1. The Bluest Eye

2. The Bluest Eye
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3. The Bluest Eye - a 1970 novel by author, Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye - a 1970 novel by author, Toni Morrison. It is Morrison's first novel.

4. Toni Morrison
Born Chloe Anthony Wofford – 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. Her mother’s family had come to Ohio from Alabama via Kentucky, and her father had migrated from Georgia.

5. Toni Morrison
In an afterword, Morrison explains her goal in writing the novel. She wants to make a statement about the damage that internalized racism can do to the most vulnerable member of a community – a young girl.

6. Toni Morrison
Complex historical and literary context. Style influenced by Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner.
Morrison's work comes out of a Black cultural and literary tradition.

7. Toni Morrison Employs the modernist techniques of:
stream-of-consciousness
multiple perspectives
deliberate fragmentation

8. The Bluest Eye

9. The Bluest Eye Autumn Chapters 1-3 Winter Chapter 4-5
Spring Chapters 6-9
Summer Chapter 10-11

10. References / Background
Shirley Temple
Imitation of Life
Misanthrope
Maginot Line
Myth / Folklore (Persephone, Samson and Delilah)

11. References / Background
Dante’s Inferno
Dante Alighieri, author of The Divine Comedy, a classic work that traces the soul's journey through the underworld towards divine enlightenment

12. References / Background
Joseph de Gobineau
( ) - French aristocrat and novelist, famous for developing the theory of the “Aryan master race.” He is known as the “father of modern racial demography.”

13. Themes, Motifs & Symbols
Beauty Standards
Coming of Age
Identity
Vision
Self-image
Seasons and Nature
Marigolds

14. Themes, Motifs & Symbols
Racism
Sexism
Hollywood Images
Domestic Abuse
Whiteness / Color
Dirtiness / Cleanliness
Spirituals and Blues

15. The Bluest Eye
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