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Eric D Munoz
Professor Mark Foster
HIS 5238
10 July, 2012
Diary Entry: The Bluest Eye

Understanding the tumultuous times of the Depression Era can be done through
many different lenses. From the obvious economic implications, to the epic war that
brought the era to an end, the choices to explain the Depression are endless. Toni
Morrison chose to explain this time period through the eyes of a young African-
American girl and the problems she faced. This unconventional approach to relating
history through her stories is extraordinarily effective for reading. Toni Morrisons The
Bluest Eye contributed to my understanding of the Depression era through the lives of
her characters.
At the turn of the century Morrisons parents sought a better life in the North
after struggling to sustain their lives as sharecroppers. Moving to the steel town of
Lorain, Ohio, Morrison was born in the town that her book is set in 1931. Her parents
brought her up understanding African-American history and culture through
storytelling, which created a love for the narrative. After her formative years, Morrison
went to Howard University and Cornell University. Here, she began to form her ideas on
writing, but waited to publish and taught at various universities, including Howard
where she met her husband, gave birth to two children and eventually divorced in 1964.
She began writing and published The Bluest Eye in 1970. Slowly, she began to receive
accolades for her works and is now considered a staple in American Literature.
1
In 2012,
she received the Medal of Freedom for her writing giving life to an essential aspect
American reality.
2

The book, The Bluest Eye, revolves around the young African-American girl,
Pecola Breedlove. At eleven years old, she shares a troubled upbringing with her friends
Claudia and Frieda MacTeer. After her father attempts to burn their house down, she
lives with MacTeers for a short period of time. Upon returning home, Pecola must deal
with abusive parents who have brought uneasy pasts to their family. Both parents have
dealt with self-worth issues that Pecola has unknowingly inherited. Her father was left
by his parents and has been treated terribly by white people he has encountered in his
life. Her mother has a limp left by a nail she stepped on as a child and has come to
realization that being malformed is her burden. This is reinforced by the abuse of her
husband, in which she feels it is her duty to receive.
The story truly begins to take shape when Pecolas father comes home one day
and rapes her. He runs from his actions, leaving Pecolas mother to find her. Upon
telling her mother what happened, she refuses to believe the story and beats Pecola.
Realizing that she is pregnant, Pecola goes to a spiritualist and asks for blue eyes like so
many of the white girls she sees. The spiritualist agrees to grant her the wish, but she
must feed a dog. Unknowingly, she feeds a dog poison meet that the spiritualist disliked
and kills the dog. Claudia and Frieda are the only two who support the birth of Pecolas
baby, but upon birth, the baby dies. Pecolas father rape her again and fleas, only to die

1
Voices from the Gap: Toni Morrison - http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/morrison_toni.php
2
Bob Dylan, Toni Morrison Among Those Honored With Medal Of Freedom - http://n.pr/LQlfgA
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on a manual labor job. Pecola, who has become irrational, creates a critical, invisible
friend in her mind and discusses her having blue eyes. With Pecola slowly creeping
towards insanity, Claudia comes to grip the magnitude of the situation. At the end of the
book, Claudia realizes that this is the situation that is and will not be changed.
Throughout the book, a few different items are used to display the plot of the
book: blue eyes, flowers and whiteness. The blue eyes are a symbol of the self-worth that
Pecola has and how race has tainted her view of what a young, African-American girl
should look and be like. The flowers that Claudia and Frieda plant are symbolic of the
Pecolas baby; the flowers die and so does Pecolas stillborn baby. The whiteness seen
throughout the book is seen as godliness and purity, as seen in the descriptions of
aristocratic side characters and celebrities that are white. The ideas that juxtapose the
blue eyes and whiteness are bland brown eyes and dirtiness, thus exemplifying the
instilled and unfortunate racist ideas within the characters. They have believed exactly
what has been said of them.
In the Afterward of the book, Morrison discusses the writing process, the
backdrop of the book, and the backdrop of the troublesome late-1960s. Morrison reveals
that the political impact on African-Americans at this time led to great social upheaval.
The choice to have the book set in 1941 was to mirror the coming events, not only in real
life, but in the plot of the book, too. Morrison may not have intended to display life
during the Depression Era, but the racial divide in both eras are pivotal in exposing
discrimination and the implications on the people themselves. The book did coincide
with my understanding of the times in its descriptions of characters and events leading
up to WWII.
I was able to connect to the story, but I felt that it was only due to my
understanding of history and the position that African-Americans had in society during
the Depression Era. The introspection and reflection of the characters about race and
their standing fits with my understanding of a society that is divided and bigoted. I have
read before that many African-Americans saw their standing in society as outcasts and
that there wasnt much they could do. They were to stand on the outside, looking in, and
wanting to be equal, just as Pecola Breedlove he displayed in the book. Morrisons
characters exhibit what life was like during the Depression Era and have contributed to
my understanding of American history from reading The Bluest Eye.