The Bluest Eye - Summer

The Bluest Eye: Summer
Theme Textual Support – Use quotes, examples from text, and cite the page numbers
Beauty: What is  “I thought about the baby that everybody wanted dead, and saw it very clearly. It was in a dark, wet place, its head
beauty? Who covered with great O’s of wool, the black face holding, like nickels, two clean black eyes, the flared nose, kissing-thick
determines what is lips, and the living, breathing silk of black skin. No synthetic yellow bangs suspended over marble blue eyes, no pinched
beautiful? How does it nose and bowline mouth.” – 190
affect one’s identity? Here Claudia depicts the child that no one wants. The ugly child and will supposedly come out of Pecola because she is also ugly.
Morrison uses this quote to emphasize the following one below. The clear description of what no one wants and what someone
wants in the following quote allows the audience to visualize the difference.
 “I felt a need for someone to want the black baby to live---just to counteract the universal love of white baby dolls,
Shirley Temples, and Maureen Peals.” – 190
This quote shows the thoughts Claudia had of the perception that white=beauty that blue eyes=beauty and the blonde, curly
hair=beauty. Here she wants to stand up against the prejudice that is the white reality. Morrison’s use of the names of the kids
that have been met previously in the book that supposedly have the perfect characteristics really put things into perspective for
the audience.
 “They are bluer, aren’t they? Oh, yes. Much bluer. Bluer than Joanna’s? Much bluer than Joanna’s. And bluer than
Michelena’s” – 197
Pecola here can be seen talking to herself after she went to see Soaphead who supposedly helped her change her eyes to blue.
Morrison does this to show how much black people wanted to be like white people or in their words, beautiful. Morrison’s
choice to include a large section with Pecola going crazy and talking to herself and continuously asking herself if her eyes are
bluer than some white people at school is in hopes of really emphasizing how bad things were.
Racism: What are the  “ “Cholly? Her daddy?”
effects of racism on “Uh-huh.”
the individual? The “Lord. Have mercy. That dirty nigger.”
community? What is “Member that time he tried to burn them up? I knew he was crazy for sure then.” ” – 189
Morrison saying about This quote follows the news of Cholly raping Pecola around the community. This is some of the same people reacting strictly
“racial self-hatred”? after hearing the news and the same black people use the word ‘nigger’ as a point of reference or insult. This shows how the
level of racism imposed on the black people in the book or community has taken a toll. The fact that the black people
themselves are calling another person black as an insult.

Love: How is love  “ “What we gone do, Frieda?”
expressed? What “What can we do? Miss Johnson said it would be a miracle if it lived.”
impact does love and a “ So let’s make it a miracle.” ….
lack of love have on “O.K. But we better give up something so He’ll know we really mean it this time.”
the individual? “Give up what? We ain’t got nothing. Nothing but the seed money, two dollars.” ” – 191-192
Here we have Frieda and Claudia wanting to do everything they can to save Pecola’s baby and Pecola. It is evident that Frieda
and Claudia care for her as they are willing to give everything, they have up to save them both. All the money that they had
planned to buy a bicycle and grow flowers they were willing to give it up for Pecola.
 “Oh, some of us “loved” her. The Maginot Line. And Cholly loved her. I’m sure he did. He, at any rate, was the one who
loved her enough to touch her, envelop her, give something of himself to her. But his touch was fatal, and the something
he gave her filled the matrix of her agony with death.” – 206
 “And you don’t have to be afraid of Cholly coming at you anymore. No. That was horrible, wasn’t it? Yes. Really? The
second time too?” - 201
This quote is on the final page of the book. It describes Pecola’s desire for someone to love her and a way for someone to love
her. Over the course of the book we explore the world of a racist society through a child’s perspective and their various feelings
and desires. The second quote highlights Pecola’s desires and the form of love she desires as it shows how the first time she was
perplexed by what had happened. The second time she was sure that she enjoyed it and that it was one of the things she was
looking for throughout the book. Unfortunately, this void that she needed to be filled only filled it with ‘death’.

Power/Powerlessness  “Our limitations were not known to us---not then. Our only handicap was our size, people gave us orders because they
: How do feelings of were bigger and stronger. So it was with confidence, strengthen by pity and pride, that we decided to change the course
power/powerlessness of events and alter a human life.” – 191
impact the actions of This quote is very straightforward and plainly depicts not just girls in their society at the time but for the majority all black
individuals? What are children at the time. They were practically walking robots being told what and when to do and had a set future with no choice.
the consequences for This quote is very good as it shows how black kids at the time were weak or powerless on the outside but on the inside each and
those individuals? every one of them regardless of their background was capable of doing great things with their mind. When the girls plan on
saving Pecola’s baby they had to muster up a lot of strength in order to do so.

Community: How do  “ “Did you hear about that girl?”
we create “What? Pregnant?”
environments of “Yas. But guess who?”
inclusion rather than “Who? I don’t know all these little old boys.”
exclusion? How do we “That’s just it. Ain’t no little old boy. They say its Cholly.” …..
build each other up “County ain’t gone let her keep that baby, is they?”
rather than tear each “Don’t know.” ……
other down? “Well, they ought to take her out of school.”
“Ought to. She carry some of the blame.”
“Oh, come on. She ain’t but twelve or so.” ”- 189
This quote describes a scene in which two women are talking about what happened with Pecola and Cholly after the rape. The
quote shows how news travels throughout the community and that everyone is willing to help. In this quote however it also
shows how the community can be self-destructive. The idea that everyone knows what happened may be what drives Pecola
crazy. The idea that everyone wants to voice their opinion results in only chaos and is worse off for the community.

Other Themes?  Self-Destructiveness

The Bluest Eye - Summer

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Bluest Eye - Summer

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Bluest Eye - Summer

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Bluest Eye: Summer

You might also like