Summer

The Bluest Eye: Summer

“Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. There is no gift for the beloved.”

Throughout the novel, we see each of the characters look to define love. Could it be the passion of lust, the feeling of care in sickness, or the approval of onlookers? In this final statement on love, it is explained that a definition for true love can never be found because love is so ambiguous. While typically love is portrayed as a positive, healing emotion, it is explained here that love will be only as compassionate as the person. It can be as equally degrading as it is inspiring in the same way that people can be equally supportive or destructive. In the case of Cholly Breedlove, he loved Pecola but because he was a violent and immoral man, his love towards her was violent and immoral.

This quote also presents the idea that mere love could not have saved any of the relationships in the Breedlove family. Broken souls cannot be mended simply because of a love that exists between family members. The quote explains that love does not automatically come with “gifts,” since everything lies in the virtue of the lovers; without supportive investment in each other, or any belief that such investment would be worthwhile, love will never be redemptive. It also says that “the love of a free man is never safe,” referring to Cholly. His freedom is again stained with danger as his love towards both Pauline and Pecola oscillates violently between tender passion and unrestrained anger. This leaves the reader with the impression that perhaps there were not crimes of hatred and discrimination committed between the characters but crimes of hopelessly torn love.

Q: Why does Pecola’s imaginary friend say that Pecola did not need her before she got her blue eyes?

Olivia Lin