist, aber im Großen und Ganzen fand ich den Roman aushaltbar.

Ich würde nicht sagen, dass Morrison mit einer besonderen Feinfühligkeit an dieses Thema herangegangen ist, ihre Beschreibungen sind teils schon echt heftig und schroff, aber ich fand diesen eher kahlen und realistischen Blick auf das Thema passend. In der Einführung zu dem Buch, schreibt Morrison: "In exploring the social and domestic aggression that could cause a child to literally fall apart, I mounted a series of rejections, some routine, some exceptional, some monstrous, all the while trying hard to avoid complicity in the demonization process Pecola was subjected to. That is, I did not want to dehumanize the characters who trashed Pecola and contributed to her collapse. One problem was centering the weight of the novel’s inquiry on so delicate and vulnerable a character could smash her and lead readers into the comfort of pitying her rather than into an interrogation of themselves for the smashing."

Und während ich diesen Ansatz verstehe muss ich dennoch sagen, dass ich Morrisons Charakterisierung von Cholly Breedlove, Pecolas Vater und dann Vergewaltiger, nie ganz nachvollziehen konnte. Ich verstehe, warum Morrison kein Interesse daran hatte, ihn als ein unmenschliches Monster zu karikieren – ich selbst bin immer genervt davon, wenn Autor*innen zu moralisierend und "on the nose" sind (da ich mir dann immer denke: "ja, ich kriege das schon noch selbst hin, einen Vergewaltiger zu verurteilen, das braucht mir der*die Autor*in nicht abzunehmen). Dennoch porträtiert Morrison Cholly fast durchweg als, klar, zerrissenen Schwarzen Mann, der nicht für seine Familie sorgen kann, wie er es gerne möchte, aber dennoch deep down als gute Seele, der als einziger Mensch auf dieser Welt seine Tochter liebt. Das ging für mich dann mit seinem späteren unverzeihlichen Gewaltakt überhaupt nicht zusammen. Ich habe mich bisher nicht mit der Psychologie von Sexualstraftäter*innen beschäftigt, aber Cholly ist für mich ein Charakter, der nicht plausibel ist – ich nehme Morrison nicht ab, dass es einen Mann, wie ihn gibt.

Doch fangen wir vielleicht lieber von vorne an:

n  Quiet as it’s kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father’s baby that the marigolds did not grow. A little examination and much less melancholy would have proved to us that our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout; nobody’s did.

We had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecola’s father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt. Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair. What is clear now is that of all of that hope, fear, lust, love, and grief, nothing remains but Pecola and the unyielding earth. Cholly Breedlove is dead; our innocence too. The seeds shriveled and died; her baby too. There is really nothing more to say—except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.n

So lauten die ersten Zeilen des Romans. Sie stammen von Claudia, einer Schulfreundin Pecolas. Die Handlung spielt in Lorain, Ohio, wo Morrison selbst 1932 geboren wurde, und handelt von dem Schwarzen Mädchen Pecola Breedlove, das sich nichts sehnlicher als blaue Augen wünscht, weil es hofft, dann von der eigenen Mutter geliebt zu werden. Pauline Breedlove dient der weißen Familie Fisher als Hausmädchen. Um deren kleine blauäugige Tochter kümmert sie sich rührend. Zu Hause muss sie Waschwasser in Eimern auf dem Herd erhitzen. Bei Familie Fisher badet sie das Kind dagegen in einer Porzellanwanne mit silbrigen Wasserhähnen und reibt es danach mit flauschigen Handtüchern trocken. Bei den Fishers findet Pauline in ihrer untergeordneten Rolle "Macht, Lob und Anerkennung". Für ihre eigene Familie hat sie (verständlicherweise) nach den langen, harten Arbeitstagen keine Energie mehr übrig. Cholly ist ständig betrunken und verprügelt Pauline. In diesem Umfeld ohne Liebe bzw. Zuneigung wächst Pecola mit ihrem Bruder Sammy auf.

