The Bluest Eye Assignment
Read The Bluest Eye and take notes in preparation for your essay and our discussion. When you complete the novel chose one of the following topics and complete an essay of 2-3 pages typed in MLA format, double spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman
1.Discuss the narrative structure of the novel. Why might Morrison have chosen to present the events in a non-chronological way? What is the relationship between the three differing narrative voices? (The Mother-Father-Dick-Jane, Claudia, and the omniscient narrator)
2.Discuss the symbolism associated with Shirley Temple in the novel. What does she represent to Pecola? What might she represent to Maureen Peal?
3. How does Morrison present gender relations in the novel? Are men and women’s relationships generally portrayed positively or negatively?
4.Compare Louis Junior’s and Soaphead Church’s treatments of Pecola. Is she treated worse by one of these characters than the other? If so, which one, and why?
5. How might Morrison define beauty? How is beauty determined in the novel? What does the novel show about the way people see or perceive others?
6. Write an essay in which you discuss Pecola’s dream of happiness and Langston Hughes’s poem “Dream Deferred.” Is Pecola’s wanting the bluest eyes a dream deferred?
7. What does the word “ruined” mean for different characters in the novel?
8. Where is the hope in this novel?
9. Why does Toni Morrison include so many different characters’ stories in her novel? How are all the stories connected? What purpose do stories serve?
10. According to “In Praise of Banned Books” from The Book Lady’s Blog: “Toni Morrison really knows how to shake people up. She isn’t afraid to explore topics that many find offensive, taboo, or just plain difficult—race, gender, class, color, sex, etc.—because she wants to force a conversation, a dialogue between people who are more similar than we are different, and she wants to get us thinking and talking about these things” Discuss this quote in relation to the novel.