Analyzing The Bluest Eye
10 focus questions
1)
Who is the author?
2)
When was the book written?
3)
What was going on at the time socially, economically, politically?
4)
When is the setting of the novel?
5)
Explain the following quotes:
“It never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. We had
dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecola's father had dropped his seeds
in his own plot of black dirt. Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or
despair.”
“It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and
knew the sights—if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would
be different.”
“Oh, some of us ‘loved’ her. The Maginot Line. And Cholly loved her. I’m sure he did. He, at
any rate, was the one who loved her enough to touch her, envelop her, give something of himself
to her. But his touch was fatal, and the something he gave her filled the matrix of her agony with
death. Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people lo9ve wickedly, violent people
love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man
is never safe. There is no gift for the beloved. The lover alone possesses his gift of love. The
loved one is shorn, neutralized, frozen in the glare of the lover’s inward eye.”
“The birdlike gestures are worn away to a mere picking and plucking her way between the tire
rims and the sunflowers, between Coke bottles and milkweed, among all the waste and beauty of
the world—which is what she herself was. All of our waste which we dumped on her and which
she absorbed. And all of our beauty, which was hers first and which she gave to us.”
“And now when I see her searching the garbage—for what? The thing we assassinated? I talk
about how I did not plant the seeds too deeply, how it was the fault of the earth, the land, of our
town. I even think now that the land of the entire country was hostile to marigolds that year.
The soil is bad for certain kinds of flowers. Certain seeds it will not nurture, certain fruit it will
not bear, and when the land kills of its own volition, we acquiesce and say the victim had no
right to live. We were wrong of course, but it doesn’t matter. It’s too late. At least on the edge
of my town, among the garbage and the sunflowers of my town, it’s much, much, much too late.”
6) Explain 3 major symbols: 1. The house 2. The Marigolds
7) Identify and explain 3 motifs: 1. Whiteness and color
nature
2. Eyes and vision 3. Seasons and
8) Identify any Biblical/Religious allusions; and what is the effect?
9) Identify a significant part of the text; why is it significant?
10) Toni Morrison’s writing style: Describe her writing style in relation to the following
elements:
1. Rich, lyrical prose 2. Deft characterization (well rounded that incorporates the dreams,
histories and spirit of each one.) 3. Rhythmic dialogue 4. Elaborate symbols
5. Cyclical storytelling 6. Politics 7. Feminism