Psychological Approach
As Pecola suffers abuses from her community, her mental state begins to degenerate while her obsession with obtaining blue eyes grows until outright condemnation and isolation from her community drives her to madness. Pecola’s delusional state is contained to herself as seen through the juxtaposition of italicized versus normal text conversation with a so called ‘friend’. This friend is her subconscious which embodies her unspoken doubts and fears (Brooklyn College).
This destabilization leads to aggressive moments where the disembodied voice questions Pecola on her isolation, eventually revealing Pecola was raped a second time by her father. These moments are quickly followed by reassurances not only to placate a defensive Pecola, but because each truth threatens the fragile reality that protects her (Brooklyn College). This friend becomes mad with Pecola to which begging, Pecola questions, “Because my eyes aren’t blue enough? Because I don’t have the bluest eyes?” (Morrison 204) This final plea reveals the effect of Pecola’s racial self loathing and cements her destruction.
Concurrently, Claudia Macteer, Pecola’s foil and narrator, questions racial beauty and worth by asking “If she [Maureen Peal] was cute—and if anything could be believed, she was—then we were not. And what did that mean?” (Morrison 74) While Pecola suffers from a subconscious inner conflict, the same questions are attempted to be addressed consciously by Claudia, underscoring the difference in self confidence due to different levels of family and community support.
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Archetypal Approach
Beginning with autumn, it’s ironic that Pecola receives her period indicating her womanhood as adulthood is commonly connected to summer and not fall. However, as the section goes on it ends with Pecola talking with her three neighbors from upstairs and eventually asking herself if they were real. In questioning her perception of reality, this reveals Pecola’s declining mental state in the wake of her harsh family life and abuses.
The association of deterioration with autumn is a common cliche, yet a poignant foreshadowing of Pecola’s limited time. This degeneration continues in winter, that “hateful knot that nothing could loosen,’ though the introduction of a new character “splintered the knot into silver threads that tangled us, netted us, made us long for the dull chafe of the previous boredom.”(Morrison 62) Maureen Peal, a light skinned mulatto girl embodies the dreams of Pecola and causes the Claudia to question her self worth as boys, teachers, and adults shower kindness over Maureen which only furthers Pecola’s decline.
Spring is used subversively, instead of youth and rebirth there is violence and contempt. Despite the association of spring with new life, Pecola’s impregnation from being raped by her father subverts this stereotype. Lastly, the shortest section summer is referred to as the ‘season of storms’; a tumultuous foreshadowing of Pecola breaking under her abuse. Altogether, the cycle of seasons juxtaposed with the destruction of Pecola underscores the inescapable cycle of oppression and dangers of accepting racial foibles.
Biographical Approach
Morrison’s The Bluest Eye was published in 1970, but she began writing the novel as a short story in a writing workshop in 1965 (Brockes). This story was based off an interaction with a childhood friend who confided in Morrison her desire for blue eyes, to which Morrison “got mad.” (Morrison Xii) This anger stemmed from Morrison’s security and confidence, this same ferocity and independence mirrored in the foil character Claudia Macteer.
The shock of this moment plus the revulsion at the suggestion of such an idea began the question behind physical appearances and the constant media depictions which set the narrative on what was ‘correct’. “Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do.” (Morrison Xiii)
This desire would become the basis of the character Pecola, and her motivation the same behind Morrison’s childhood friend: racial self loathing. It was this ingrained assumption of inferiority which Morrison decided to address in her writing, an exploration into the perpetuation of oppression and those who taught a little girl self hatred. Morrison also attempted to humanize each character that was complicit in Pecola’s destruction. This ultimately revealed how every character suffered from past aggressions, but due to their acceptance of this abuse had sealed their “journey of destruction.” (Morrison Xii)
Feminist Approach
Pecola’s mother, Pauline, used to fantasize over romance and love from “someone [who] had no face, no form, no voice, no odor.” (Morrison 113) This impressionless form was answered by Cholly Breedlove; the two were quickly married and moved to Lorain, Ohio. It was here that Pauline became depressed and stifled; sick of confinement and tired of isolation she began working for extra cash, however, “Money became the focus of all their discussions, hers for clothes, his for drink. The sad thing was that Pauline did not really care for clothes and makeup. She merely wanted other women to cast favorable glances her way.” (118) This need for validation came only after Cholly’s failure not to provide, but be an available and caring husband.
The marriage continues to deteriorate and to cope Pauline attends the movies daily where she is taught romantic love and physical beauty, after which would become her “most destructive emotions, deceiving the lover and seeking to imprison the beloved, curtailing freedom in every way.” (Morrison 122) Overall, Morrison expertly depicts the complex lives and responsibilities of black women who suffer the most restrictions and oppressions. Pecola’s mother suffers from the same insecurities of being a woman, though from that she becomes critical and cruel. Ultimately, her shift away from love being undefined to a specific appearance underscores the transition to adulthood.
Additionally, Morrison highlights how obsessing on racial beauty elicits abuse from other women who attempt to pad their own insecurities at the expense of Pauline, thus continuing the destructive cycle in others.
