Unearthing Old Writing: Toni Morrison - Bluest Eye

A close reading paper for one of my college courses, from October of '08:

In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison uses catachresis and diction to connect with the children's psychological inability to understand society's flawed depiction of perfection, and employs careful wording to elevate the theme of desire for normality.
Blue Eyes are the most significant symbol in the novel which sets up a reoccurring theme of what the characters would like to possess. Morrison gives these 'blue eyes' to inanimate or unrealistic objects that were sculpted by the hands of capitalism: cups, dolls, and candy wrappers.
Keeping in mind it is post Great Depression, it shows the cookie cutter, white picket fence view of America that is emerging, and with that, African Americans struggle to fit in and find their footing. The significance of Morrison's selective diction is embedded into the novels most symbolic passages regarding 'blue eyes.'
Catachresis is intentionally used to denote the use of a figure of speech that violates the norms of a language community. Morrison uses different forms of catachresis throughout the book, enabling the reader to see how impossible it was for the children to ever consider being the societal norm.
Taking a look at the passage, “Frieda brought her four graham crackers on a saucer and some milk in a blue-and-white Shirley Temple cup; she gazed fondly at the silhouette of Shirley Temple's dimpled face,” (pg. 19) one must pick out the words silhouette and dimples to examine more closely. Considering a generalized silhouette to be a mere outline of an individual filled with a black void, it shows absolutely no features, therefore dimples would not be visible. This raises a question of how the girls could see beauty in the blackness, which is similar to the silhouette and the color of their skin.
At the beginning of that passage, the descriptions of the cup (blue and white, like the eyes and skin color they think they'd prefer) and saucer delicately set out gives the reader a feeling of affluence, even when the family is undoubtedly poor. Another word for affluence can be 'gentle', which coincides with diction in another passage.
Out of the three girls, only one of them seems to be the least jaded in regards to admiring the look of a blue eyed, white faced girl. It is interesting given the fact that Claudia is the youngest, and presumably the least mature of the bunch. Morrison points out how the older girls are getting their periods, and while they are maturing in a physical sense, they are not quite as up to speed in their mental processes as Claudia is; they don't seem to understand why she doesn't worship the “social norm” alongside them.
Claudia speaks of a baby doll phenomenon, explaining how everyone wants one, and even adults wished they had them when they were children. “I was physically revolted by and secretly frightened of those round moronic eyes, the pancake face, and orange worms hair,” (pg. 20) she described the dolls.
While pancake is an obvious reference to the color of the skin that is excepted in society, a lot of focus should be planted upon “physically revolted” and “secretly frightened.” These are opposites of each other, as the former is generally more apparent than the latter because when one is secretly frightened, it can't always be seen; it is more of a feeling or emotion, rather the former is more of a reaction or an experience.
While they are separately contradictory, both of them can't be helped or stopped; they are uncontrollable reactions to society's depiction of perfection. This use of diction shows that while Claudia is obviously on the cusp of attempting to figure out why these blue eyed depictions are not morally correct, a complete thought cannot be properly formed yet, especially in the environment she lives in.
When Pecola goes to the candy store to go get her favorite Mary Janes, she walks outside staring at the girl on the wrappers. “Smiling white face. Blonde hair in gentle disarray, blue eyes looking at her out of a world of clean comfort.” (pg. 50) It is within the first couple sentences one realizes 'gentle' pops up again, as affluence and gentle both share a commonality of synonyms: honorable, distinguished.
However, gentle is alongside disarray, which is a complete contradictory phrase, but also has double meaning. One could say it is an oxymoron, that there would be nothing gentle about confusion, or one could argue that maybe the girls themselves are gentle and honorable, and they must live in constant confusion.
The second part to the candy store passage to point out is the phrase “clean comfort.” While 'clean' can mean free from moral corruption, comfort means solace. Morrison uses diction, as well as alliteration in the short phrase to show the girls inability to escape moral corruption, that they are not able to comprehend the fabricated 'wholesome' look of the 1950's so called perfect families; they cannot distinguish right from wrong.
From Pecola's point of view, she believes that it is possible to become blue eyed if she wishes hard enough, and receives a glimmer of hope in Junior's black cat. “The blue eyes in the black face held her.” (pg. 90) While the diction is simple, it can be looked at in a different perspective than the attributes belonging to the cat. It is, after all, Pecola's absolute vision of what she aspires to have: a set of blue eyes contrasting with her black skin.
Of all the passages mentioned prior to this one, this sentence is the most succinct and has a cut-to-the-chase point that is the overall theme to the entire novel. The horrific death of the cat is symbolic of the inability of a dark colored creature/individual to have blue eyes; it is simply not possible for a creature with such attributes to be living.
Morrison uses contradiction to show a child's perception of normality. Being force fed objects and photos that are deemed beautiful, these children elicit confused reactions to society's depiction of perfection because they simply do not have an understanding, still have an innocence and naivity to them, and psychologically speaking, are not cognitively advanced enough to comprehend thinking for themselves and to be against what society tells them is correct.