The Bluest Eye
By Barbara Schultz,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Deeply poetic novel explores racial and sexual feelings.

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What you will—and won't—find in this book.
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Based on 11 parent reviews
An important book in the pantheon of great American literature
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Common sense book for any US literature class
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What's the Story?
In THE BLUEST EYE, two preteen sisters, Frieda and Claudia MacTeer, live with their parents in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. MacTeer take on a lodger, whom the girls call Mr. Henry, and for a brief period they take in a quiet, unhappy 11-year-old classmate of Frieda and Claudia's named Pecola Breedlove. The girls befriend Pecola, who comes from a very troubled household; her father, Cholly, is often drunk, and he and her mother, Polly, fight physically and verbally. Pecola considers herself ugly and unworthy of love, and believes that if only she could have blue eyes, she would be pretty and happy. Readers learn the life events that have shaped Polly and Cholly, led them to marry, and led them ultimately to their unfortunate state.
Is It Any Good?
This is a poetic and complex investigation of racial, personal, and sexual feelings. The doomed characters in The Bluest Eye are both beautifully realized as individual characters and richly representative of the concepts Toni Morrison explores with her story. As the point of view shifts from character to character, the reader comes to understand what drives them, and will be deeply engaged in their experiences and moved by their fates.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Pecola's wish for blue eyes. Why does she think having blue eyes will change her life?
Why are Cholly's feelings about sexuality bound up with anger?
Why does Claudia feel rage toward Shirley Temple, toward Rosemary and Maureen?
Book Details
- Author: Toni Morrison
- Genre: Literary Fiction
- Topics: Friendship
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Publication date: January 1, 1970
- Number of pages: 224
- Last updated: June 11, 2015
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