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Book Reviewed by:The story of a black girl in America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others. First published 1970; won the 1993 Nobel Prize. Republished 2000.
The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.
It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment. Selected as Oprah Winfrey's April 2000 Book of the Month. Republished by Random House in April 2000
Excerpt
Nuns go by as quiet as lust, and drunken men and sober eyes sing in the lobby of the Greek hotel. Rosemary Villanucci, our next-door friend who lives above her father's cafe, sits in a 1939 Buick eating bread and butter. She rolls down the window to tell my sister Frieda and me that we can't come in. We stare at her, wanting her bread, but more than that wanting to poke the arrogance out of her eyes and smash the pride of ownership that curls her chewing mouth. When she comes out of the car we will beat her up, make red marks on her white skin, and she will cry and ask us do we want her to pull her pants down. We will say no. We don't know what we should feel or do if she does, but whenever she asks us, we know she is offering us something precious and that our own pride must be asserted by refusing to accept.
School has started, and Frieda and I get new brown stockings and cod-liver oil. Grown-ups talk in tired, edgy voices about Zick's Coal Company and take...
What audience would you recommend The Bluest Eye to? Is there another book or author you feel has a similar theme or style?
I would recommend this book to anyone who is open-minded and insightful enough to attempt to learn what brings people to the situations they are in. Sadly, there is not one person in my 14 member book club that I would recommend this book to. They are simply too set in their ways to see any viewp...
-Lana_Maskus
What evidence is there that racial self-hatred continues to ruin lives today? What present-day cultural factors could contribute to tragedies like Pecola's?
That's exactly how I felt, @Lana_Maskus . I was so happy that we might finally be making progress that I cried during his inauguration. It feels crushing to realize just how far our country is from achieving racial equality (or gender equality, for that matter). The last few years have been quite...
-kim.kovacs
Claudia feels her and Frieda’s sorrow for Pecola’s predicament “was the more intense because nobody else seemed to share it.” Why do you think others in the town were less than sympathetic to her to Pecola's situation? Why did no one offer to help?
How intense, @Lana_Maskus . That's a lot for a little kid to observe and it obviously made quite an impression on you. Thanks for sharing this!
-kim.kovacs
Did learning about Cholly’s and Pauline’s pasts help you develop any sympathy for either of them?
Sorry, but no, I didn't develop any sympathy for them. I wanted to kick their behinds.
-Lana_Maskus
What role does social class play in the novel? What do you see as some of the results of the upward striving Claudia describes?
Social class is everything in this novel. Each social class looks down on the strata below it. The Breedloves are seen as scum. The mother believes that she elevates herself by working in the home of white people and caring for their child, but has no qualms about sacrificing Pecola.
-Lana_Maskus
What advantages do you see in telling Pecola's story from a child's point of view? How would the story’s impact be different if narrated by an adult?
Telling the story from a child's point of view made it more intimate. That aspect reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird. I also think a child can better feel and understand another child's pain.
-Lana_Maskus
Were you familiar with The Bluest Eye before your recent reading of it? If you’d read it before, how has your interpretation or opinion of the novel changed since you first encountered it?
I had heard of it numerous times, but had not read it. It certainly was not what I expected. It is one those novels that needs to be read again (and perhaps again and again) to get a better understanding of what the author's full message is.
-Lana_Maskus
In her forward, the author states that she was concerned readers would be led “into the comfort of pitying her rather than into an interrogation of themselves.” She feels she failed. Do you agree? What emotions did you feel on finishing the novel?
I did feel pity for Pecola's circumstances and her brokenness at the end of the book, but I also felt that the book made me look back on what I have and haven't done in relation to others perceptions of themselves, how I treat others, how I view other races, etc. Working in an acute care hospital...
-Lana_Maskus
The title of the novel refers to Pecola's intense desire for blue eyes. How do you feel racial self-loathing corrodes the lives of Pecola and her parents? How does this manifest itself in characters like Maureen Peal, Geraldine, and Soaphead Church?
Again society treatment leads the characters to self-loathing. Whites, including those who said they weren't racist, were intent on keeping Blacks in their place. The end of Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, and general White attitude made sure that Blacks remained outside the American Dream. It is ...
-Lana_Maskus
At first, Maureen defends Pecola from the schoolyard bullies, but later Maureen insults Pecola, Claudia and Frieda (“I am cute! And you ugly! Black and ugly…”). What did you think of this scene? How did this interaction affect each of the girls?
Humans seem to possess a need to feel superior to someone else. I believe Maureen was establishing this superiority by pointing out her light skin and and cuteness. At the time of The Bluest Eye, American society's ides of beauty and advertising was totally geared to whiteness. Persons of color w...
-Lana_Maskus
The narrator states that romantic love and physical beauty are "probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought." What did you think of this statement?
I agree that our society's embrace of the superiority of individuals with certain physical characteristics is destructive. It makes those individuals who don't meet the physical beauty standards set by society believe that they are inferior. Those that are seen to be physically beautiful have the...
-Lana_Maskus
Is there a quote or scene in The Bluest Eye that stood out for you? Why do you suppose it resonated?
"The death of self-esteem can occur quickly, easily in children, before their ego has "legs," so to speak. Couple the vulnerability of youth with indifferent parents, dismissive adults, and a world, which, in its language, laws, and images, re-enforces despair, and the journey to destruction is s...
-Lana_Maskus
How does Morrison set up comparisons between a Northern black community and the Southern black way of life? What values do you think have been gained or lost in the migration north?
I am not Black so I am not qualified to discuss this question from a Black point of view. I do believe, universally, that the overall transition of America in the last one hundred years from a predominantly rural agrarian society to an urban technological society has resulted in the loss of "comm...
-Lana_Maskus
Overall, what did you think of The Bluest Eye? (no spoilers, please!)
