The Bluest Eye

This novel was a real pleasure to read yet, it was very depressing. It was short enough to keep your interest but long enough to divulge you with symbolism and detail. The novel takes place in the 1940s and tells of a little girl's childhood and the hardships of a black girl growing up in a white-idolizing society.

A main lesson learned from the completion of this novel was the effect on a child’s life due to the insufficient amount of love passed on from parent to child. It was made very obvious how the lack of parenting capabilities, and past experiences of parent's childhood, really shape the environment of kin. It just goes to show how important it is to bring up your children in a proper fashion. This "fashion" is definitely relative and has many variables that make no two situations the same and many variations acceptable. Note: the way Pecola grew up was not acceptable!

A very important theme that I thought was well represented throughout the novel was the idea of seeing instead of being seen. At one point in the novel when Pecola's parents were arguing Pecola disappeared into the darkness and the only portion of her body that stuck out of the dark was her eyes. At this moment, Pecola could view the world without being seen. Her eyes were the window to which she could view the world and symbolized the idea that if she could change the color of her eyes then she could change the way that she viewed the world. Pecola wanted to see the world through the eyes of a white person and be seen as an equal of whites. This yearning to be white brought on a lot of self-discrimination of many blacks within the novel.

This novel really made me realize how blessed I have been to have my parents in my life.