Family Relationships In Morrison

’s “The Bluest Eye” Essay, Research Paper

.The Bluest Eye. by Toni Morrison

Family Relationships

.The Bluest Eye. by Toni Morrison, is a story about the life of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who is growing up during post World War I. She prays for the bluest eyes, which will .make her beautiful. and in turn make her accepted by her family and peers. The major issue in the book, the idea of ugliness, was the belief that .blackness. was not valuable or beautiful. This view, handed down to them at birth, was a cultural hindrance to the black race.

A main theme in this novel is the influence of family relationships in the quest for individual identity. Our family or lack thereof, as children, ultimately influences the way we feel as adults, about ourselves and about others. The effects on us mold our personalities and as a result influence our identities. This story shows us the efforts of struggling black families who transmit patterns and problems that have a negative impact on their family relationships. These patterns continue to go unresolved and are eventually inherited by their children who will also accept this way of life as this vicious circle continues.

Having inherited the myth of ugliness and unworthiness, the characters throughout the story, with the exception of the MacTeer family, will not only allow this to happen, but will instill this in their children to be passed on to the next generation. Beauty precedes love, the grownups seem to say, and only a few possess beauty, so they remain unloved and unworthy. Throughout the novel, the convictions of sons and daughters are the same as their fathers and mothers. Their failures and accomplishments are transferred to their children and to future generations.

It is interesting that the story begins not in January, but in the fall, when school starts, and a new chapter in life begins according to the rhythm of a child.s life. In this .Autumn. chapter, Claudia MacTeer uses flower imagery to describe how she and Frieda respond to their environment. This metaphor calls attention to the importance of nurture and environment for these young children, especially during these formative years of childhood. Like flowers, we depend on our environment for sustenance, so in turn, Pecola Breedlove, Soaphead Church, and Louis, Jr., inherit the legacy of self-loathing and Claudia and Frieda MacTeer inherit the legacy of self-worth.

The mother/daughter relationship between Mrs. MacTeer and her two daughters, Claudia and Frieda, is loving and strong. They are taught their own self-worth through their mother.s strength and example, although this love isn.t fully appreciated by the girls until they are older. During Claudia.s illness, she is treated with a mixture of concern and anger. Although Claudia is scolded and her mother complains of cleaning her vomit, at the same time her mother is nursing her, giving her medicine, and checking on her throughout the night. Claudia discovers later that her mother.s anger is not directed at her, but at the world, as she must raise her black family in a world ruled by white culture. She protects her children and equips them for survival in a hostile environment.

The Dick and Jane primer in .The Bluest Eye. reminds us of the persuasiveness of the happy, middle-America myth of the perfect family, which, of course, did not exist in black culture. Although they are good parents, the MacTeers whip their children, complain about burdens and barely make ends meet, exploding the Dick and Jane myth. They don.t measure self-worth by symbols of domestic white culture and accept their difference as a given, not a deprivation.

Mrs. MacTeer takes in Pecola, .put out. on the streets when her father burns down her house, even though it.s a strain on their finances. As a temporary mother figure in Pecola Breedlove.s life, Mrs. MacTeer bestows on Pecola the care and intimacy that she has never before and never again will receive. She is loved and accepted for the first time when Mrs. MacTeer hugs Pecola and Frieda after she begins .ministratin... Mrs. MacTeer then takes Pecola inside to the bath to help her and .laughter is heard..

The relationship between Mrs. MacTeer and her daughters is in sharp contrast with the relationship between Pauline Breedlove and her daughter, Pecola. Pauline and her husband, Cholly, hate their children, Pecola and Sammy as much as they hate themselves. Again, we see unworthiness breeding unworthiness. Mrs. Breedlove wanted her family life to .disappear. and is happiest when she is working for the white family that employed her, without any reminder of her failures. Similarly, Pecola wants to .disappear. and become invisible during her parents. violent fights and Sammy physically disappears as he runs away from home frequently.

Experiences transferred Pauline into a product of hatred and ignorance, leading her to hold herself up to unrealistic standards that she could not attain. Pauline, the ninth of eleven children, was ignored by her family and she in turn, ignores her family. She learned early in life to be separate and unworthy because of her limp that she acquired by stepping on nail at age two. She assigns this unworthiness to Pecola when she is born, so she too will be separate and feel unworthy.

These standards and feelings of rejection are the qualities that Pecola inherit