We had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecolas father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt. Pecolas very presence exacerbates some of the other characters not so buried feelings about their own race and povertyliabilities that push these Ohioans apart, rather than unite them: no one wants to be confronted with her own despair, especially when its reflected in the eyes of another despairing person. Choose to focus on Claudia or Pecola. A picture of little Mary Jane, for whom the candy is named. But, in a life full of violations, its the last straw, and Pecola folds in on herself. As the story ends, one of its protagonists, the blighted Pecola Breedlove, has been more or less abandoned by the . Who will play with Jane? They had stared at her with great uncomprehending eyes. The end of the world lay in their eyes, and the beginning, and all the waste in between. Morrison went on to teach at Texas Southern University, and then at Howard, in D.C., where she joined a writers group and worked on a short story about a little black girl who wanted blue eyes. The best hiding place was love. All of our waste which we dumped on her and which she absorbed. It never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. Propertied black people spent all their energies, all their love, on their nests. Claudia MacTeer serves as one of the primary, first-person narrators of the novel. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1725 titles we cover. . The Breedloves all suffer from debilitating low self-esteem which is rooted in the idea that they are unquestionably ugly. He seemed to relish her company and even to enjoy her country ways and lack of knowledge about city things. We felt comfortable in our skins, enjoyed the news that our senses released to us, admired our dirt, cultivated our scars, and could not comprehend this unworthiness. Menu. Claudia is somewhat of a rebel figure . Morrison, in the photograph on the back cover, looked like the kind of person my family might have known, and if she was one of us that meant that one of my four beautiful older sisters could, perhaps, write a book, too. Set near the start of the Second World War, before postwar prosperity changed Lorain, the book is narrated by Claudia, a feisty child, but the tone is elegiac, since a lot of the novel is driven by memory and the stories that shape it. Despite all this looking, few people, aside from Claudia, bear witness to much. Morrison said that she wrote The Bluest Eye because she wanted to read it. ", 10. If you liked our The Bluest Eye quotes go check out 'Kite Runner' quotes and Zora Neale Hurston quotes. I even think now that the land of the entire country was hostile to marigolds that year. She pointed to her tiny breasts that, like two fallen acorns, scattered a few faded rose leaves on her dress. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. There is no gift for the beloved. She rebels by hating anyone or anything that is labeled as beautiful by her society. In this short, intellectually expansive, emotionally questioning, and spiritually knowing book, the act of lookingand seeingis described again and again. The Bluest Eye Themes | LitCharts / The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 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. Pecola is shunned by Cholly and Polly and Geraldine and nearly every other person she comes into contact with, but that doesnt mean they can shake her, in part because they cant shake themselves: she embodies their pain and anguish and disrupts their dreams, no matter how flimsy they may be. In her mind, if she were to possess blue eyes, she would be different, maybe even beautiful, and as a result her life would also be different. When she sees Pecola, Frieda and, Summer arrives and brings storms that both frighten and please, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. The best quotes from The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison - organized by theme, . Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. Hello, Miss China. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their own conviction. There is no gift for the beloved. Our full analysis and study guide provides an even deeper dive with character analysis and quotes explained to help you discover the complexity and beauty of this book. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. From lino cutting to surfing to childrens mental health, their hobbies and interests range far and wide. ", 34. I do not know that she is not angry at me, but at my sickness. Schools Ohio. You need this for yourself, cautioned my father; and for ammunition, added my mother. Head full of pretty hair, but Lord she was ugly. Black, poor, female, ugly: one gives birth to what one feels oneself to be. Violent thoughts and actions are how Claudia rebels against the racist beauty standards that she disagrees with. Kidadl is supported by you, the reader. ", 24. . Purchasing (As with all great books, one wants The Black Book to be all things for all people, and yet the collection is devoid of any story or image of an out gay personthere is no mention of Gladys Bentley, for instance, or Bruce Nugent, let alone of James Baldwin or Audre Lorde. How come you got so many boyfriends, Miss Marie?. It is very pretty. The familiar violence rose in me. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. The black skin, throughout the novel, is stereotypically associated with . A reality and presence. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how. To create something that might last, that would bear witness to the quality and variety of black life before it became the topic of every Ph.D. dissertation and the focal point of all the mindlessness that seems to have joined the smog of Californias movie world. You mean like Soaphead Church?" "We had defended ourselves since memory against everything and everybody, considered all speech a code to be broken by us, and all gestures subject to careful analysis; we had become headstrong, devious, and arrogant Our limitations were not known to us - not then.