Riley Allen Wilder 4th Period 11 April 2012 The name of the book is The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison. It has two hundred and six pages and was published by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc. The Bluest Eye was first published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc, in 1970 as a hardcover book, but was later published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc, in slightly different form. The reason I chose to read The Bluest Eye was not only because it was on a list I had to choose from, but also because it was recommended by a friend, who told me a bit of the story and made it sound quite interesting. Plus, it won many hearts along with many awards; John Leonard from National Public Radio stated “She is the best writer in America.” Her book won awards like the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Price, and Nobel Prize in Literature. Pecola Breedlove is the main character; some other main characters are Claudia and Frieda MacTeer. Pecola has many problems in her life; the situation at home is non-the-less terrible. She is passive and this brings her more pain because the people closest to her use that to hurt her. Pecola is lonely even when Claudia and Frieda are there; she is also imaginative and thinks she is ugly, just like her mother thinks about herself. Claudia is nine years old, but you would not think that due to her strong views and open thoughts about white things. Her independence is supported by her ten year old sister Frieda, who is a little different in thought, due to her liking of white things. Some other characters are Cholly Breedlove, his wife Pauline, Mrs. MacTeer, and her husband Mr. MacTeer. Cholly I believe is the most prominent character who is not quite a main character. He is a tortured soul who turns bad and brings it out on the women in his life; he drinks, beats his wife and children, rapes his daughter, and tries to burn down his house, though he has his own traumatizing past that caused this. Pauline is Cholly’s wife and causes a lot of the problems in the house just so she can be a martyr. She hates her home, but loves the one she works at, she wants that kind of life, and is easily lost in movies or books due to that fact, and unknowingly pasted many of her problems down to her daughter, Pecola. Mrs. MacTeer is a strong woman who is very amped toward taking care of her family and making sure they survive threw the depression, and even though it might not be visible on the outside there is a lot of love. Mr. MacTeer is not there a lot of the time because of his work and the fact he wants to provide for his family, but he is a good dad and takes care of his family. Set in the south in Lorain, Ohio during the depression, so many are suffering. We manly follow Pecola and the happenings in her life, though it does go into other characters’ lives, it predominately follows poor Pecola. It starts out after her dad, Cholly, tried to burn down the house and Pecola was with the MacTeers, but it does not last and she is sent back to her house. Things were always bad at her house, but this time was worse because her father soon rapes her and in doing so, impregnates her, but right after it happened she tries to tell her mother, but she doesn’t believe her and beats Pecola. Claudia and Frieda try to help the baby survive by planting marigolds, but they, like the baby, don’t survive. Trying to fit in she goes to someone to give her blue eyes, but instead tricks her to kill a dog and doesn’t give her blue eyes. Her father then rapes her again and she goes insane, becomes mad believing that she has blue eyes. Over all, I liked the plot of The Bluest Eye and its characters. Though I did like its plot, I did not like its writing style. The way it was written did not interest me and made it hard to read. At the very start it lost my interest, to me it was boring, but I will say once the story started to get more intricate it did become a more enjoyable read. It defiantly taught me to not judge a book by its cover and to be thankful for the life I live, because some people do not have it as good as me. If you are a good reader, have a mature mind, and are not easily lost in the text I would suggest this book to you. The context is definitely not for younger children.
Wilder
4th Period
11 April 2012
The name of the book is The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison. It has two hundred and six pages and was published by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc. The Bluest Eye was first published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc, in 1970 as a hardcover book, but was later published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc, in slightly different form. The reason I chose to read The Bluest Eye was not only because it was on a list I had to choose from, but also because it was recommended by a friend, who told me a bit of the story and made it sound quite interesting. Plus, it won many hearts along with many awards; John Leonard from National Public Radio stated “She is the best writer in America.” Her book won awards like the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Price, and Nobel Prize in Literature.
Pecola Breedlove is the main character; some other main characters are Claudia and Frieda MacTeer. Pecola has many problems in her life; the situation at home is non-the-less terrible. She is passive and this brings her more pain because the people closest to her use that to hurt her. Pecola is lonely even when Claudia and Frieda are there; she is also imaginative and thinks she is ugly, just like her mother thinks about herself. Claudia is nine years old, but you would not think that due to her strong views and open thoughts about white things. Her independence is supported by her ten year old sister Frieda, who is a little different in thought, due to her liking of white things.
Some other characters are Cholly Breedlove, his wife Pauline, Mrs. MacTeer, and her husband Mr. MacTeer. Cholly I believe is the most prominent character who is not quite a main character. He is a tortured soul who turns bad and brings it out on the women in his life; he drinks, beats his wife and children, rapes his daughter, and tries to burn down his house, though he has his own traumatizing past that caused this. Pauline is Cholly’s wife and causes a lot of the problems in the house just so she can be a martyr. She hates her home, but loves the one she works at, she wants that kind of life, and is easily lost in movies or books due to that fact, and unknowingly pasted many of her problems down to her daughter, Pecola. Mrs. MacTeer is a strong woman who is very amped toward taking care of her family and making sure they survive threw the depression, and even though it might not be visible on the outside there is a lot of love. Mr. MacTeer is not there a lot of the time because of his work and the fact he wants to provide for his family, but he is a good dad and takes care of his family.
Set in the south in Lorain, Ohio during the depression, so many are suffering. We manly follow Pecola and the happenings in her life, though it does go into other characters’ lives, it predominately follows poor Pecola. It starts out after her dad, Cholly, tried to burn down the house and Pecola was with the MacTeers, but it does not last and she is sent back to her house. Things were always bad at her house, but this time was worse because her father soon rapes her and in doing so, impregnates her, but right after it happened she tries to tell her mother, but she doesn’t believe her and beats Pecola. Claudia and Frieda try to help the baby survive by planting marigolds, but they, like the baby, don’t survive. Trying to fit in she goes to someone to give her blue eyes, but instead tricks her to kill a dog and doesn’t give her blue eyes. Her father then rapes her again and she goes insane, becomes mad believing that she has blue eyes.
Over all, I liked the plot of The Bluest Eye and its characters. Though I did like its plot, I did not like its writing style. The way it was written did not interest me and made it hard to read. At the very start it lost my interest, to me it was boring, but I will say once the story started to get more intricate it did become a more enjoyable read. It defiantly taught me to not judge a book by its cover and to be thankful for the life I live, because some people do not have it as good as me. If you are a good reader, have a mature mind, and are not easily lost in the text I would suggest this book to you. The context is definitely not for younger children.