Broken Community in Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison

623 Words2 Pages

In the novel, “The Bluest Eye”, Toni Morrison exposes the roots of a broken community, unveiling the effects it has on its members. Morrison illustrates various disturbing characters that are insecure, lost and troubled. Through extended metaphors she is able to trace back these behaviors to the characters’ past. The structure of her novel follows a repetitive rationale of the character’s behavior after revealing their gruesome actions. The passage (116) further develops the text’s theme of a dysfunctional community. Although the exposure the effects of racism seems to be the main theme, Morrison goes deeper and explores the reason how and why the community continues to live in oppression. To begin, in this passage, the loss of a tooth is used as an image and extended metaphor as to the loss of Miss Breedlove’s complete self-respect and dignity. Losing teeth at a young or old age is common, but losing a tooth during middle-age is humiliating. Not only did she loose a tooth but she lost her front tooth. The text mentions that Pauline was intrigued by “white” beauty, but now every ti...

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