Morrison erzählt die Geschichte aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven und bringt uns alle Charaktere nahe. So erfahren wir, dass auch Cholly eine schwere Kindheit hatte. Als er vier Tage alt war, wickelte ihn seine Mutter in zwei Decken und eine Zeitung und setzte ihn auf einem Müllhaufen aus. Seine Großtante Jimmy beobachtete ihre Nichte, rettete ihn und zog ihn auf. Sein eigener Vater schickte ihn zum Teufel. In seinen Jugendjahren wird Cholly bei seinem ersten Mal von zwei Weißen beobachtet, die ihn dann zwingen für sie den sexuellen Akt nochmal zu performen. Diese Demütigung scheint Cholly nie überwunden zu haben.

In der Beziehung zu Pauline fand er keine Zuflucht, sondern nur einen Käfig. Er trinkt und schlägt sie. Sie übernimmt die volle Verantwortung (und Anerkennung) als Brotverdiener der Familie. Morrison schreibt über diese Dynamik: "If Cholly had stopped drinking, she would never have forgiven Jesus. She needed Cholly’s sins desperately." und "Holding Cholly as a model of sin and failure, she bore him like a crown of thorns, and her children like a cross." Die Eheleute scheinen in diesem toxischen Geflecht, das sich gegenseitig füttert, gefangen.

Und schließlich begeht Cholly den unverzeihlichen Akt und vergewaltigt seine elfjährige Tochter. Das Baby kommt zu früh zur Welt und lebt nur kurz. Auch Cholly stirbt. Und Pecola wird verrückt. Erst der Wahnsinn schützt sie vor den anderen Menschen.

In der Einführung schreibt Morrison: "When I began writing The Bluest Eye, I was interested in something else. Not resistance to the contempt of others, ways to deflect it, but the far more tragic and disabling consequences of accepting rejection as legitimate, as self-evident. … there are some who collapse, silently, anonymously, with no voice to express or acknowledge it. They are invisible."

Und das hat Morrison mit diesem Roman geschafft. Es ist kein Meisterwerk geworden. Nicht verwunderlich, schließlich ist es ihr Debut. Und im Vergleich zu ihren späteren Werken weist The Bluest Eye definitiv Schwächen auf, aus denen Morrison später lernte. Sie selbst fand die Struktur des Romans im Nachhinein nicht gelungen. Und da würde ich ihr Recht geben. Die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven, auktorial, wenn es um die Breedloves geht, erste Person, wenn Claudias Sicht geschildert wird, sind unterschiedlich stark.

Claudia war mein Lieblingscharakter, ist vielleicht sogar my all-time fave, wenn es um Charaktere von Toni Morrison geht. Ich habe sie einfach geliebt. Ihre Naivität, ihre Gutherzigkeit, den Humor und die Leichtigkeit (und gleichzeitig auch Traurigkeit), die sie in die Geschichte gebracht hat. Was hätte ich dafür gegeben, den Roman komplett aus ihrer Perspektive zu lesen. Noch mehr über sie und ihre Schwester Frieda zu erfahren, über ihre komplizierte Freundschaft mit Pecola, ihre unsortierten Gefühle zu Pecolas Schwangerschaft.n  

Our astonishment was short-lived, for it gave way to a curious kind of defensive shame; we were embarrassed for Pecola, hurt for her, and finally we just felt sorry for her. Our sorrow drove out all thoughts of the new bicycle. And I believe our sorrow was the more intense because nobody else seemed to share it. They were disgusted, amused, shocked, outraged, or even excited by the story. … More strongly than my fondness for Pecola, I felt a need for someone to want the black baby to live—just to counteract the universal love of white baby dolls, Shirley Temples, and Maureen Peals. And Frieda must have felt the same thing.

nClaudia ist der stärkere/passendere Charaktere für diese Geschichte. Pecola ist zu passiv, zu sehr "Opfer", als dass man als Leser*in nicht an Mitleid zu ihr erstickt. Morrison wollte es vermeiden, dass ihre Leser*innen zu viel Mitgefühl mit Pecola empfinden, aber es ist unmöglich bei diesem hilflosen jungen Mädchen, dass sich selbst und ihr Aussehen hasst und dann noch sexuellen Missbrauch erfährt. Wie kein Mitgefühl haben? Über Claudia als Mittlerin der Geschichte gewänne man den nötigen Abstand, um die Geschichte etwas mehr aus der Ferne zu betrachten. Und gleichzeitig ist Claudia selbst auch ein toller und faszinierender Charakter. Auch sie kämpft ihre Kämpfe.

