The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

First published: 1970

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Social realism

Time of plot: 1940-1941

Locale: Lorain, Ohio

Principal Characters

• Claudia MacTeer, a nine-year-old African American
• Frieda MacTeer, Claudia’s older sister
• Mrs. MacTeer, Claudia and Frieda’s mother
• Pecola Breedlove, friend of Claudia and Frieda
• Pauline Breedlove, Pecola’s mother
• Cholly Breedlove, Pecola’s father
• Maureen Peal, a new girl in town
• Mr. Henry, a boarder at the MacTeer home
• Miss Marie, ,
• China, and
• Poland, prostitutes living above the Breedloves
• Soaphead Church, a psychic and spiritualist

The Story

In the autumn of 1940, Claudia MacTeer, a nine-year-old African American child, begins the school year. The weather cools, and Claudia becomes ill. Her mother takes care of her, but Claudia does not understand that her mother’s harsh words come from worry rather than anger. Claudia later remembers the pain she felt when her mother rubbed ointment on her to heal the illness. She also remembers the touch of soft hands (not connected to a real person) that comforted her in the night. Claudia reveals knowledge about the lives of the people around her family in the community of Lorain, Ohio. She and her older sister Frieda learn about life after hearing adult conversations.

The family is exposed to two boarders at their home: Mr. Henry and eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. The older girls become friends, but Claudia is different than the older children. Pecola and Frieda have reached a point in their lives where they appreciate and even adore film star Shirley Temple and white baby dolls. Claudia, on the other hand, hates what they represent. She complains about the gifts of hard white dolls given at Christmas and wishes that she could just have a day when she matters to someone. She dissects the dolls, searching for what makes them so appealing. She does not find an answer, and is reprimanded by the adults.

Autumn also brings a description of Lorain, a small, depressed town where African Americans and poor whites live their lives. Housed in one particular building are a family of Roma (gypsies), a Hungarian baker, the Breedlove family, and prostitutes.

The Breedloves—Cholly, Pauline, Sammy, and Pecola—now live on the first floor in a poorly constructed apartment with poorly constructed furnishings. The family’s ugliness comes to light, along with the way each family member lives with their respective physical deformity. Pecola yearns for blue eyes. Her desire for affection is divulged in her friendship with the three prostitutes—China, Poland, and Miss Marie—who live upstairs, and Miss Marie’s life story is exposed.

Winter comes, bringing a new girl to the school. Claudia immediately shares her distinct dislike for Maureen Peal, the child of wealthy black parents. When Claudia, Frieda, and Maureen see Pecola being teased by a group of boys, Frieda steps in to protect her friend. Maureen’s curiosity about the boys’ taunting of Pecola opens a dialogue about the novelty of sexual changes. She treats Pecola, but not the MacTeer girls, to an ice cream cone, and then feels this gives her the right to ask Pecola questions about the taunts. When Pecola refuses to answer, Maureen’s curious questions become jeers, and Pecola wilts. Claudia and Frieda chase Maureen away, calling her names, but Claudia becomes angry at Pecola’s lack of backbone. The inquisitiveness about sexuality increases when the girls return home to find Mr. Henry entertaining prostitutes while their mother is out.

Winter also brings a new family to town. Contrasted to the hardworking MacTeer family and the dysfunctional Breedlove family is the oddity of an educated, sophisticated, untouchable, and Southern, light-skinned black woman. Geraldine is married to Louis, and they have a child named Junior. Geraldine has a well-kept home with nice furnishings, a supportive husband, and a son whom she does not know how to love. Geraldine’s inability to do anything more than skim over the surface of life has left her son searching for emotion. Junior finds his outlet in cruelty. Unfortunately, his path intersects with that of Pecola.

As life for the girls passes into spring, more tragedies ensue. Mr. Henry touches Frieda’s breasts, and Frieda’s father attacks Mr. Henry in defense of his child. Frieda, again through hearing adult conversations, fears she has been damaged. Later, a childish misunderstanding leads Claudia and Frieda on a mission to get alcohol from Pecola, whose father is a known drunk. They find their friend waiting outside the home where her mother, Pauline, works. While they wait to help Pecola take the wash back to the dwelling, the white family’s child comes into the kitchen. A pie is knocked off the counter. Pecola is the one burned by the hot juices, but Pauline rebukes her and chases her away, then gently comforts the white child.

Spring also brings childhood memories to Pauline and Cholly Breedlove. Pauline remembers a childhood injury, the discovery that organization brings comfort, and her early married years. Early married life had been good, but loneliness, poverty, responsibility for her own family, and abuse had taken its toll. Pauline finds that working for a white family gives her the sense of belonging that she could not find with Cholly or her children. Cholly uses his history of being rejected as an excuse for his adult behavior. His story ends abruptly when he rapes eleven-year-old Pecola.

Soaphead Church advertises his services as a psychic, spiritualist, healer, and detective of sorts. His high opinion of himself does not take into account that he is a sexual predator. When Pecola comes to him asking for blue eyes, he tricks her. He then justifies his actions in a letter to God, expressing his superiority over the Creator.

It is now the beginning of summer. Claudia and Frieda learn through adult gossip that Pecola is pregnant with her own father’s child. None of the adults want the baby to live, and Claudia longs for someone to care for the innocent life. She and Frieda decide to make a sacrifice to help the baby, so they bury the bike money they have been saving and plant marigold seeds, sure that the growth of the seeds will lead to the healthy development of Pecola’s baby in God’s eyes.

Next, Pecola is in conversation with an alternate personality that she had created while she was pregnant. Pecola believes that the baby has gained the blue eyes she herself so desired. As troubling as the split in Pecola’s psyche, so too are the subtle hints that Cholly still rapes his daughter.

The baby dies, and Pecola is now a shadow, living in her own world. Claudia and Frieda fear their friend because they feel they have failed her in some unspoken way.

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