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The Bluest Eye


            In her novel The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison tells a tragic tale, carefully leading the reader through the circumstances which result in Pecola Breedlove's demise. She does not allow the reader to feel a satisfied hatred toward the characters who directly hurt Pecola, instead she spends chapters acquainting readers with internal worlds of these abusers and the events and circumstances of their lives. It becomes clear that these assailants are in fact victims, victims of a society in which white is beautiful and black is ugly, undeserving of every basic dignity and regard. Pecola's ruin is not the fault of these ravaged players, it is the fault of the society which created such dysfunction in the first place. .
             As their personal histories, inner feelings, and life experiences are recreated in vivid detail, the reader begins to feel sympathy for and understanding of the characters in Pecola's life. Held in poverty by the color of their skin we see that they have suffered crushing blows at the hands of a cruel and racist society. They have been poisoned and twisted by their experience of life, some of their actions are reprehensible and yet their traits and motives are all too understandable, familiar, and human. .
             Pecola and her family allow us to begin to comprehend the pain and consequences of assumed racial inferiority. Morrison wants her audience to seriously reflect upon racism. She forces us to confront what it really means for its victims, and shows us that like a toxin, it bioaccumulates in the human psyche, leaks through generations, manifests and kills. .
             Some models of tragedy conceive of it as a fall, resulting from some ill-choice made by a character with an inherent flaw. An injustice is often done against this character -the punishment rarely fits the crime, but the character recognizes his mistake and there is catharsis in the end.


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