Es ist sehr passend, dass der Roman mit ihrer Perspektive anfängt und endet: "We saw her sometimes. Frieda and I—after the baby came too soon and died. We tried to see her without looking at her, and never, never went near. Not because she was absurd, or repulsive, or because we were frightened, but because we had failed her. Our flowers never grew. … All of our waste which we dumped on her and which she absorbed. And all of our beauty, which was hers first and which she gave to us. … And fantasy it was, for we were not strong, only aggressive; we were not free, merely licensed; we were not compassionate, we were polite; not good, but well behaved. We courted death in order to call ourselves brave, and hid like thieves from life. … I even think now that the land of the entire country was hostile to marigolds that year. This soil is bad for certain kinds of flowers. Certain seeds it will not nurture, certain fruit it will not bear, and when the land kills of its own volition, we acquiesce and say the victim had no right to live. We are wrong, of course, but it doesn’t matter. It’s too late."

Abschließend bleibt zu sagen, dass Morrison in The Bluest Eye vieles "falsch" macht. Viel zu viel Exposition, die Themen (und teils auch wie sie zu interpretieren sind) werden einem auf dem Silbertablett serviert, viel "telling", wenig "showing", unschlüssige Charakterzeichnung bei Cholly, gänzlich sinnlose Charaktere für die Geschichte (bspw. Soaphead – einfach nur why? was sollte dann auch noch dieser ellenlange Brief?), zu viele POVs etc. etc. – Und dennoch ist es ein gelungenes Debut. The Bluest Eye ist ein Roman, der unter die Haut geht. Ich habe gelacht (cue the scene where Frieda and Claudia find out about Pecola's first menstruation: "She was ministratin'") und geweint. Morrisons Stil ist unverkennbar. Sie zieht einen direkt in ihre Geschichten rein. Sie zwingt einen hinzuschauen, nicht nur auf die schönen, sondern auch auf die hässlichen Dinge des Lebens. Und sie macht Platz. Für Schwarze Stimmen, Schwarze Perspektiven. Keine hat den Platz im Kanon so sehr verdient wie sie.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison centers around Pecola, an 11-year-old black girl living in a black neighborhood in Ohio. Pecola's mother works as a maid for a middle-class white family, where she dotes on the white children but is harsh towards her own daughter. Pecola's father is an alcoholic who frequently abuses his wife and Pecola's older brother. Unable to bear the constant family strife, Pecola's brother runs away from home. At school, Pecola faces bullying and ridicule from her classmates. A white girl pretends to be friends with her but only does so to impress the boys in their class. Pecola's final days at school end with humiliation from this white girl.

Pecola often prays to God, wishing for a pair of blue eyes. She believes that if she had the most beautiful blue eyes like the white girls, people would stop bullying her, stop mocking her ugliness, and her family would be perfect. Her father would no longer drink or be abusive, her mother would be more loving, her brother would return home, and she would have many friends to play with.

One quiet afternoon, while washing dishes at home, Pecola is raped by her drunken father. From that point forward, she develops schizophrenia. In her delusional state, she imagines an imaginary self with a pair of blue eyes she's always desired. Ultimately, she dies in childbirth.

What truly pains me is not the book itself, but the subconscious images of white characters that formed in my mind while reading. It was only when I realized this that I understood how deeply we are bound by societal norms. Just as the black girl receives a Barbie doll for her birthday, a symbol universally associated with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin, reflecting the dominance of white beauty standards. This is why she desires blue eyes so much. In her young mind, everything associated with white is beautiful, and she, as someone on the opposite end of the spectrum, is inherently ugly. The novel repeatedly uses the word 'ugly' to describe the girl. This made me wonder: who decides what is beautiful or ugly? Can someone else's opinion of our appearance be a reason for us to feel inadequate?

