“The Bluest Eye,” published in 1970, is the debut novel by acclaimed American author Toni Morrison.
It tells the story of a young African-American girl called Pecola Breedlove who grows up during the Great Depression and longs to have blue eyes, which she sees as a symbol of beauty and worth.
The novel’s exploration of racism and internalized oppression is one of its most compelling aspects.
Morrison illustrates how racist beauty standards become internalized, especially by young black girls such as Pecola. She portrays how the dominant white culture’s idealization of white, blue-eyed beauty creates a deep sense of shame and unworthiness in Pecola, who believes her blackness and brown eyes make her inherently ugly.
In the novel, Pecola’s mother Pauline has also adopted these white beauty standards, and in turn projects her own feelings of inadequacy on to her daughter, demonstrating how damaging ideals rooted in racism become embedded within a community over time.
Another aspect of the novel is the nuanced exploration of how economic and social marginalization exacerbates this racism.
Pecola’s family lives in poverty, which further contributes to their sense of debilitation and lack of agency.
“The Bluest Eye” serves as a searing indictment of racism’s corrosive effects, while also acknowledging the complex psychological and social factors at play.
It received critical acclaim and is considered an important work of 20th-century American literature. Morrison’s vivid and poetic writing style is a hallmark of the novel.
