“So it was ...

A little black girl yarns for the blue eyes of a little white girl, and the horror at the heart of her yearning is exceeded only by the evil of fulfilment.”

The Bluest Eye is not only a story but an awe-inspiring poem that confronts beauty itself and the consequences of beauty standards on individuals that do not meet them. Beauty is an obsession that has been present throughout history, which is why this novel, set in the 1940s, continues to awe readers today.

The title is taken from the protagonist’s desire to have blue eyes. “Whiteness” is the beauty standard that Pecola Breedlove cannot fit in with, and from this her obsession with having blue eyes stems.

Toni Morrison really makes the reader question beauty, the pressure put on people to fit in with untrue ideas. This novel will not leave the reader without making them evaluate the dangers of social standards and changing the way you look at how society works. /The Guardian


“Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do”