A particularly poignant aspect of the novel is the prejudice Black people experience from other people of color: Junior only played with white kids because his mother wouldn't let him play with Black kids. This is how she explained the difference between colored people and black people to him: They were easy to tell apart, colored people were neat and quiet; Black people were dirty and noisy... The distinction between people of color and Black people was not always obvious. Subtle cues could reveal the truth and blur the lines, making constant vigilance necessary. This self-delusion is actually a reflection of their own self-loathing and inability to accept who they are. Consequently, they are destined to fall short and they could never become what they wanted to be.

Despite being a frequently discussed topic, racial discrimination continues to exist. The dominant society often holds the view that marginalized groups should be content with their circumstances. This attitude mirrors the struggles faced by women, emphasizing the interconnectedness of social justice movements. Addressing discrimination is crucial for the betterment of society as a whole.

3.9 / 5 stars

في طفولة توني موريسون كان هناك زميلة لها سوداء في المدرسة، تتمنى أن يكون لها عينان زرقاوان؛ لكي تصبح جميلة كالنموذج الأمريكي آنذاك مثل الطفلة الشهيرة "شيرلي تمبل"، ومن غرابة الأمنية ظلت تلك الحادثة في عقل موريسون، إلى أن جاء الوقت لكتابة رواية أولى لها عام 1970 مستوحاة من تلك الأمنية الغريبة والمستحيلة.

"كان ازدراؤهم لسوادهم هو الذي منح الإهانة الأولى أسنانها القاطعة. بدا أنهم قد أخذوا كل جهلهم الذي غرس على مهل، وكراهيتهم لأنفسهم التي تعلموها على نحو رائع، وعجزهم المصمم قصدًا، وامتصوه متصاعدين به إلى مخروط ناري من السخرية اتقد طوال دهور في تجاويف أذهانهم، وانسكب على شفاه من غضب حانق مجتاحًا كل ما في طريقه".

إذًا كان المجتمع يجسد الواقع الأليم في مجتمع عنصري، يرى الجمال فقط في البشرة البيضاء والعيون الزرقاء، حتى دمى الأطفال كانت مثال صارخ لتلك الأحادية المفروضة على مجتمع متعدد الأجناس.

تدور الأحداث في مدينة "لورين" ولاية أوهايو عام 1941 وهي نفس بلدة موريسون، عن الفتاة السوداء "بيكولا" والتي تعرضت منذ الصغر لكل أصناف البشاعة والمهانة من الأسرة والمجتمع، أب سكير وزملاء مدرسة ينعتونها بالقبح والغباء، أم خادمة لعائلة من الأثرياء البيض، حيث تربت وعاشت حياة صراع مع مجتمع ضد قومها على طول الخط، مما أدى بتلك الفتاة المسكينة البائسة، أن تتمنى تلك الأمنية الحزينة الغريبة، والتخلص من كونها سوداء بالحصول على العيون الزرق، فتصبح كالبيض أسياد المجتمع من جمال وسُلطة. كانت فقيرة وقبيحة كما نعتوها، ومخرجها من كل ذلك هي تلك الأمنية والتي سوف تخلصها من العنصرية والذل في حياتها البائسة. فهل ستتحقق تلك الأمنية لها في نهاية المطاف أو خاتمة الرواية؟ وهي بالمناسبة من أجمل ما يكون وبها ذكاء وحوار بديع يختصر الكثير من الكلمات.

السرد رائع وشاعري، استخدام اسلوب الاسترجاع الزمني للأحداث؛ سلس ومتقن لكل شخصيات الرواية يوضح ملابسات وأساس وخلفية الشخصية، أيضًا تسلط موريسون الضوء على هموم المجتمع الأسود وحظهم من شظف العيش ووحشية المجتمع، وهم يحسبون أن سبب ذلك سوادهم ولذلك فهم يفقدون الثقة في النفس وبالتالي ضياع هويتهم وإرثهم، ويأخذهم كل ذلك إلى الضياع والجنون. أبدعت موريسون في مشاهد البؤس والعالم السفلي لمجتمع السود، مع إظهار الظلم والعنف الواقع عليهم من مجتمع متسلط وقاسي وظالم، حتى سلطهم على بعضهم البعض أيضًا، وجعلهم وقود له وفي خدمته تحت ظل قهر اجتماعي وعنصري بغيض.

