Study Questions & Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. The
Bluest Eye uses multiple narrators, including Claudia as
a child, Claudia as an adult, and an omniscient narrator. Which
narrative point of view do you think is most central to the novel
and why?
A case can be made for the centrality of
any of the three narrators listed above. The perspective of the
adult Claudia frames the novel—the second section of the prologue
and the novel’s last chapter are told from her point of view. These
opening and closing sections say the most about what Pecola’s story
means, and our efforts to make sense of the story therefore depend
upon and parallel the adult Claudia’s efforts. But Claudia’s childlike
perspective is also crucial. She is similar to Pecola in age and
social status, and therefore possesses special insight into the
nature and meaning of Pecola’s suffering. At the same time, she
is comparatively more confident and secure than Pecola, so she can
articulate things that Pecola cannot. The omniscient narrator is
also central to the telling of the story, because she provides information
about Cholly’s and Pauline’s pasts, which make them more sympathetic
and give the novel its broader scope. Without the character backgrounds
provided by this omniscient perspective, Pecola’s tragedy might
be too senseless for the novel to hold together.
2. Who do you
think is the most sympathetic character in the novel and why?
Morrison designs The Bluest Eye to
make us sympathize with even the most violent and hurtful characters,
which means that this question has many possible answers. Pecola
is the most obvious candidate for our sympathy, because she undergoes
a shocking amount of abuse. She is forced to witness her parents’
violent fights, she is mocked or ignored by her classmates, she
is tormented by Junior, she is raped by her father, and she is used
by Soaphead Church. But to some degree, Pecola remains a shadowy,
mysterious character—we are not given as much insight into how she
thinks and feels as we are into other characters, who may therefore
receive the greater share of our sympathy. Both of Pecola’s parents
are sympathetic because the narrator goes to great lengths to explain
how they have become the kind of people they are. Pauline’s story
is partially narrated by Pauline herself, which makes her more sympathetic because
we are given a vivid glimpse into the pleasure and suffering of
her life. Although Cholly does not narrate any part of his story,
he endures so much hardship—starting from the moment he is born and
discarded by the train tracks—that we cannot help but feel sympathy
for him. Claudia is yet another candidate for the most
sympathetic character, simply because we experience so much of the story
from her point of view and she is the one who helps us makes sense
of it all.
3. The
Bluest Eye is a novel about racism, and yet there are relatively
few instances of the direct oppression of black people by white
people in the book. Explain how racism functions in the story.
Unlike To Kill a Mockingbird, in
which an African-American is persecuted by whites simply on the
basis of skin color, The Bluest Eye presents a
more complicated portrayal of racism. The characters do experience
direct oppression, but more routinely they are subject to an internalized
set of values that creates its own cycle of victimization within
families and the neighborhood. The black community in the novel
has accepted white standards of beauty, judging Maureen’s light
skin to be attractive and Pecola’s dark skin to be ugly. Claudia
can sense the destructiveness of this idea and rebels against it
when she destroys her white doll and imagines Pecola’s unborn baby
as beautiful. Racism also affects the characters of the novel in other
indirect ways. The general sense of precariousness of the black community
during the Great Depression, in comparison with the relative affluence
of the whites in the novel, reminds us of the link between race
and class. More directly, the sexual violation of Pecola is connected
to the sexual violation of Cholly by whites who view his loss of
virginity as entertainment.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. How does nature function in
the novel? Do you consider it a benevolent presence against which
the events of the novel are contrasted, or a potentially malevolent
force? Is Morrison’s use of natural imagery hopeful or ironic?
2. Which is a greater threat
to the children in The Bluest Eye: racism or sexism?
3. At the end of the novel, Claudia
questions her own right or ability to tell the truth about Pecola’s
experience. How seriously are we to take her questioning? Is she
a reliable narrator?
4. To what extent is Cholly to
blame for his violence against his family? Which other people or
circumstances may also be to blame? What is the novel’s position
on blame?
5. The novel includes a number
of secondary story lines, such as Geraldine’s and Soaphead Church’s
histories, with the main story line of the Breedlove family. Select
one of these secondary stories and explain how it relates to or
comments upon the main story line.
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