The Bluest Eye - Opening
Part I (Primer)
Sentences describe a house and the family that lives in it, happy and perfect life.
Tries to reproduce the happy atmosphere of a primer
Names which are used are simple and easy to remember :”Jane, Dick...”
Primer = a book used to teach young children to read, typically containing simple stories
Uses very simple language: each sentence contains only one clause
Simple colors: green, white, red. Evokes a colorful atmosphere.
Perfect family: mother, father, son, daughter, dog and cat.
Onomatopoeias easily understood by children: "cat goes meow-meow", "bowwow goes the dog"
Repetition of the same words: "Jane", "Mother", "laugh", "Father", "smile", "run", "look", "play" : clever way to teach children how to read.
In a way, it summarizes the novel: we know that the story will be told from a child's perspective
A primer teaches children how to read. Similarly, the novel explores the ways in which children learn to interpret their world
- But because the sentences are not spread out with pictures, the paragraph lacks cohesion
This mirrors what happens in the novel: there is indeed a lack of connection between the characters
Repeats the paragraph three times: The first looks like it is taken out from the primer itself and has a normal punctuation -->Therefore, easy to read and understand.
The second one has no punctuation and is less comprehensible than the first one---> Sense of oppression throughout the text, Primer is read less easily and appears to us in a more frightening way. The tone is lost.
The third paragraph is a stressed block of words taken out from the same exctract of the primer. The words are sticked together with no space between them and no punctuation. This passage is therefore unreadable and impossible to understand at first sight---> The reader gets lost into this block of letters. We have the impression that throughout the novel, we will get the same impression for the protagonist ---> A hard and uncomprehensible life which doesn't reflect a perfect life as it is shown in the primer...
Clear downfall of the primer, it appears that the perfect life as shown in the primer is not reachable by everyone. The desintegration is therefore really slow and takes place steps by steps (here 3 paragraphs). The process of shortening is clear through those 3 paragraphs, the life of the protagonist (Pecola) is then annonced as being the same.
Part II (Introduction)
Fall of 1941: we immediately know when the story takes place: at the end of the Great Depression, at the beginning of WW2. The segregation is still taking place at this period of time. This period ---> Emphasises the hostile period against the black community.
Narrator: "we", the story is told by at least 2 people.
Discovery of the main character-->The sentence in which Pecola is dropped is really pejorative for the little girl. First impression = poor, innocent, victimized, influencable...
The first sentence of the second paragraph is pitiful. We learn that the young girls (we will then discover that it is Claudia) do believe in magic, and that they draw a parallel between Pecola's baby and the seed she has planted.---> Use of Pathetic Fallacy to draw the parallel between nature and Pecola's baby who is going to die.
Image of envy to know from the little girls---> “Once we knew, our guilt was relieved only by fights and mutual accusations about who to blame”. At this point of the introduction, we learn that Pecola's has been abused by his father and that her friend Claudia MacTeer won't know who is the rapist...
Feeling of innocence throughout the text: they think their seeds do not grow because of Pecola, and they think their seeds will grow if they say "the right words over them" > Narrators seem to be children, they believe in "magic"
- Metaphor: "Pecola's father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt": the black dirt is an image for Pecola. If this were the first time we read the story, we would not understand the metaphor > mysterious + creates suspense
This metaphor also foreshadows what is going to happen at the end of the novel
Listing: "hope, fear, lust, love, and grief"--->This listing involves a lexical field of sadness as well as a lexical field of hope. This contrast shows how black society is divided in two , hope and fear...
Personification: their "innocence" dies
-Sentences usually made up of two clauses: "Cholly breelove is dead / our innocence too" they make a link between their story and the story of Pecola
Conclusion: mysterious opening which foreshadows the events of the novel: we do not really understand what is happening in the extract. What we know is that the story will be sad and tragic