"في كل ليلة، دونما انقطاع، كانت تبتهل من أجل عينين زرقاوين. ابتهلت بحرارة بالغة على امتداد عام. وعلى الرغم من فتور عزمها بعض الشئ إلا أنها لم تفقد الأمل؛ فحدوث شئ رائع كهذا من شأنه أن يستغرق وقتًا طويلًا، طويلًا".

“There is really nothing more to say - except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.”

Just the other night I was talking to my sister, Barbara, about the first time I read “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison. I remember where I was sitting when it was assigned to my sophomore English class at Austin High School. While it started as another homework project, it quickly turned into reading a book I felt I had chosen for myself. I remember marking it up like I had never marked up any books before.

Thematically, I had never read anything quite like this. It was a book that talked about adult subjects but the underlying themes of racism, otherness and feeling not good enough were things that my classmates were dealing with, particularly my classmates of color. It was the first book that really opened my eyes to how literature can create understanding and take you into worlds you don’t know.

As Morrison’s debut novel turns 50 years old, it still holds incredible power to spark current conversations. I suspect that a lot of our book club members will be rereading this book for the first time since high school or college. I can’t wait to see how adulthood and now being in my late 30s will make this novel resonate in a different way. I look forward to hearing how others’ perspectives change as well.

Of course, if you are reading for the first time, I hope you marvel at the beauty of Toni Morrison��s writing the way I did when I first picked up a copy. She is my favorite author of all time, and I am honored to be recommending her book to this special group of readers.

Click here to get your copy today!

This book makes people feel uncomfortable. It is a racially charged book that is bursting at the seams with half a century's worth of anger and truth. It is a book that is peppered with evidence of the sexual abuse that underlies coming of age as a colored girl in the US. The Bluest Eye , bears hard facts about the condition of blacks in America that are difficult for anybody to acknowledge. In a poetic and tangled tale woven from the stars themselves, Toni Morrison tackles issues of beauty, poverty and racism. Morrison challenges the idea that "a white baby doll" is something everyone wants, whereas the idea of a "black baby doll" is unfathomable. Morrison showcases the racism that comes with different levels of pigment, not just from whites, but from other blacks too. She shows how the crushing weight of this warped thinking can kill the spirit of a little black girl and rip her wings off before she can even attempt to fly.

The Bluest Eye asks, "Who is to blame?" and answers, "Everyone."It's hard for people to read this type of book because it makes them feel uncomfortable. So people shrug it off because they don't feel it has anything to do with them. But how can this not affect someone? Even if you don't consider yourself black or white or American, there is something for everyone in this twisted tale of misery.

"Why are you mad at me?...Because my eyes aren't blue enough? Because I don't have the bluest eyes?"

n  **3.6 stars**

“All of our waste which we dumped on her and which she absorbed. And all of our beauty, which was hers first and which she gave to us. All of us--all who knew her--felt so wholesome after we cleaned ourselves on her. We were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness. Her simplicity decorated us, her guilt sanctified us, her pain made us glow with health, her awkwardness made us think we had a sense of humor. Her inarticulateness made us believe we were eloquent. Her poverty kept us generous. Even her waking dreams we used--to silence our own nightmares. And she let us, and thereby deserved our contempt. We honed our egos on her, padded our characters with her frailty, and yawned in the fantasy of our strength.”n

Hallucinating. It is the only word that seems to capture the essence of this novel, which is harrowing yet with compelling, extraordinary prose, which is the first thing I noticed about this book. I, however, thought that it would be a not-for-the-faint-hearted's version of To Kill A Mockingbird. How wrong I was. I am still thinking about what gave me that idea.

