The Bluest Eye: Autumn

Theme Textual Support – Cite quotes, examples from text, and page numbers
Beauty: What is  According to the author beauty is defined heavily by wealth, because whoever has money is clean
beauty? Who  Beauty is also determined by ‘pureness’: at the time people believed that pure was beautiful and pure was blonde hair,
determines what is blue eyes etc. This can be seen in the blurb ‘she yearns for the blonde hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her
beautiful? How does it to finally fit in.’ Pg - blurb
affect one’s identity? 
Racism: What are the  The writer writes this from a child’s perspective to mock the very idea of racism. She writes through a child’s perspective
effects of racism on to showcase how ridiculous things were back then. The idea that if your eyes were different it would change your whole
the individual? The life. That’s how big the problem was back then, and Morrison perpetuates this through the childs perspective.
community? What is
Morrison saying about
“racial self-hatred”?
Love: How is love  Love is heavily expressed in the book through symbolism. It is never directly referenced. The author uses season as a
expressed? What gateway to the way the characters felt in the story rather than directly saying it.
impact does love and a Supporting Quote:
lack of love have on ‘And in the night, when my coughing was dry and tough, feet padded into the room, hands repined the flannel, readjusted
the individual? the quilt, and rested a moment on my forehead. So when I think of autumn, I think of somebody with hands who does not
want me to die.”
Pg - 12
 Tough love by Mom because life is hard in the community or life that they have. If raised differently she might not make
it
 Pecola’s first period is experienced by all the girls and they are in awe of this miracle of life
 Their idea of love is sad. Claudia says that she wants seven boyfriends
 In the sad love songs the mother sings about all the men that leave the women
Power/Powerlessness  lk
: How do feelings of  Frieda can also be seen powerless in the bed when she is sick and cant…
power/powerlessness  Power examples – When Rosemary Villanucci appears in the book the author describes what she has that the other
impact the actions of characters don’t have in hopes of raising ideas about how things looked like at the time. Because characters look at
individuals? What are those things first rather than think about other things. When she sits in the car she thinks she has all the power when in
the consequences for reality if she stepped out the girls want to beat her up.
those individuals? Supporting Quote:
“Rosemary Villanucci, ….. sits in a 1939 Buick eating bread and butter. She rolls down the window to tell my sister Frieda and
me that we can’t come in.” Pg - 9

Community: How do  The community within the book is very inclusive. They are very helpful and always help each other out. After Cholly
we create Breedlove
environments of Supporting Quote:
inclusion rather than “Cholly Breedlove, then, had catapulted himself beyond the reaches of human consideration…. Mrs. Breedlove was staying
exclusion? How do we with the woman she worked for;” Pg - 18
build each other up 
rather than tear each
other down?
Other Themes?  Shame
The quote carries a heavy message and the ‘ugliness’ to which it refers to is a large symbol of shame. It seems to carry the
message that people within the book specifically black people have accepted the idea that they are worth less than a white
person. The quote also seems to hint that no one wants to go against it and they about their lives like this.
“You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you
realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each
one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question. The master had said, “you are ugly people.”
They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact, support for it leaning at them
from every billboard, every movie, every glance. “Yes,” they had said. “You are right.” And they took the ugliness in their
hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it’ (39)

 Ashamed
Pecola seems to
‘It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights – if those
eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different’ (46)
 Self-Perception
Pecola’s view on the world is a result of the way she had been treated over the course of her life. Leading her to think that her
blue eyes would change the way she views the world and the way the world would treat her.
‘It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights – if
those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different’ (46)
Mrs. Breedlove uses Cholly’s actions to define herself. She feels that the worse actions Cholly does results in her actions being
better.
 Emptiness
The way Pecola wants her beauty or the way she looks is symbol of how she feels. She feels that she is empty and is missing
something from her life. She is still trying to figure it out.
 Selfishness
Mrs. Breedlove is a selfish woman which can be seen when a troubled man like Cholly is drunk, Mrs. Breedlove manages to
make it about herself and how she is a better woman because of him. The same action gains ‘goodness’ the worse Cholly
 becomes.
 Self-Consciousness
The majority of the characters in the book were very self-conscious about themselves. They wanted to look different, act
different. However, when it came to the 3 whores that lived above the store, they were very powerful in a way. They didn’t get
put down by their profession and they did not care about whatever anyone thought of them. For example, Pecola wanted to
have blue eyes and she prays every night to get that. The whores on the other hand don’t care what other people think of them.
They don’t care what their job is and how they look. They are very self-confident as opposed to the majority of the rest of the
characters.

Quote Analysis:
1. The quote carries a heavy message and the ‘ugliness’ to which it refers to is a large symbol of shame. It seems to carry the message that people
within the book specifically black people have accepted the idea that they are worth less than a white person. The quote also seems to hint that no
one wants to go against it and they about their lives like this.
“You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from
conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each
accepted it without question. The master had said, “you are ugly people.” They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the
statement.”

2. The second quote carries the emptiness of the people from the first quote. People seem to have accepted that they are not the same. The second
quote shows how there are some who still hope to become one of them. Both quotes share a common theme and that is acceptance of who they
are. Neither want to accept who they are.
3. The third quote carries a theme of regret or hatred. The character saying this clearly has been put in a repetitive situation that she doesn’t want to
experience again.
4. This quote is related strongly to the second quote using emptiness as