The Importance of the Eye in Toni Morrisons The Bluest...

The Importance of the Eye in Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye In Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye, the characters eyes are everything. The word eye appears over and over with rich adjectives that describe color, movement, and nuance of expression to signify a characters mood and psychological state. Morrison emphasizes the paradox of eyes: Eyes are at times a window to enlightenment, however, what eyes see is not always objective truth, but instead a distortion of reality into what a person is able to perceive. The concept of the bluest eye symbolizes unattainable beauty based on the blonde-haired, blue-eyed model that permeates 1940s Lorain, Ohio. Morrison initially presents the concept with a literary†¦show more content†¦The narrative shift also serves to compare how Pecola and Claudia react to the concept of blue eyes as the ultimate beauty and shows the psychological strength of each girl. Morrisons story asserts that children, by nature of their diminutive size and inability to contribute economically to the family, are societys weakest members. Children play a prominent role in The Bluest Eye because they are the vulnerable recipients of their parents psychological manifestations. At some point in early life, every child feels weak and unimportant; ignored, even. But there are gradations of neglect, and these variations are explored in the novel. Claudia expresses again and again how marginalized she and her sister perceived themselves to be, Adults do not talk to us - they give us directions (10). When Claudia thinks back to a childhood illness she suffered, she remembers her mothers irritation at finding her sick in bed. Claudia questions the reliability of her perceptions of pain and confusion, But was it really like that? As painful as I remember? Only mildly. Love...eased up into that cracked window (12). Claudias mothers irritation is tempered with compassion; she coats Claudias phlegmy chest with salve and hands repinned the flannel, readjusted theShow MoreRelatedRacism And Discrimination On African Americans1210 Words   |  5 Pagesfrequent use of symbolism.2 In The Bluest Eye, an extremely important symbol is blue eyes (Crayton 73). Blue eyes are used to symbolize racially based beauty standards and the power associated with whiteness (â€Å"Bluest† LitCharts). In the novel, society believes that if a person does not have white skin, he or she is not beautiful. Pecola Breedlove falls victim to this widespread belief and longs to possess blue eyes. In her world, blue eyes are far more than a simple eye color. They are beauty. They areRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison Essay1314 Words   |  6 PagesThe Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, encompasses the themes of youth, gender, and race. The African American Civil Rights Movement had recently ended at the time the novel was written. 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