Discussion Topic
Claudia MacTeer's role and audience as the narrator in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Summary:
Claudia MacTeer serves as both a participant and observer in The Bluest Eye. As the narrator, she provides a child's perspective on the events, offering insight into her own experiences and the broader societal issues affecting the characters. Her narration addresses readers directly, creating an intimate and reflective audience engagement.
Who is Claudia MacTeer addressing her story to in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison?
For the most part, readers tend to assume that they are the intended audience when reading any text. Under some circumstances, the author's intended audience can be either implied or announced. In regards to Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the intended audience is subtly referred to in the forward of the novel.
Essentially, her novel speaks to everyone. Morrison states that she is certain that, at one time or another, everyone has felt disliked. Some people even know what it feels like to be hated (for things "we have no control over and cannot change"). Morrison, therefore, wanted to look at those who found themselves debilitated by hatred.
Morrison, according to the forward, wanted to "enter" into the life of one who was unable withstand the "damaging forces" associated with youth, gender, and race. Morrison wanted her audience, Claudia's audience, to understand self-loathing and beauty.
What is Claudia's role as a narrator in The Bluest Eye?
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to add to the wonderful previous posting that this is a particularly good technique from the author to apply the hero/antihero and tragic hero strategies to the story. It is arguable that Claudia as the main narrator could appear to be the "hero" of the story, since she exemplifies all the good things of society: family, stability, joy. Yet, what she is doing, like the previous post noted, was creating the foundation to establish thetragedy of Pecola's reality and her role as a tragic hero within the story. I think this is a great lesson on perspective, and this is something you may want to add as an observation in your answer.