Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, an African American girl growing up in Ohio in the 1940s. Pecola prays for blue eyes, believing they will make her beautiful and loved. The novel explores themes of race, class, beauty standards, and the psychological effects of racism on individuals and communities. It was controversial for its portrayal of incest and banned by some school districts.

1. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye
A presentation by
SungHyeog Park, Jacqueline Scher, and
Dylan Fowler

2. The Author: Toni Morrison
• African-American novelist, editor, and
professor
• Born in Lorain, Ohio
• Wrote ten novels
• The first, The Bluest Eye was published in
1970
• Has received the Nobel Prize in Literature and
the Pulitzer Prize in Literature among other
awards

3. The Bluest Eye: A Banned Book
• Challenged and banned by several school
districts for its explicit sexual content
• Never banned by the Federal Government
• Most recent example:
• Challenged in 2012 in Connecticut’s Brookfield
High School curriculum

4. Plot Summary
• The prologue begins by describing a picturesque family and
their house
• Claudia, the narrator of the prologue, believes that there
were no marigolds in the Fall of 1941 because Pecola was
having her father’s baby
• The novel begins with the Macteer household gaining two
new members, Mr. Henry and Pecola Breedlove
• Two major moments in Pecola’s maturation occur
– Pecola receiving her first period
– When Pecola and Claudia begin to wonder how they could get
someone to love them

5. Plot Summary
• Pecola describes her previous living situation to the reader.
• While her parents were fighting, Pecola prays for blue eyes
and says that she has been praying for that for years.
• Later, a store clerk refuses to fully acknowledge Pecola when
she is purchasing candy.
• Pecola longs to be like the blue eyed blonde haird girl on the
candy wrapper.
• Pecola visits the three prostitutes that live above her family’s
storefront apartment

6. Plot Summary
• The new girl at school, Maureen Peal, enchants her
classmates and is the envy of Frieda and Claudia
• On the walk home from school one day, Frieda, Claudia, and
Maureen stop a group of boys from bullying Pecola
• The girls have a falling out with Maureen and Maureen calls
them ugly
• At home, Claudia and Frieda encounter Henry with two of the
prostitutes introduced earlier in the novel

7. Key words
• Roomer: a tenant (used to describe Mr. Henry)
• Outdoors: Homelessness
• Switch: A flexible rod used for corporal punishment
• Mary Janes: Peanut butter and molasses candy that
depicts a Caucasian girl on its wrapper
• High yellow dream child: A light-skinned person of
mixed Caucasian and African heritage (used to
describe Maureen)

8. Themes
• Whiteness as the Standard of Beauty
• The Ways Race and Class affect positions in
Society
• Sex and Love
• Perception vs. How One is Perceived

9. Modern Version: Ukrainian Barbie

10. Discussion Questions
• What role does nature play in the novel?
• How does the idea of beauty imposed on
Claudia and Pecola affect their actions in
throught this part of the novel?
• What are some other modern examples of
society’s description of beauty negatively
impacting individuals?