The Bluest Eye - Pages 1-15 (Autumn)

Summary

In the initial pages of Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye,' readers are introduced to Claudia, the narrator, and her family. Through the childlike repetition of a typical Dick and Jane story, a stark contrast is drawn between idealized images and the harsh reality of Claudia’s life. Readers witness Claudia’s world filled with silent struggles and her vivid perception of those around her, as she reflects on familial and social dynamics. The narrative layer unfolds stories of innocence lost, love, and a cold acceptance of inevitable hardship in 1941 America.

Highlights

• Toni Morrison uses the Dick and Jane narrative to contrast idealized family life with Claudia's struggles. 📚
• Claudia reflects on familial love intertwined with storytelling and memory in a vividly sensory way. 💭
• There’s an exploration of childhood resilience amidst adult negligence and societal constraints. 🛡️

Key Takeaways

• The story begins with a stark contrast between an idealized family image and the harsh realities faced by Claudia. 🌟
• Themes of innocence, loss, and harsh realities are introduced early on. 🌱
• Claudia's family life is stark and filled with unspoken yet felt emotions and struggles.💔

Overview

The first fifteen pages of 'The Bluest Eye' introduce us into Claudia's world through the lens of a nostalgically innocent yet perceptive child. Set against a backdrop of societal and familial expectations, Morrison uses the familiar 'Dick and Jane' story as a frame to illustrate the dissonance between the ideal and Claudia’s experience. Everything from houses to adults gives a sense of belonging but contrasts sharply with the reality of the protagonist's life.

The narrative is saturated with Claudia's unique perspective on her environment filled with tangible yet unmet desires for warmth and safety. Examples of these struggles include harsh parenting, illness seen as weakness, and a critical response to those struggles from adults in her life. All these elements portray a deeply felt yearning for acceptance and normalcy in Claudia's part of Ohio.

With a deep sense of introspection, Claudia becomes our guide through a world where innocence is preciously guarded yet inevitably slips through life’s cracks. It's a poignant tale of familial love entangled with hardship and resilience in a time when societal norms and economic hardship paint a gray backdrop to childhood hopes and dreams.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Overview In the introductory chapters spanning pages 1 through 15 of 'The Bluest Eye' by Toni Morrison, readers are introduced to Claudia, the narrator, and her family. The section sets the stage by describing the setting and family dynamics. Readers learn about the characteristics of the family home, which is depicted as green and white with a prominent red door, offering a picture of an idealized household. This description, however, also serves as a backdrop to explore deeper themes of perception and reality as experienced by Claudia and her family.
• 00:30 - 02:00: Family Introduction The chapter introduces a happy family setting where Jane, in her red dress, is eager to play. She invites anyone around her to join in the play, but the kitten doesn't seem interested. Jane then turns to her parents, asking if they would play with her. Her mother, described as very nice, laughs, while her father, who is big and strong, smiles in response.
• 02:30 - 05:30: The Marigolds and Pecola's Baby The chapter titled 'The Marigolds and Pecola's Baby' seems to focus on a simple narrative, reminiscent of a children's story. The transcript provided is an excerpt written in a style similar to the Dick and Jane stories, which were often used to teach children to read. The sentences are short, direct, and repetitive, which helps to emphasize key vocabulary and grammar structures.
• 05:30 - 10:00: The Hardships and Family Dynamics The chapter depicts a scene centered around the playful and loving family dynamics. Jane, a central character, seeks engagement and playtime, first with her mother and then with her father, both of whom exhibit warmth, humor, and strength. Though the kitten, Jane, is hesitant, the atmosphere is lively with the presence of a smiling father and a lively dog. Eventually, a friend arrives, promising a joyful playtime and creating an uplifting mood. This chapter emphasizes familial love, the innocence of childhood, and the joy found in simple interactions around a green and white house.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Claudia's Reflection on Autumn The chapter titled 'Claudia's Reflection on Autumn' depicts a serene and picturesque setting with a red-doored house where a happy family lives. The family comprises of the mother, father, children named Dick and Jane, as well as their pets - a cat and a dog. Jane, dressed in a red dress, is eager to play and tries to engage the cat and the dog in her playful pursuits, but they are not interested. She then seeks the company of her parents. Her mother, depicted as nice, finds Jane's enthusiasm amusing, while her father is big and strong, and smiles at her request. The narrative captures simple family joy and the innocence of childhood.
• 16:00 - 20:00: Introduction of Mr. Henry This chapter introduces Mr. Henry and begins with a reflection on a game Jane played, emphasizing themes of childhood innocence. The narrative then shifts to the fall of 1941, a significant period where no marigolds grew. This is symbolically linked to Pecola who is having her father's baby, representing loss and the failure of life to flourish. The reflection suggests a general sense of barrenness affecting not only Pecola but the entire community, as evidenced by the lack of marigolds even in the gardens by the lake.

