the+bluest+eyePPT
LanguageThe novel is written in the dialect of the Midwest, specifically the ...
LanguageThe novel is written in the dialect of the Midwest, specifically the urban black community of Omaha, Nebraska. The language is a combination of black English (also known as Ebonics) and white Midwestern English. Pecola's interior monologues are a combination of traditional black English, black street slang and Standard English, a clear example of the Minstrelsy tradition. (Jackson) The New York Times hailed it as a "gorgeously literate creation that married the ancient sin of slavery to the '50's Freudianism" (Jackson).ThemeOne of the novel's central themes is race and how it affects one's self-esteem and identity. Pecola's blue eyes—the novel's title—serve as a symbol for the standards of beauty that white society had (and still has) imposed on black people. Pecola internalizes this message and sees herself as ugly because she doesn't look like what she—and society—perceive as beautiful. Her blue eyes make her feel "un-black" (274), which makes her feel inferior and defines her sense of self-worth. Pecola's journey—from being shunned by her own community for her beauty, to being desired by the same community for it—highlights the ways in which white beauty standards have been internalized by black people.Plot DevelopmentThe plot centers around Pecola Breedlove and her family, friends, and neighbors in the black community of Omaha, Nebraska during the 1940s. It is a bildungsroman, tracing Pecola's growth from a naïve child to a young woman who has learned to accept—and even embrace—the cruelties of life. The novel opens with Pecola's discovery of her "bluest" eyes, which sets off a chain reaction that will change the course of her life. Her newfound beauty attracts the attention of her community, who begin to envy and hate her for it. She withdraws from society, longing for the days when she was an ordinary girl. She prays to God to make her ugly again, but God doesn't answer her prayers.SymbolismThe novel is rife with symbolism, much of which is centered around Pecola's blue eyes. For instance, blue is often associated with royalty and wealth in Western culture—hence, blueblood—but it is also the color of Negroes' skin in minstrelsy. It becomes a visual pun: "blue" as in blue-black, blue as in blue-blood, blue as in minstrel-show, blue as in blue-balls (the slang term for castration). The pun multiplies meanings and suggests that "blue"—the color itself—is laden with meaning, filtered through "blue"-isms like "blueprint" ("design"—given black Americans were at the turn of the century (the last) slave labor), "blue collar" (the working class), "blue-movie" (pornography), and so on (Jackson).StyleThe novel is written in third person omniscient point of view with an internal perspective on characters. It is written in a stream-of-consciousness style that conveys Pecola's interior monologues and random thoughts clearly and accurately, creating a connection between reader and character. The language itself—Pecola's dialect—is another device that works to enhance the novel's stream-of-consciousness style. By writing the novel in this way,Toobin further emphasizes Pecola's connection to other black people; even though they speak different dialects, their shared history of oppression is what binds them together.
