Toni Morrison, a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor had an outstanding and unique perception of what a story means. Toni Morrison’s many stories allow the reader to understand with a deep level of emotion and interpretation. When reading Toni Morrison’s books, they are perfect examples of what makes a book great. Specifically, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, elaborates on the fact that the writing makes a story great, as opposed to the story itself. Although the story does play a role in the creation and emotional connection between characters and the reader, the writing is what truly makes a book great as it provides the reader imagery, and allegories to provide expression and great detail.
To begin, Toni Morrison’s detailed and thorough writing style provides the reader with sensory imagery, allowing the reader to have a better understanding and visually connect to the story on a more personal and relatable level. Toni Morrison writes, “Later we walk home, glancing back to see the great carloads of slag being dumped, red hot and smoking, into the ravine that skirts the steel mill. The dying fire lights the sky with a dull orange glow. Frieda and I lag behind, staring at the patch of color surrounded by black” (10). This quote comes from one of the narrators, Claudia, opening up the chapter describing an event involving her sister, Frieda. The sisters were walking back home from railroad tracks near a coal company, where they bagged pieces of coal that they found. The extensive detail and description used within the quote, allows the reader to visually imagine as they are reading, it allows them to have the opportunity to place themself within the story. Rather than Toni Morrison simply stating that the sisters walked home after picking up coal, she takes the reader with the characters through their journey, providing the necessary imagery to give the story extra emphasis, and allow the audience to visually be present at the moment. This use of imagery continues to persist throughout the novel. Toni Morrison writes, “The cat rubbed up against her knee. He was black all over, deep silky black, and his eyes, pointing down toward his nose, were bluish-green. The light made them shine like blue ice” (90). This quote portrays that the use of imagery makes a positive impact on the book. As Toni Morrison describes the cat, with descriptive words such as “deep silky black”, and “shine like blue ice”, her description of its appearance provides the reader with a way to visually imagine and understand what the character is experiencing. The use of imagery plays a role in the overall writing of the story, which plays a large impact on making a book great, as opposed to stating an event with simple terms.
In addition, Toni Morrison’s creation and use of allegories make the story great as it challenges the mind of the reader to find greater meaning in the more concrete details of the story. Toni Morrison states, “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” (46). This quote reflects the idea of how Pecola views herself. After witnessing a heavy dispute between her parents, she states that she wished to disappear, but the only thing that remained when she tried, was her eyes. The quote tells us that Toni Morrison uses Pecola’s desire for new eyes, specifically blue ones, as an allegory. Although it seems that Pecola is longing for blue eyes themselves, through Toni Morrison’s writing, we come to conclude that the blue eyes represent more than just eyes, but rather the things that are witnessed through these eyes, and the ideal thought of beauty itself. To support the use of allegories, Toni Morrison writes, “I thought of the baby that everybody wanted dead, and saw it very clearly. It was in a dark, wet place, its head covered with great O’s of wool, the black face holding, like nickels, two clean black eyes…no synthetic yellow bangs suspended over marble-blue eyes, no pinched nose and bowline mouth. More strongly than my fondness for Pecola, I felt a need for someone to want the black baby to live—just to counteract the universal love of baby dolls, Shirley Temples, and Maureen Peals” (190). This statement opposes the ideals of Pecola, but the narrator, Claudia, refers to the blue eyes as something that she wishes that baby does not obtain. Claudia associates blue eyes to the description of her ideal caucasian woman, one with yellow hair, blue eyes, a pinched nose, and resembles Shirley Temple. These characteristics are resented by Claudia, yet they are desired by Pecola, as she believes that blue eyes will allow her to obtain this beauty that caucasian women carry, rather than keep her black skin and associate it with beauty. Toni Morrison’s use of allegories allows the reader to think deeply about the novel and uncover its hidden messages through unique and expressive writing. The lack of challenging the reader’s mind would cause the book to lack being a great story.
Despite imagery and allegories coming from the author’s writing, making the book great, the story itself does play a role in creating an emotional connection between characters and the reader. The Bluest Eye tells a unique story of an African American girl, Pecola, growing up after the Great Depression, who is often regarded as “ugly”. The presence of racism toward her dark skin, and complex issues at home, cause Pecola to become persistent on the desire to obtain blue eyes that she equates to whiteness. It is expressed, “All of our waste which we dumped on her and which she absorbed. And all of our beauty, which was hers first and which she gave to us. All of us–all who knew her– felt so wholesome after we cleaned ourselves on her. We were so beautiful when we stood aside her ugliness” (205). The story itself plays a role in causing the reader to feel for the main characters. Over time, as the story takes the reader on a journey alongside the characters, we learn to understand and have personal connections and relations to them. The quote shares that as we have learned about each of the characters throughout the story, we have grown to have sympathy toward Pecola and the many things that she had witnessed and experienced.
In conclusion, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, takes each reader on a journey of interpretation, challenge, emotion, and new experience. After reading the novel, a question that must be answered is whether the story itself is what makes a book great, or if it is the writing. Although the story allows us to connect and begin to understand each character as they are introduced, this is only the beginning of what makes a story great. What truly makes The Bluest Eye great, is its writing, with the use of imagery and allegories to build off of the story and truly make it something meaningful and expressive.
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