The Bluest Eye: Chapter Annotations Checklist

Name: ______

THE BLUEST EYE: CHAPTER ANNOTATIONS CHECKLIST

Chapter 1

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

Analyze the imagery in the first three paragraphs. What was America like in 1941?

What is Claudia’s home life like? Analyze the line: “So when I think of autumn, I think of somebody with hands who does not want me to die.” What is ironic about this statement?

Who is Mr. Henry Washington? What are the nicknames he gives Claudia and Frieda? Why are they significant?

Why does Pecola come to live with Claudia and Frieda? How do Claudia and Frieda feel about Pecola?

Why does Claudia hate Shirley Temple?

Why does Claudia want to dismember her doll? Why do people, including her African American mother, think the dolls represents all that is beautiful, and why does Claudia reject that ideal?

Why does Pecola drink three quarts of milk all in one day? What might the milk and the Shirley Temple cup symbolize?

What is Pecola’s home life like? How does it differ from Claudia’s home life?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______

Chapter 2

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

What is Pecola’s apartment like? Compare it to the primer, with its image of the perfect American house.

Why is the sofa a source of humiliation for the Breedlove family? How does the sofa represent something about the Breedlove family?

Cholly and Mrs. Breedlove need each other for negative reasons. What are those reasons? Why is their last name ironic?

Claudia is the narrator for the first chapter. Why would Morrison switch from first-person narration to third-person narration for this chapter?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______

Chapter 3

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

How do members of the Breedlove family cope with or escape from the ugliness of their lives? Analyze a metaphor or simile in the description of the family’s ugliness.

How does Cholly’s humiliation during his first sexual encounter contribute to his brutality toward his wife?

What evidence is there in this chapter that Sammy and Pecola have a cold, impersonal relationship with their mother?

What does Pecola do to try to escape from the violence in her home? What does Sammy do?

Why, specifically, does Pecola pray for blue eyes?

Why does Pecola identify with the dandelions? What is Morrison trying to say about the African American community?

What does Pecola see “…lurking in the eyes of all white people”?

Why does Pecola buy Mary Janes from Mr. Yacobowski instead of some other kind of candy?

How do the three prostitutes deal with their rejection from society?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______

Chapter 4

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

Why is Maureen Peal considered perfect, a “dream child”? Analyze the descriptions of Maureen. How does she conform to white values and expectations?

Why is it ironic that black boys torment Pecola?

Compare the way Frieda and Claudia react to Maureen’s insults with Pecola’s reaction. Who do you think handles the situation better and why?

Why do Frieda and Claudia decide to keep Mr. Henry’s secret?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______

Chapter 5

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

Note the “thin brown girls” from cities all over the South. How have these girls fully accepted white standards of beauty?

What privileges do “cute brown” girls have that darker black girls do not? How has white culture distorted the perception of self worth in the black communities in the novel?

How has Geraldine achieved the white lifestyle described in the Dick and Jane books? What is missing from her life?

Why does Junior hate his mother’s cat? Why do you think Pecola is attracted to her cat?

What does Pecola represent to Geraldine? What message about herself does Pecola receive when Geraldine kicks her out of the house?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______

Chapter 6

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

Note the “thin brown girls” from cities all over the South. How have these girls fully accepted white standards of beauty?

What privileges do “cute brown” girls have that darker black girls do not? How has white culture distorted the perception of self in the black communities in the novel?

How has Geraldine achieved the white lifestyle described in the Dick and Jane books? What is missing from her life?

Why does Junior hate the cat? Why do you think Pecola is attracted to Geraldine’s cat?

What does Pecola represent to Geraldine? What message about herself does Pecola receive when Geraldine kicks her out of the house?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______

Chapter 7

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

What does Pauline blame for her “general feeling of separateness and unworthiness” that she experienced as a child? How does she try to cope with these feelings?

In what ways does going to the movies harm Pauline?How did media (including film) distort her worldview and her sense of worth?

How do the doctors in the hospital discriminate against Pauline? How does Pauline respond to their discrimination?

What is Pauline like in the Fisher home? Contrast her behavior in the Fisher home with the woman she becomes in her own home? Why the dramatic change?

What has happened to the narrative style in this chapter?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______

Chapter 8

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

What was Cholly’s life like before becoming a father, and how did that life make him the father we now see him to be?

What does Cholly imagine God looks like? Who did Cholly prefer over God? Why is this significant?

Who are the only people that black women have power over, according to the novel?

Why do you think Cholly hates Darlene, rather than directing his anger toward the white men with the flashlight?

In what sense is Cholly “dangerously free”?

Can Pecola mentally and emotionally survive after such a betrayal and such trauma?

Why is the opening primer (SEEFATHER…) ironic, given the content of this chapter?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______

Chapter 9

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

Describe Soaphead Church. In what ways is he a misanthrope?

What is Soaphead Church’s family history? How are his perceptions of himself flawed or distorted?

Why do most of Soaphead’s customers seek out his advice? What does Pecola want from Soaphead? How does he feel about her request?

Why does Soaphead want Bob dead?

In what sense is Soaphead writing the truth when he tells God that he gave Pecola her blue eyes?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______

Chapters 10 & 11

Themes(Highlight below the themes that appeared in this chapter).

• Standards of Beauty
• Seeing versus Being Seen
• Race and Otherness
• Women and Femininity
• The Power of Stories and Media

Symbols and Motifs (Highlight below the symbols and motifs that appeared in this chapter). In your annotations, be sure to consider the deeper meaning that this symbol or motif has for the characters, the novel, and humanity at large.

• Blue eyes
• Marigolds
• Seasons and Nature
• The Dick and Jane Narrative

How do Claudia and Frieda learn about Pecola’s pregnancy? What do the neighborhood women think about Pecola and her unborn child?

Why does Claudia want Pecola’s baby to live?What do Claudia and Frieda do in an effort to save Pecola’s baby?

Why do people in the neighborhood refuse to look at Pecola? Why do Claudia and Frieda look away?

Who is the “friend” that comes to play with Pecola? How did Pecola reach this state of mind? In what ways did her family and her community fail to protect her? (Don’t just discuss the scene with her father, since so much more has troubled her throughout the novel.)

In the final section of the book, Claudia is narrating as an adult. She speaks of “we.” Why does she include herself in the “assassination” of Pecola?

Metaphorically, what is the soil Claudia talks about, the soil that “is bad for certain kinds of flowers”? Explain the metaphor: what is the soil and who is the flower?

Ms. Kessler’s Initials ______