The Bluest Eye - Pages 1-15 (Autumn) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 this is pages 1 through 15 of the bluest eye by toni morrison as you read today think about this following question what do readers learn about the narrator whose name is claudia and her family on page three here is the house it is green and white it has a red door it is very pretty here is the family mother father dick and jane live in the green and white house
• 00:30 - 01:00 they are very happy see jane she has a red dress she wants to play who will play with jane see the cat it goes meow meow come and play come play with jane the kitten will not play see mother mother is very nice mother will you play with jane mother laughs laugh mother laugh see father he is big and strong father will you play with jane father is smiling smile father smile
• 01:00 - 01:30 see the dog bow wow goes the dog do you want to play with jane see the dog run run dog run look look here comes a friend the friend will play with jane they will play a good game play jane play here is the house it is green and white it has a red door it is very pretty here is the family mother father dick and jane live in the green and white house they are very happy see jane she has a red dress she wants to play who will play with jane see the cat it goes meow meow come and play come
• 01:30 - 02:00 play with jane the kitten will not play see mother mother is very nice mother will you play with jane mother laughs laugh mother laughs see father he is big and strong father will you play with jane father is smiling smile father smile see the dog bow wow goes the dog do you want to play do you want to play with james see the dog run run dog run look look here comes a friend the friend will play with jane they will play a good game play jane play here is the house it is green and white
• 02:00 - 02:30 it has a red door it is very pretty here is the family mother dick jane mother father dick and jane live in the green and white house they are very happy you see jane she has a red dress she wants to play who will play with jane see the cat it goes meow meow come and play come play with jane the kitten will not play as you mother mother is very nice mother will you play with jane mother laughs laugh mother laughs see father he is big and strong father will you play with jane father is smiling smile father smile see the dog bow wow goes the dog do you want to play do you want to play with jane see the dog run run dog run look look here comes a
• 02:30 - 03:00 friend the friend will play with jane they will play a good game play jane play page five quiet as it's kept there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. we thought at the time that was that it was because piccola was having her father's baby that the marigolds did not grow a little examination and much less melancholy would have proved to us that our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout nobody's dead not even the gardens fronting the lake showed marigolds that
• 03:00 - 03:30 year but so deeply concerned were we with the health and safe delivery of piccola's baby we could think of nothing but our own magic if we planted the seeds and said the right words over them they would blossom and everything would be all right it was a long time before my sister and i admitted to ourselves that no green was going to spring from our seeds once we knew our guilt was relieved only by fights and mutual accusations about who was to blame for years i thought my sister was right
• 03:30 - 04:00 it was my fault i had planted them too far down in the earth and never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding we had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as piccola's father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair what is clear now is that of all of that hope fear lust love and grief nothing remains but piccola
• 04:00 - 04:30 and the unyielding earth charlie breedlove is dead our innocence too the seeds shriveled and died her baby too there was really nothing more to say except why but since why is difficult to handle one must take refuge in how autumn nuns go by as quiet as lust and drunken men and sober eyes sing in the lobby of the greek hotel rosemary villanucci our next door friend
• 04:30 - 05:00 who lives above her father's cafe sits in a 1939 buick eating bread and butter she rolls down the window to tell my sister frida and me that we can't come in we stare at her wanting her bread but more than that wanting to poke the arrogance out of her eyes and smash the pride of ownership that curls her chewing mouth when she comes out of the car we will beat her up make red marks on her white skin and she will cry and ask us do we want her to pull her pants down we will say no we don't know what we
• 05:00 - 05:30 should feel or do if she does but whenever she asks us we know she is offering us something precious and that our own pride must be asserted by refusing to accept school has started and frida and i get new brown stockings and cod liver oil grown-ups talk in tired edgy voices about zik's coal company and take us along in the evening to the railroad tracks where we fill burlap socks with the tiny pieces of coal lying about later we walk home glancing back to see the great carloads of slag being dumped
• 05:30 - 06:00 red hot and smoking and to the ravine that skirts the steel mill the dying fire lights the sky with a dull orange glow frida and i lag behind staring at the patch of color surrounded by black it is impossible not to feel the shiver when our feet leave the gravel path and sink into the dead grass in the field our house is old cold and green at night a kerosene lamp lights one large room the others are braced in darkness
• 06:00 - 06:30 peopled by roaches and mice adults do not talk to us they give us directions they issue orders without providing information when we trip and fall down they glance at us if we cut or bruise ourselves they ask us are we crazy when we catch colds they shake their heads and disgust at our lack of consideration how they ask us do you expect anybody to get anything done if you all are sick we cannot answer them our illness is treated with contempt foul black drought and castor oil that
