The initiation story is a recurring theme within the Bluest Eyes. Not only the initiations of the children characters, such as Pecola and Frieda, are explored, but also the past initiations of complex adult characters, such as Cholly and Pauline Breedlove. With these stories, Toni Morrison explores how childhood experiences and epiphanies could make a heavy impact on a person’s life.
This theme first became apparent in the prelude of the novel, when Claudia described the un-sprouting marigold seeds of that year. She exclaimed that “Cholly Breedlove is dead, and our innocence too”, and thus foreshadowed the epiphanies that were going to happen.
The initiation stories come in many forms, with the most occurring to our main character Pecola Breedlove. Her fate (rape and pregnancy) is revealed since the novel’s prelude, and the length of the novel tells a series of initiation stories in her childhood leading up to and causing the rape. From a physical change of her menstruation (27) to significant psychological and mental changes when she was rejected my various members of her community and imposed upon an unrealistic standard of white beauty. In this …show more content…
Under the lens of an omniscient narrator, the Breedloves’ behaviors become explanable and human, and become interconnected to Pecola’s fate at the end. Readers are forced to empathize with the Breedloves on a certain level after knowing these story, and are able to account for them as part of the causes for what happened. We’re also hit with the realization that a few negative epiphanies could forever change the course of a person’s life, especially with characters in vulnerable communities like in The Bluest Eyes. The negative impacts of Cholly and Pauline’s experiences not only took part in the destruction of their lives in Ohio, but also translate to Pecola’s life, driving an innocent girl into a tragic
This theme first became apparent in the prelude of the novel, when Claudia described the un-sprouting marigold seeds of that year. She exclaimed that “Cholly Breedlove is dead, and our innocence too”, and thus foreshadowed the epiphanies that were going to happen.
The initiation stories come in many forms, with the most occurring to our main character Pecola Breedlove. Her fate (rape and pregnancy) is revealed since the novel’s prelude, and the length of the novel tells a series of initiation stories in her childhood leading up to and causing the rape. From a physical change of her menstruation (27) to significant psychological and mental changes when she was rejected my various members of her community and imposed upon an unrealistic standard of white beauty. In this …show more content…
Under the lens of an omniscient narrator, the Breedloves’ behaviors become explanable and human, and become interconnected to Pecola’s fate at the end. Readers are forced to empathize with the Breedloves on a certain level after knowing these story, and are able to account for them as part of the causes for what happened. We’re also hit with the realization that a few negative epiphanies could forever change the course of a person’s life, especially with characters in vulnerable communities like in The Bluest Eyes. The negative impacts of Cholly and Pauline’s experiences not only took part in the destruction of their lives in Ohio, but also translate to Pecola’s life, driving an innocent girl into a tragic