History Literature / TheBluestEye

* CharacterTics: Pecola has [[HandyFeet a habit of scratching her calf with her toe]], [[SharedFamilyQuirks which she seemingly inherited from her mother]]. [[spoiler:This actually triggers her father into raping her.]]

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Utterly [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]]. China, Poland, and Miss Marie are open about their hatred for the men who seek them out and the wives of those men, have no issue charging for their services, and outright admit that they didn't get into prostitution because of need or bad circumstances--they just ''like having sex'' and, upon learning that people were willing to pay for the privilege, jumped at the chance. The narrator even outright says that they're ''not'' the hookers of old Western novels, where this trope reigned supreme. And yet China, Poland, and Miss Marie are probably the nicest characters in the whole book--they spend time with Pecola and, unlike everyone else in town, treat her with kindness by giving her presents, telling her stories and offering advice about men (which is more than her own mother ever does), and even taking her to the movies and a carnival with no prompting.

* PapaWolf: Frieda's dad and an entourage almost beat the crap out of Mr. Henry, the man who's briefly staying with them, for molestign Frieda.

* PhonyPsychic: Soaphead Church, who purports to be a "Reader, Advisor, and Intepreter of Dreams"

* SexIsEvil: One of the major themes of the story is how this belief utterly destroys people's psyches. Most of the characters view sex as inherently perverted and wrong, and they can't reconcile their natural urges with that fact, driving them to actions ranging from bizarre (one character only feels sexual pleasure when a cat runs between her legs) to downright evil [[(spoiler: there are several rapes in the novel)]]. In a particularly clever twist, the only characters who have a healthy understanding of sex and are relatively well-adjusted are China, Poland, and Miss Marie--that is, the town's prostitutes--and everyone hates them for it.

* AbusiveParents: Pecola's parents, Pauline and Cholly. Pauline ''constantly'' calls her own daughter ''ugly'', and treats her as TheUnfavorite to a child that ''isn't even hers''. Cholly is worse, ''he rapes her'', you can't get any worse than that.

* BreakTheCutie: Pecola.

* CrapsackWorld: especially if you're black.

* DrivenToMadness: [[spoiler: Pecola]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: The boys who bully Pecola for being black and her dad sleeping naked. Claudia lampshades it when she says "That they themselves were black, or that their own father had similarly relaxed habits was irrelevant."
* InnocentInaccurate: Whenever Claudia narrates.

** The gang of boys who bully Pecola for her being black and (their assumption that) her dad sleeping naked.

* ThePowerOfLove: Subverted.
** Claudia's closing narration observes that "love is never any better than the lover," so violent/screwed-up/weak/wicked people will love in violent/screwed-up/weak/wicked ways.
* RapeAsDrama

* UnconventionalFormatting: A chunk of language intended to [[TakeThat spoof the idyllic middle class family perfection of the iconic]] Literature/DickAndJane books is repeated, first with no punctuation, and then with no punctuation or line breaks, and no spaces between the words.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Utterly [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]]. China, Poland, and Miss Marie are open about their hatred for the men who seek them out and the wives of those men, have no issue charging for their services, and outright admit that they didn't get into prostitution because of need or bad circumstances--they just ''like having sex'' and, upon learning that men were willing to pay for the privilege, jumped at the chance. The narrator even outright says that they're ''not'' the hookers of old Western novels, where this trope reigned supreme. And yet China, Poland, and Miss Marie are probably the nicest characters in the whole book--they spend time with Pecola and, unlike everyone else in town, treat her with kindness: they give her presents, tell her stories and offer advice, and even take her to the movies and a carnival with no prompting.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Utterly [[DeconstructedTrope]]. China, Poland, and Miss Marie are open about their hatred for the men who seek them out and the wives of those men, have no issue charging for their services, and outright admit that they didn't get into prostitution because of need or bad circumstances--they just ''like having sex'' and, upon learning that men were willing to pay for the privilege, jumped at the chance. The narrator even outright says that they're ''not'' the hookers of old Western novels, where this trope reigned supreme. And yet China, Poland, and Miss Marie are probably the nicest characters in the whole book--they spend time with Pecola and, unlike everyone else in town, treat her with kindness: they give her presents, tell her stories and offer advice, and even take her to the movies and a carnival with no prompting.

* SexIsEvil: One of the major themes of the novel is how this belief utterly destroys people's psyches. Most of the characters view sex as inherently perverted and wrong, and they can't reconcile their natural urges with that fact, driving them to actions ranging from bizarre (one character only feels sexual pleasure when a cat runs between her legs) to downright evil ([[spoiler: there are several rapes in the novel)]]. In a particularly clever twist, the only characters who have a healthy understanding of sex and are relatively well-adjusted are China, Poland, and Miss Marie--that is, the town's prostitutes--and everyone hates them for it.

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Deconstructed. Most of the characters subscribe to this belief, which is extremely damaging to those who are unlucky enough to be labelled "ugly," especially since they're all being judged using Caucasian standards of beauty.

* TeenPregnancy: [[spoiler: Pecola ends up becoming pregnant after her rape at the hands of her father. It doesn't [[ConvenientMiscarriage end well for her.]]]]

* UncannyValley: InUniverse, Claudia states that she's "physically revolted by and secretly frightened of" Raggedy Ann dolls. [[invoked]]

* TheUnfavorite: Pecola manages to pull this off despite being an only child, a distant second in her mother's heart to the (white) daughter of the family she serves.

* AerithAndBob: The three women Pecola hangs out with: China, Poland, and Miss Marie.

* KidsAreCruel: Junior, and the gang of boys who bully Pecola.

* UncannyValley: {{In-Universe}}, Claudia states that she's "physically revolted by and secretly frightened of" Raggedy Ann dolls. [[invoked]]

* ShoutOut: To ShirleyTemple and Raggedy Ann and Andy. Also, Vulcans are brought up. Presumably, not [[Franchise/StarTrek THOSE]] Vulcans, though.

* AbusiveParents: Pecola parents, Pauline and Cholly. Pauline ''constantly'' calls her own daughter ''ugly'', and treats her as TheUnfavorite to a child that ''isn't even hers''. Cholly is worse, ''he rapes her'', you can't get any worse than that.

* AbusiveParents: Pecola parents, Pauline and Cholly. Pauline ''constantly'' calls her own daughter ''ugly'', and treats her as TheUnfavorite to a child that ''isn't even here''. Cholly is worse, ''he rapes her'', you can't get any worse than that.

* HollywoodHomely: Deconstructed. In-universe, Pecola is constantly called "ugly" by everyone, even her own mother. No indication is made of her actual appearance, but it's very clear that she's nowhere near ugly enough to justify the constant abuse. Nevertheless, Pecola takes it to heart and believes that all of her problems can be solved if she's prettier.

* DownerEnding

''The Bluest Eye'' is a 1970 novel by ToniMorrison that explores the relationship between beauty and race. The story is about a year in the life of Pecola, a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio. It takes place against the backdrop of America's Midwest as well as in the years following the Great Depression. Realizing that darker-skinned black people are treated worse than lighter-skinned black people, who more closely fit Caucasian standards of beauty, Pecola comes to believe that if she had blue eyes, she would escape race-based oppression.

''The Bluest Eye'' is a 1970 novel by ToniMorrison. The story is about a year in the life of a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio, named Pecola. It takes place against the backdrop of America's Midwest as well as in the years following the Great Depression. The novel explores the relationship between beauty and race. The protagonist realizes that darker-skinned black people are treated worse than lighter-skinned black people, who more closely fit Caucasian standards of beauty. Pecola comes to believe that if she had blue eyes, she would escape race-based oppression.

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