• 06:30 - 07:00 blunts our minds when on a day after a trip to collect coal i cough once loudly through bronchial tubes already packed tight with phlegm my mother frowns great jesus get on in that bed how many times do i have to tell you to wear something on your head you must be the biggest fool in this town frida get some rags and stuff that window frida re-stuffs the window i trudge off to bed full of guilt and self-pity i lie down in my underwear the metal in my black garters hurts my legs
• 07:00 - 07:30 but i do not take them off for it is too cold to lie stockingless it takes a long time for my body to heat its place in the bed once i have generated a silhouette of warmth i dare not move for there is a cold place one half inch in any direction no one speaks to me or asks how i feel in an hour or two my mother comes her hands are large and rough and when she rubs the vic solve on my chest i am rigid with pain she takes two fingers full of it at a
• 07:30 - 08:00 time and massages my chest until i am faint just when i think i will tip over into a scream she scoops out a little of the salve on her forefinger and puts it in my mouth telling me to swallow a hot flannel is wrapped about my neck and chest i am covered up with heavy quilts in order to sweat which i do promptly later i throw up and my mother says what did you puke on the bed clothes for don't you have sense enough to hold your head out the bed now look what you did you think i got time for nothing but washing up your
• 08:00 - 08:30 puke the puke swaddles down the pillow onto the sheet green gray with flecks of orange it moves like the insides of an uncooked egg stubbornly clinging to its own mass refusing to break up and be removed how i wonder can it be so neat and nasty at the same time my mother's voice drones on she is not talking to me she is talking to the puke but she is she is calling it my name claudia she wipes it up as best she can and puts a scratchy towel over the large wet
• 08:30 - 09:00 place i lie down again the rags have fallen from the window crack and the air is cold i dare not call her back and am reluctant to leave my warmth my mother's anger humiliates me her words chafe my cheeks and i am crying i do not know that she is not angry at me but at my sickness i believe she despises my weakness for letting the sickness take hold by and by i will not get sick i will refuse to but for now i am crying i know i am making more snot but i can't stop
• 09:00 - 09:30 my sister comes in her eyes are full of sorrow she sings to me when the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls someone thinks of me i doze thinking of plums walls and someone but was it really like that as painful as i remember only mildly or rather it was a productive and fructifying pain love thick and dark as a laga syrup eased up into that cracked window i could smell it taste it sweet musty with an edge of winter green
• 09:30 - 10:00 in its base everywhere in that house it stuck along with my tongue to the frosted windowpanes it coated my chest along with a solve and when the flannel came undone in my sleep the clear sharp curves of air outlined its presence on my throat and in the night when my coughing was dry and tough feet padded into the room hands repinned the flannel readjusted the quilt and rested a moment on my forehead so when i think of autumn i think of somebody with hands who does not want me to die take a pause
• 10:00 - 10:30 here if you have not already written an annotation to answer the question what do readers learn about the narrator whose name is claudia and her family please add at least two annotations to the section that we have just read together continuing on on the bottom of page twelve it was autumn two and mr henry came our
• 10:30 - 11:00 rumor our rumor the words ballooned from the lips and hovered about our heads silent separate and pleasantly mysterious my mother was all ease and satisfaction in discussing his coming you know him she said to her friends henry washington he's been living over there with ms stella jones on 13th street but she's too adult now to keep up so he's looking for another place oh yes her friends do not hide their curiosity i've been wondering how long he was going to stay up there with her they say
• 11:00 - 11:30 she's real bad off don't know who he is half the time and nobody else well that old crazy she married up with didn't keep her head none did you hear what he told folks when he left her uh-uh what well he run off with that trifling peggy from malaria you know one of old slack bessie's girls that's the one well somebody asked him why he left a nice good church woman like della for that heifer you know della always did keep a good house and he said the honest to god real reason
• 11:30 - 12:00 was he couldn't take no more of that violet water della jones used said he wanted a woman to smell like a woman said della was just too clean for him old dog ain't that nasty you telling me what kind of reasoning is that no kind some men just dogs is that what give her them strokes must have helped but you know none of them girls wasn't too bright remember that grinning hattie she wasn't never right and their auntie julia is still trotting up and down 16th street talking to herself
• 12:00 - 12:30 didn't she get put away nah county wouldn't take her said she wasn't harming anybody oh she's harming me you want something to scare the living out of you you get up at 5 30 in the morning like i do and see that old hag floating by in that bonnet have mercy they laugh frida and i are washing mason jars we do not hear their words but with grown-ups we listen to and watch out for their voices well i hope don't nobody let me roam around like that when i get senile it's a shame what they going to do about della don't
• 12:30 - 13:00 she have no people a sister is coming up from north carolina to look after her i expect she wants to get a hold of della's house oh come on that's an evil thought if i ever heard one what you want to bet henry washington said that sister ain't seen della in 15 years i kind of thought henry would marry her one of these days that old woman well henry ain't no chicken no but ain't no buzzard either he ever been married to anybody no how come somebody cut it off he's just picky he
• 13:00 - 13:30 ain't picky you see anything around here you'd marry well no he's just sensible a steady worker with quiet ways i hope it works out all right it will how much you're charging five dollars every two weeks that'll be a big help to you i'll say