Literature Analysis Notes (The Bluest Eye)

Prologue:
“We had dropped our seeds in our won little plot of black dirt just as Pecola’s father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt.”
Chapter One
•Love: A constant presence throughout the novel. The MacTeer Family truly cares for each other (shown with their actions). They also take in Henry as a helper and help Pecola.
•Sherley Temple: Symbol of hatred and jealousy. Pecola really wants to have those blue eyes and blonde hair.
•“How do you get someone to love you?” Pecola begins growing up both physically and mentally and questions life.
Chapter Two
•Pecola’s father is out of jail and they move into a pretty horrible apartment. The furniture description is a symbol of how she feels about life(everything is pointless).
Chapter Three
•Discrimination: They believe they are ugly because they are black. Pecola really wants blue eyes because she feels that with them, she will be respected and happy.
•Pecola constantly questions what beauty is.
Chapter Four
•New girl named Maureen represents the discrimination. The boys stop beating Pecola only because they see Maureen (with blue eyes) standing there.
•Maureen insults the girls saying they are ugly because they are black.
Chapter Six
•Henry touches Frieda’s breast. The family almost kills him once they find out.
Chapter Seven/Eight
•Tells of the childhood of Mr. and Mrs. Breedlove. They had tough childhoods and grew up to do some bad things.
Mr. Breedlove even beat and raped women.
Chapter Nine
•We see that it is very difficult to trust anyone.
•Soaphead Church is an “honored” man until they find out that he is a pedophile!
•Pecola begins to imagine that she has colored eyes. (innocence of a child is shown)
Chapter Ten
•Hope is an important message found in this chapter. The girls, Claudia and Frieda, work towards getting a bike even though a lot has happened to them.
•Misfortunes: Pecola is pregnant because of her father! (Cholly leave)
Chapter Eleven
•Pecola begins to have internal problems. She questions herself and her “imaginary friend” says that she liked having sex with her father.
Symbolism and Literary Techniques:
•Marigold Seeds- The hope of Pecola’s baby being healthy
•Verbatim- the sequence, punctuation changes, titles of the chapters