Marshmallow reviews The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Today Marshmallow reviews The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, first published in 1970. Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, you always start your book reviews with what you call a quick overview. Can you give us one for this book, too?

Marshmallow: If you want to read about three young black girls growing up after the Great Depression and amidst internalized and externalized racism, then this is the book for you.

S: Okay, I think that is a good start. So tell us a bit more. Who are the three girls?

M: The main character is eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove, and she is a foster sister to the other two girls, Claudia and Frieda MacTeer, who are nine and ten, and live with their parents. Pecola and Claudia are close, and a lot of the book is told from Claudia’s perspective. But we also have flashbacks and so on to events in Pecola’s life that Claudia could not have witnessed.

S: Okay, so tell me more. Why is the title The Bluest Eye?

M: Because Pecola wants to have the bluest eyes in the world. She thinks that she is ugly because a lot of people tell her she is, and she thinks that if she had blue eyes, she would be beautiful too.

S: I see. That must be very hard for a young girl of course.

M: That is not all that is hard in her life though. Her parents are both alive but they are not able to take good care of her. Her father is abusive and violent. Her mother does not support and protect her. The MacTeers on the other hand are a more supportive family for their children and Pecola, too, at least most of the time.

S: I know this book has been banned in some school districts. Do you know why?

M: I think it is mainly because of two very sexually explicit scenes, which are also violent and abusive. And there are other parts where children are sexualized, and so on.

S: Hmm, I can see how those types of scenes would make a lot of people concerned about a book, especially for younger folks. How did you handle them?

M: I think the book is really hard to read, emotionally. When I was reading the book, I had to put it down several times. That is why it took me a really long time to read the book even though it is not very long and the author’s voice is fluid and captivating.

S: And yet you persisted and finished the book.

M: Yes, because I know it is an important book, and I know the author is trying to tell us something important.

S: What do you think she is trying to tell us?

M: I think she is trying to portray the chaos and the evil that results from racism. She says: “I felt compelled to write this mostly because in the 1960s, black male authors published powerful, aggressive, revolutionary fiction or nonfiction, and they had positive racially uplifting rhetoric with them that were stimulating and I thought they would skip over something and thought no one would remember that it wasn’t always beautiful.” So even though black people survived and often thrived despite the terrible oppression of racism they had to face, there were also people who did not survive, who were broken, and Toni Morrison wanted to make sure that we would not forget that.

S: I can see why you persevered Marshmallow. Sometimes we need to read difficult and heart-wrenching text to make sure we do not forget. But from what I am hearing you say, this book is probably not appropriate for young bunnies even though the main characters are young themselves.

M: Yes, definitely. I don’t think Caramel should read it yet for example. But for bunnies who are older and a bit more mature, it might be more appropriate.

S: You have read and reviewed Chains, Forge, and Ashes, the three books of the Seeds of America series, which were also about racism, or maybe more accurately, slavery. I think those books were also hard to read in some ways, but this one seems like it was a lot more challenging.

M: Yes. Possibly because in those books, even though there is a lot of pain and heartbreak, the main characters eventually overcome some of their challenges, and there is some sense of triumph, kind of like the writings Toni Morrison is referring to in the quote above. But in The Bluest Eye, both the life and the identity of Pecola are shattered. She does not survive her challenges. There is no redemption, only pain. Okay, there is some beauty too, in the book; there is solid love and affection, in the lives of Claudia and her family. But what happens to Pecola is traumatizing, and she does not survive the trauma.

S: I get that Marshmallow. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this book. So do you have some last words to say about it?

M: I think this could be a good book to read for bunnies who are willing to face the full ugliness of racism and how it hurts people’s self-worth.

S: Thank you. So let us wrap this up then. What do you want to tell our readers?

M: Stay tuned for more amazing reviews from the book bunnies!