Sad Child's Life in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

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Highly acclaimed author Toni Morrison once said, “In order to be as free as I possibly can, in my own imagination, I can’t take positions that are closed. Everything I’ve ever done, in the writing world, has been to expand articulation, rather than to close it, to open doors, sometimes, not even closing the book – leaving the endings open for reinterpretation and revisitation.” Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, tells the tragic story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Ridiculed by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, Pecola longs for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in. Through her writings, Morrison seeks to deconstruct African American society, and in turn, American society as a whole, often using characterization, and symbolism, and narration that function as mirrors reflecting the injustices of the real world. The society within The Bluest Eye establishes a standard of beauty that its members must conform to and, throughout the novel, the overall theme of beauty plays a gre...

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