The tragedy of Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye, is that love, particularly self-love, seems to be elusive among the members of Lorain, Ohio's black community. The Breedlove family, whose name ironically symbolizes an urge to foster and reap the love that eludes them the most, are a case study in the corrosive effects of racism on a black family.
Cholly Breedlove learns during puberty, particularly during his first sexual encounter with a girl named Darlene, to connect sexuality to brutality. Frustrated by his powerlessness against the white men who objectify him during that encounter, he transfers his rage onto Darlene, setting up a pattern in which he learns to despise black women, particularly those who want to love and depend on him. His marriage to Pauline Breedlove is contentious, and sometimes violent. His relationship with his daughter, Pecola, culminates in violence when he rapes her.
Pauline is treated as though she is subhuman because she is a black woman. While she is giving birth to Pecola, a doctor enters her hospital room with a group of medical students and describes how she and other black women supposedly give birth as ably as horses. Pauline is saddened by the doctor's inability to recognize her pain. The only role in which she garners any respect is as the maid of a wealthy white family and the nanny of their little blonde daughter. The little girl looks like the sort that Pecola wants to become so that she, too, can be doted upon as her own mother dotes on the girl. Meanwhile, Pauline slaps Pecola for entering the home of her employers without permission and for sullying her immaculate floors.
Pecola's response to being unloved is to convince herself that, if she had blue eyes, she would be adored by everyone. The racism of American society, which idealizes blond, blue-eyed people, has instructed Pecola to believe that only people with these features have value.
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