Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Schultz , based on child development research. How do we rate?
age 15+
Deeply poetic novel explores racial and sexual feelings.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
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Sex, Romance & Nudity
a lot
There are numerous descriptions of sexual feelings and events in The Bluest Eye. Mr. Henry interacts with two prostitutes. A boy's mother is described as having an aversion to sex; her sexual interactions with her husband are reserved and obligatory. Three prostitutes, who live in the flat above the Breedloves, engage in bawdy talk in front of Pecola. In the Breedlove household, Polly's sexual experiences with her husband are described somewhat poetically, where colors represent strong feelings of desire and enjoyment. However, we learn that Cholly's feelings about sex have been affected by a disturbing first sexual experience. A man turns out to be a pedophile.
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Violence & Scariness
a lot
The most disturbing violence in the novel is the rape of an 11-year-old girl. Graphic descriptions of it include the thoughts of the child molester, who sees the act as loving. Claudia and Frieda's mother hits them when she is angry. Their father chases a man with a shotgun. In the Breedlove household, Polly and Cholly physically fight often, and Cholly is said to have set fire to their home. A boy abuses and mortally injures a pet. Claudia is an angry kid who resents the idea that white or mixed-race kids are considered prettier or better than black kids; she describes attacking a couple of other kids and feelings of violent anger toward light-skinned kids.
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Language
a lot
There's a fair amount of profane, rude and cruel language: "f--k," "bitch," "p---y," "t-t," the "N" word.
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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
a little
Cholly is a known drunk and becomes violent when he drinks.
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Positive Messages
some
Toni Morrison's first novel deeply investigates ideas of sexuality, loss, and physical beauty. By shining a light on the hurt and self loathing of the young African American character Pecola Breedlove, the author asks readers to examine their own ideas about superficial appearances, and to see how much all children deserve love and protection.
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Educational Value
a little
The Bluest Eye reveals some details about the complexities of race relations in the American South and Midwest around 1941: the types of jobs available to African Americans, children's school and life experiences, class divisions, and the way popular culture (movies in particular) reflected or reinforced the then-current idea of white beauty. Some facts about menstruation are also presented, but most young people who read The Bluest Eye should be old enough to have their own understanding about beginning sexuality by the time they read this novel.
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Positive Role Models
a little
Frieda and Claudia's parents are harsh with their daughters about all sorts of things, but when a man harms one of the girls, the parents come to her aid and drive the perpetrator away with a vengeance. They also take Pecola in for a brief period when her family is in crisis.
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Bluest Eye is the first novel by the late Nobel-prize winning author Toni Morrison, originally published in 1970. Set in 1941 Ohio, the book is a complex investigation of ideas of physical beauty among blacks and whites, and the ways racial attitudes, and other life experiences, damage the lives of these characters. Pecola Breedlove's self-hatred, and her wish for blue eyes, is an outgrowth of the way she's treated by her family and the world in which she lives. Sexual behavior is also very complicated in this novel. Sex acts and feelings between adults are described, and more than one grown man behaves inappropriately with young girls. There is also incest and domestic violence, including the rape of an 11-year-old girl. Teen readers may need some adult guidance to understand the world of the novel, in which many characters seem driven by emotional and sexual feelings they can't control. Because of the book's edgy content, there have been efforts to ban it from schools and libraries.
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
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- Parents say (12)
- Kids say (7)
age 17+
Based on 12 parent reviews
therighttoread Parent of 7-year-old
July 9, 2022
age 17+
An important book in the pantheon of great American literature
As a woman of color and as someone who has close friends who were been sexually abused as children I read this book in high school and it changed my life. The content is difficult for anyone to handle but it is appropriate for teens 17 and over. In our fast-paced society teenagers are already exposed to pornography and many more things by that age. I would rather that young people learn meaningful lessons about sex and race that Toni Morrison offers than the senseless, mindless, animalistic internet pornography that almost every teenager has seen. The Bluest Eye can cultivate empathy in socially privileged teens who come from healthy homes who grew up relatively unscathed by the trauma of sexual abuse. It is also a refuge for teens of color who come from broken homes where abuse was a part of daily life. Youbg people should not be shielded from the harsh and painful realities of the real world. A sensitive and supportive teacher can introduce the material to young people in such a way that it encourages empathy and compassion--two traits that are sorely lacking in our self-absorbed, superficial, social media-obsessed, instant-gratification types of lifes. This book demands that a reader sees the world through the eyes of a young Black girl confused about how she is treated by the world and by the people who are supposed to love her. A tragic but extremely important book in the pantheon of great American literature.
Jonpaull Adult
February 5, 2022
age 15+
Common sense book for any US literature class
This book is written from the perspective of a young African American woman during the 1940s, about her life, struggles and her quest to essentially feel or be white. Although some may consider it graphic and overly sexual, it’s an accurate representation of how young African American women felt during those times, as well as the African Americans place in society during the early and mid 20th century. It truly is a literary masterpiece, and absolutely appropriate for 15 and above.
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See all 12 parent reviews
What's the Story?
In THE BLUEST EYE, two preteen sisters, Frieda and Claudia MacTeer, live with their parents in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. MacTeer take on a lodger, whom the girls call Mr. Henry, and for a brief period they take in a quiet, unhappy 11-year-old classmate of Frieda and Claudia's named Pecola Breedlove. The girls befriend Pecola, who comes from a very troubled household; her father, Cholly, is often drunk, and he and her mother, Polly, fight physically and verbally. Pecola considers herself ugly and unworthy of love, and believes that if only she could have blue eyes, she would be pretty and happy. Readers learn the life events that have shaped Polly and Cholly, led them to marry, and led them ultimately to their unfortunate state.
Is It Any Good?
Our review:
Parents say (12):
Kids say (7):
This is a poetic and complex investigation of racial, personal, and sexual feelings. The doomed characters in The Bluest Eye are both beautifully realized as individual characters and richly representative of the concepts Toni Morrison explores with her story. As the point of view shifts from character to character, the reader comes to understand what drives them, and will be deeply engaged in their experiences and moved by their fates.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Pecola's wish for blue eyes. Why does she think having blue eyes will change her life?
Why are Cholly's feelings about sexuality bound up with anger?
Why does Claudia feel rage toward Shirley Temple, toward Rosemary and Maureen?
Book Details
- Author: Toni Morrison
- Genre: Literary Fiction
- Topics: Friendship
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Publication date: January 1, 1970
- Number of pages: 224
- Last updated: June 11, 2015
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The Bluest Eye
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