In Toni Morrison’s fictional novel, The Bluest Eye, the viewpoint of the story is shown through the eyes and mind of Pecola Breedlove, a girl directly involved in many tragedies. The slow developing storylines confuse the reader and make the development of the characters hard to follow.
Pecola Breedlove is the main character. She wishes every day to have the beauty of blue eyes. Her belief that all her problems would dissolve with the acquisition of blue eyes is a symbol of society’s acceptance. The main theme of this book is to show that people are too concerned with beauty and lose sight of things that are important to them because of it.
The introduction of multiple characters with main roles made it difficult for the reader to identify Pecola as the protagonist of the story. Other prominent roles included Mrs. Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove, Frieda, and Claudia. Mrs. Breedlove and Frieda did not contribute to the plot of the story, while Claudia’s only contribution was the narration of the first part of the book.
At first, Frieda and Claudia could be considered the main characters. The beginning of the book was focused on the two sisters while Claudia was the first narrator. They become friends with the eventual protagonist, Pecola. Another main character appears to be Cholly. The story of his life provides reason as to why he chooses to rape his daughter, Pecola. Morrison depicts this situation through the eyes of Cholly saying, “His soul seemed to slip down his guts and fly out into her, and the gigantic thrust he made into her then provoked the only sound she made”(163). Each storyline revolves back to Pecola, leaving her as the protagonist.
The story of Pecola’s life is described in a very controversial and inappropriate way. Morrison’s novel has been brought into question and even banned in some cases. Therefore, interested readers should be mature teenagers and adults due to the explicit content of the novel.