The Bluest Eye
*The Bluest Eye* is the debut novel by Toni Morrison, published in 1970.
Set in Ohio during the Great Depression, it follows Pecola Breedlove, a young Black girl who prays for blue eyes, believing white beauty standards will save her from her brutal home life.
The novel examines how racism and impossible ideals of beauty destroy self-worth: We assigned *The Bluest Eye* in our African American literature course.
- Toni Morrison"Song of Solomon"
- first novelAuthor's earliest book-length work
- African American literatureWriting by Black Americans
- beautyAesthetic excellence
- uglinessDispleasing appearance quality
racism · whiteness · Shirley Temple · self-hatred · trauma · Ohio · blackness · marigolds · incest · broken family · childhood · desire · shame · 1940s · Dick and Jane · Claudia · innocence · colorism
- American BooksTo Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, Catch-22, Walden
- banned books1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Lady Chatterley
- Black Literatureblack literature, black authors, slave narratives, Harlem Renaissance, Toni Morrison
- Morrison WorksSong of Solomon, Paradise, Home
- women's writingVirginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Sylvia Plath
The Bluest EyeAnne of Green Gables
Pollyanna · Because of Winn-Dixie · Little Women · The Secret Garden · The Help
The Bluest EyeTo Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Gatsby · Pride and Prejudice · Charlotte's Web · Old Yeller · The Giving Tree
blue, bluer, bluest, blues, bluish, blueness, eyeing, eyeless, eyelet