The Bluest Eye : Winter

What was the secret? What did we lack? Why was it important? And so what? Guileless and without vanity, we were still in love with ourselves then. We felt comfortable in our skins, enjoyed the news that our senses released to us, admired our dirt, cultivated our scars, and could not comprehend this unworthiness. (74)

This excerpt is crucial in discerning the distinction between Pecola and the MacTeer sisters. Frieda does not have an unhealthily low self-esteem, whereas Pecola believes she is so worthless that she wants to fade into oblivion. Frieda's frustration at understanding a society that cannot love her for the way she is might explain why she is not as quick to take to Maureen, the black girl who is accepted by everyone. Perception, the way one character sees others as opposed to how others see her, seems to be an ongoing theme in this novel.

Even though Morrison believed it to have been unsuccessful, I think the idea of switching up narrators does in fact help readers realize the depth to the characters and the ideas being conveyed. Had the novel been written completely in Pecola's perspective, the audience might not have seen that Pecola's incredibly low standard for herself is not simply a consequence from traumatic events, but also the fault of societal circumstances. The reader gets a 360 degree view of the life of different girls in the same setting. Pecola might see herself differently because her family or other people have called her ugly, worthless. We don't know this for sure, but when we see the differing views of Pecola and the MacTeer sisters, we can tell that their background or past experiences must have molded their view of themselves. The MacTeer sisters don't have a rosy life by any means, but at least (from what I can tell) their father is stable and hasn't been to jail/raped them. A traumatic experience like that can truly shake a person so much that they doubt everything they knew to be true. Perhaps Pecola did not always want Blue Eyes, but decided she was worthless because that's what the elements around her seemed to suggest.

Q: Why is a woman who seemingly has it all, like Geraldine, not have higher romantic hopes for herself? (Why does she settle for such an uncomfortable life?)

-Madhu Singh