The Bluest Eye...Where to Begin?

Jasmine Ward stars as Pecola at Philadelphia's Arden Theatre, 2018

The great thing about digging into a novel of The Bluest Eye's stature is that there is a wealth of commentary and criticism to consider; of course, this is also the tricky thing.  What to focus on?

The Library provides access to Ebsco Host, a database of both popular and scholarly periodical articles.  It contains hundreds of articles on the novel; this particular one was fascinating to me:



Saunders, James Robert. “Why Losing a Tooth Matters: Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Tooth’ and Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye.’” Midwest Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 2, Winter 2012, pp. 193–204.

To read, click on the link above and enter your U City Library card number, then click 'PDF full text' on the left side of the screen.

Some questions:

• The author points to the novel's discussion of the 'conditions' that existed which caused Pauline's tooth to rot.  What conditions would those be?  Are they only physical, or are they spiritual as well?
• The article author compares Pauline's lost tooth to Ahab's lost leg.  Is the comparison appropriate?  
• What is the connection between Pauline's tooth and the 'bluest eyes' that Pecola dreams of?

Please comment below!