Book Review: The Bluest Eye

(Taken out of the Jackson Heights Library): Nobel laureate Toni Morrison's first novel is a searing, unflinching portrait of a young African-American girl in 1940s Ohio, full of self-loathing and wishing for blonde hair and blue eyes to make her fit in. The theme of black self-deprecation permeates the story as each character turns their anger at racism in on themselves or on the ones they love. White people are too invulernable to hate. Racism poisons the characters' psyches and causes them to turn to violence and hatred. Pecola (ironically named for the mulatto daughter in the soapy film Imitation of Life) is victimized by her father, her mother and her friends. Morrison paints a realistic and rank portrait of a racist society. It probably scares some people, but it's the truth and should be faced. Images of Shirley Temple and Dick and Jane are used to indicate the white ideal against which the characters measure themselves. The chapters on Pecola's parents, Cholly and Pauline, are devastating.