This is probably the most heartbreaking, hopeless book I have read in my 72 years. It is such a visceral book on race, class, gender, neglect, and emotional and sexual abuse. Many readers commented on the perception of ugly vs beauty in the context of white vs black. That is definitely an aspect ...
-Lana_Maskus
Is the conversation at the end of the book a real conversation?
I think it can be interpreted as a conversation she's having with her imaginary friend. It's devastating and shows how far gone her mental illness is.
-Emily_Bahhar
Morrison says of the women who move from the South: “[T]hese girls soak up the juice of their home towns, and it never leaves them.” What do you suppose she means? Do you agree? Do you feel you're someone who “soaked up the juice” of your home town?
"You can take the boy/girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy/girl" is a saying for a reason. We are all shaped as children by our environments; home and community, in both positive and negative ways. Neighborliness, work ethic, community spirit are positives that c...
-Lana_Maskus
Name a book that was really popular that you absolutely hated
Shamefully so, The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison - I attempted to read it more than once and could not finish it. What kind of reader does that make me?
-Carolyn_L
Frieda loves her dolls while Claudia preferred to dismantle them. Did you play with dolls as a child, or were you more of the “dismantling” type?
I played with dolls as a child, but wasn't obsessed with them by any means. It was just something to do. I didn't have a favorite doll or stuffed animal that I clung to. In remembering myself and watching my daughter and granddaughters, I think most children are somewhat destructive at a young ag...
-Lana_Maskus
What are you reading this week? (3/6/2025)
...Road by Michael Blake for my book club and listening to Gilgamesh, one of James Mustich's 1000 Books to Read Before You Die. Currently trying to get The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison read for BookBrowse's First Impressions Book Discussion. I'm in the midst of a deep reading slump and think it's due to having to read "obligatory" b...
-Lana_Maskus
Reminder messages re Book Club posts
Hi there - Many of you got reminder messages overnight about not having posted to the discussion, when in fact you have. Please ignore the messages and accept our apologies, we know you've been posting. Thanks for your patience as we work through the process.
-kim.kovacs
The novel opens with an excerpt from an old-fashioned reading primer. The lines begin to blur and run together -- as they do at the beginning of select chapters. What do you think Morrison is trying to say or achieve by starting her book this way?
I love everyone's thoughts so far - especially regarding how "keeping up with the Joneses" expectations were harmful and discriminatory. Without being able to peek behind the curtain of a perfect family, one wouldn't know it's often a facade. Despite having all the elements of the American Dream,...
-Shannon_L
The author clearly condemns Cholly's actions but resists dehumanizing him. If rape of one's daughter is an "unimaginable" crime, can one at least trace the events (and resulting emotions) that made it possible for Cholly to commit this brutal act?
Just as in today's societies where we have men in authority who do not show empathy, love nor compassion because of a lack of it during their own childhood. They have no ability to relate to the masses of people who were nurtured as children in healthy ways. So to, the portrayal of Cholly is an e...
-Karen_M
How did you see beauty standards impacting the different girls in the novel? How are things different today, and how are things the same?
Pecola is constantly told that she is ugly, which leads her to believe she is unworthy of love, safety and happiness. Claudia dismembers her white dolls symbolizing her rejection that only white features are beautiful. Frieda shares Claudia's frustration but is more passive about it. Maureen, who...
-Karen_M
Pecola approaches Soaphead about obtaining blue eyes. Why do you think the author included this story? How would it have been different, in your opinion, if it had been relayed from Pecola’s point of view rather than Soaphead’s?
By making Soaphead tell the story, it protected Percola and the myth about her wishing. We know it didn't happen,but we empathized as Percola kept asking if she had the bluest eyes. Again this section shows the "image scenario". Percola felt her life would change but as we know ,it did not. Her o...
-Arlene_Iannazzi
About the The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Discussion category
Please join us in our book club discussion of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
-nick
Throwback issue of The BookBrowse Review - 1/29/2025
I found the reviews of these older publication books to be most valuable. I was surprised that I was not familiar with Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and wanted to read it for the book club discussion but just couldn't get my hands on a copy in time. As we all know, there are far too many books to k...
-Sunny
What book(s) are you excited to read in 2025?
I'm looking forward to reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Medgar & Myrlie by Joy-Ann Reid Home and Away by Rocelle Alers The Women by Kristen Hannah Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell Lovely One by Justi...
-Joyce_Montague
In her introduction, Morrison writes that the book is an exploration of "the damaging internalization of assumptions of immutable inferiority originating in an outside gaze" — how outside opinions and "casual racial contempt" can "take root inside the most delicate member of society: a child; the most vulnerable member: a female." She shows this beautifully through the tragedy of Pecola's existence, demonstrating that self-hatred doesn't arise in a vacuum; nearly every character with whom she interacts thinks of her as "ugly" (a word Morrison uses repeatedly to reinforce the concept, rather than employing synonyms). The Bluest Eye has been recognized as a classic, and in my opinion, it deserves that label because its message remains every bit as relevant now as it was when the book was published in 1970. There's little in the narrative that places its action in the 1940s; almost every aspect of it is still common today...continued
Full Review
(754 words)
(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
.jpg "Toni Morrison's author photo for The Bluest Eye, first edition")
Toni Morrison is the author of 11 works of fiction as well as a number of books and essays. She's best known for her novel Beloved, which won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Morrison received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 (the first Black woman to win the award) and was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honor of the United States — by Barack Obama in 2012.
Morrison was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in 1931, in Lorain, Ohio, the daughter of working-class parents. At the age of 12, she became a member of the Roman Catholic church and took "Anthony" as her confirmation name (for St. Anthony of Padua, patron saint of the poor). This led to her lifelong nickname, "Toni." She...
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