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Transcript

Diction Detective: Friends and Family

“What do I care about her old black daddy?” asked Maureen. “Black? Who you calling black?” “You!” “You think you so cute!” I swung at her and missed, hitting Pecola in the face. Furious at my clumsiness, I threw my notebook at her, but it caught her in the small of her velvet back, for she had turned and was flying across the street against traffic … Pecola stood a little apart from us, her eyes hinged in the direction in which Maureen had fled. She seemed to fold into herself, like a pleated wing. Her pain antagonized me. I wanted to open her up, crisp her edges, ram a stick down that hunched and curving spine, force her to stand erect and spit the misery out on the streets. But she held it in where it could lap up into her eyes. (Morrison 73)

Pecola vs. Celie

Diction Detective: Friends and Family

Pecola's relationship with Claudia and Frieda in The Bluest Eye is similar to the relationship between Celie and her sister Nettie from The Color Purple.

The Bluest Eye By: Toni Morrison

"My mother’s anger humiliates me; her words chafe my cheeks, and I am crying. I do not know that she is not angry at me, but at my sickness. I believe she despises my weakness or letting the sickness “take holt.” By and by I will not get sick; I will refuse to.” (Morrison 26)

Friends and Family

Her family's neglect caused her to believe in her ugliness and inferiority, but her friends' support recovered her hope and feeling of belonging.

Light skins vs. Dark skins

Diction Detective: Racism

"Each pale yellow wrapper has a picture on it. A picture of little Mary Jane, for whom the candy is named. Smiling white face. Blond hair in gentle disarray, blue eyes looking at her out of a world of clean comfort. The eyes are petulant, mischievous. To Pecola they are simply pretty. She eats the candy, and its sweetness is good. To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane." (Morrison 50)

Toni Morrison (Chloe Anthony Wofford)

Society

Beauty Standards

Pecola is influenced by what other's see as beautiful, such as blue eyes on white girls.

Young girls become influenced by what society wants them to be, shown in media such as Vogue.

Beauty standards and racism increased Pecola's insecurity. Society's standards made her aware of her ugliness and inferiority, planting hatred and resignation in her.

Mission Statement

• First African American woman to win a Nobel Prize.

• First African woman to hold an endowed chair at an Ivy League university.

• The Bluest Eye was Morrison’s first novel.

• Inspired by a conversation with a friend who told Toni that she wanted blue eyes.

• Examines racial self-loathing taking root within a child.

• Novel leaves many things up to the interpretation of the reader.

• One of the most influential writers in African- American society.

• Endorsed President Barack Obama.

Our mission is to examine how people's upbringings impact their lives. Specifically, we will explain how family, friends, experiences, and society shaped Pecola's life and personality. Then we will connect her life to real life and other texts.

Diction Detective: Beauty Standards

"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. Her teeth were good, and at least her nose was not big and flat like some of those who were thought so cute. If she looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too. Maybe they’d say, 'Why, look at pretty-eyed Pecola. We mustn’t do bad things in front of those pretty eyes.'" (Morrison 46)

Diction Detective: Beauty Standards

Experiences

“Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs----all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured. “Here,” they said, “this is beautiful, and if you are on this day ‘worthy’ you may have it.” (Morrison 35)

Through eyes of dirt and glass,

She waits for marigolds to thrive

But her father's seeds and society's pest

Rip her garden from its charm.

Sky-like eyes hold onto faith

While jet-black eyes reality face.

Winter goes and spring arrives,

But her marigolds and beauty remain at lost

Diction Detective: Beauty Standards

Shaped her personality by giving her trust issues and self-consciousness, making her feel inferior next to adults, children, whites, and blacks alike.

“What made people look at them and say, “Aww,” but not for me?” (Morrison 22)

Can You See Me.

Can She Catch a Break?

By:

Ashley McGill

Camille Hines

Chazriq Clarke

Daniel Rossman

Gabrielle Orosi

Gabrielle Gordon

Alejandra Marquez Janse

Oftentimes throughout the novel, Pecola gets caught up in the moment, to where she ends up in trouble.

This happens so many times to where it feels as if she can never catch a break. I can relate to Pecola, as I am sure most people can, in the sense that we sometimes feel we cannot catch a break from our academic lives.

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