The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison
From beginning to end, this is a
story of misery, told beautifully in a series of stories from a variety of
viewpoints. The Bluest Eye examines
the concept of beauty as it was in 1940s Ohio ,
among blacks across various classes but concentrating mostly on the poor and
their struggle to get by. An opening homage to the "See Spot Run"
brand of children's books frames the story nicely, as does a summarizing
passage from a part-time narrator and protagonist. This first glimpse of the
fate about to befall poor Pecola gets the large mystery of what will happen out
of the way and allows the book to, as the narrator herself suggests, explain
why and how events unfold as they do. The opening suggests also the scope of
the book, which looks beyond the main story to its constituent parts and to the
lives that conspired to bring Pecola and her tragedy about. Shifting settings
and characters root the story without providing undue distractions, and the
book explores a much greater story than its initial scope suggests. Morrison's
ear for dialogue and her skill in recreating it are evident, as is a fervent
desire to provide all sides of the story. While the background pieces do
contribute and add to the breadth and depth of the story, The Bluest Eye can at times get a bit off track. Morrison writes
beautifully, but it seems that the narrative innovation never quite works to
effectively explore the themes behind the novel. The Bluest Eye is undoubtedly an important inside look at
African-American culture just before the great upheavals of the 1950s and
1960s, but its beautiful writing and thoughtful architecture don't quite work
for either the story at hand or the themes that lie just beyond the book's
reach.
Grade: B+
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