Dec 16, 2009

The Bluest Eye | Characters

Except for possibly the Frasier family and the archetypal Dick and Jane, all the characters of The Bluest Eye are both universal—that is, representative—and individual. Morrison successfully infuses the characters with personal qualities that lead us to empathize with them, as well as with universal meaning. For the most part, they are victims of the European-American community's standards of beauty and of an economic system that exploits minorities. Many also are caught up in a cycle of victimization, like Geraldine, who in her attempt to protect her son from becoming the...