However, this isn't an easy book to read and comprehend, both stylistically and thematically. As much as the story was hard-hitting, the construction was ineffective for me, as if fluctuating the emotions that it wants to evoke in you. Especially the non-linear storytelling feels like it tries to humanize the acts of the evil spirits of the victimizers. Not that they were justified, of course, more so as if to show you what induces a soul to be consumed by those sadistic desires.

But I can't deny that I struggled with it. Sometimes it is easier to see the world in black and white than in grey. Every single criminal can come up with an excuse for their crimes. Every single serial killer had a difficult childhood. But it is sometimes hard for the reader to empathize with the cause and the effect, both at the same time. Probably that's what Toni Morrison aimed at doing here, and I won't deny that it works admirably sometimes, but I can neither say that it doesn't fail miserably for me more than once.

n  "And fantasy it was, for we were not strong, only aggressive; we were not free, merely licensed; we were not compassionate, we were polite; not good, but well behaved. We courted death in order to call ourselves brave, and hid like thieves from life. We substituted good grammar for intellect; we switched habits to simulate maturity; we rearranged lies and called it truth, seeing in the new pattern of an old idea the Revelation and the Word.n

Given the circumstances under which I finished reading this book yesterday (43°C and no electricity), I am not going to be able to provide a proper review. Probably this wasn't the right book to pick up for reading in a single day, either. I need to tackle this one again, but the problem is, I already know what is in it. So, the better thing for me would be to steer clear.

Book 7 of 7 Books in 7 Days

The Bluest Eye is the debut novel by Toni Morrison and published in 1970. Nobel Prize Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, Toni Morrison has consistently broken my heart but given me each time with her beautiful, lyrical, and haunting prose, new insight. And The Bluest Eye was no exception as she deftly explored the meaning of beauty as well as psychological murder and the crushing of a soul in all of its insidious forms. The prologue to this powerful book talks about the children’s reading series, Dick and Jane so prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s which looms large throughout the book as an underlying theme with extracts from the book in many of the subsequent chapters emphasizing the glaring differences.

n  

”Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty. Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane live in the green-and-white house. They are very happy. See Jane. She has a red dress. She wants to play. Who will play with Jane? See the cat. It goes meow-meow. Come and play. Come play with Jane. The kitten will not play. See Mother. Mother is very nice. Mother, will you play with Jane? Mother laughs. Laugh, Mother, laugh. See Father. Father is smiling. Smile, Father, smile. See the dog. Bow wow goes the dog. Do you want to play with Jane? See the dog run. Run, dog, run. Look, look. Here comes a friend. The friend will play with Jane. They will play a good game. Play, Jane, play.”

n

It is in 1941 Ohio that nine-year old Claudia and her 10-year old sister Frieda are introduced to Percola Breedlove, a temporary foster child in their home when her house was burned down by her unstable and alcoholic father, Cholly Breedlove. Through flashbacks and the retelling of stories, we come to know of the hardships and struggles endured by Cholly and Percola’s mother, Pauline Breedlove as they were exposed to racism because of their African-American roots. Percola is constantly reminded of how ugly she is while in school and in her neighborhood. She becomes convinced that she would be beautiful if only she had blue eyes, and that becomes her fervent desire. I can add little to the many reviews but to say, this is such an important book and a solid foundation upon which Toni Morrison built her incredible body of work.

The greatest writer I've ever read, an icon, the G.O.A.T., started her literary career in a fashion that is more brilliant than I even imagined.

This is a novel that speaks volumes in an era where certain people will still try & blame the young girls involved instead of an R&B singer who will remain unnamed.

Further thoughts to come...

i need to read everything Toni Morrison has ever written.

11-year-old Pecola believes that if she had blue eyes, she would be loved and her life would be transformed. She would be beautiful and the world would treat her better. I’m not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading this. Maybe it was because I mistakenly thought I knew exactly what it would be about. ‘The Bluest Eye’ is much deeper and darker, descending into the world of racism, incest and rape, into a world in which we are also complicit in how we are seen. It’s beautifully written, and one that is not to be missed.