questions for the Bluest Eye Harkness Table

1. Who is Pecola talking to when she is talking about her Blue Eyes
2. Why does whoever Pecola is talking to have to leave
3. Why does Pecola thing she has Blue Eyes when she doesnt?

Color and Sequences in The Bluest Eye

After reading The Bluest Eye for a while, one might comment of the sequencing the events and histories of the characters and why they are placed in the order they are. For example, one is aware of Cholly Breedlove early in the story, and are told about what he will end up doing to his own daughter, but Morrison decides to tell us the story of Cholly's upbringing and humiliation after. Similarly, Polly Breedlove's story is presented in a similar way, first she is introduced as an adult, then we learn the story of her upbringing. The reason why Morrison does this is to introduce us to the characters and then have us develop an opinion or prejudice about that character, and then show us why they are like that, and even change our opinion of that character. It ties back to the "single story" motif. The first time we meet that character, the single story is what is presented to the reader. For Cholly, its that he raped his daughter and then got her pregnant. Then the reader is taken back in time to figure out what made him the abusive drunkard he is, and it is used as a vehicle to change one's opinion. Instead of hating him as a character because of what he did, the reader may pity him after learning of his upbringing and how upsetting it was. Morrison is using the sequencing to show that the single story of a person is never ever the whole story, and that reevaluation is important. Much like the race issue in the book, the fact that some people are back and others are white brings up the conflict of race that permeates through the novel.

Another aspect of the novel that is repeated and is an interesting aspect of it is the uses of color that are used to describe various things in the novel besides skin color. For example, Polly associates pleasure and happiness with 3 colors "that streak of green from the june bug light, the purple from the berries trickling along my thighs, Mama's lemonade yellow runs sweet in me" (131) Other instances of color being used to describe things are the "black and red words"(77) that are used to describe the Maginot Line and the "light-green" words that Mr. Henry uses to Frieda and Claudia. These uses of color are a means of getting across the theme of beauty. In this world where there is black and white, other colors seem to symbolize beauty and pleasure and happiness, especially in the case of Polly and her 3 colors. The other colors that are brought up are brought up as describing words to describe the "beauty" of other people. What makes the more than just "black" or "white"

my single story

When i first met Scotty, I saw him at soccer tryouts for the LFA team. He was tearing it up, making people who I thought were good at soccer look like fools. So naturally, I thought he was one of those super athletic guys that talks about sports and only sports.. But later, in the student center, I was having a conversation about a new game that had just come out that I wanted to buy called Borderlands and Scotty, out of nowhere, chimed in about how much he like it, and then compared it to other games he liked. I realized that we shared a passion, videogames.

Bluest Eye Discussion Topics

• The use of color and seasons when describing (Pg. 66 "her springtime eyes...") (Page 75 "his light green words restored color to the day (Page 77 "black and red words") Page 90 The silky black cat
• The talk about naked men and "father" Pg. 71and the argument/fight on page 73
• The description and differences between the mobile girls and girls like Claudia's mom.
• Junior and Pecola

Daniyal Mueenuddin

Born: Los Angeles, CA in April of 1963
Awards: Winner of the 2010 Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders was the winner of The Story Prize in 2009. His collection for short stories was also a finalist for the 2009 National Book awards, as well as the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, the 2010 Commonwealth Writer's Prize, the 2010 Los Angeles Times First Fiction Award, and the 2010 Ondaatje Prize. It was also selected as one of TIME's top ten books of the year as well as both The Economist's, Publisher's Weekly's, and The Guardian's top ten lists for 2009. Also, his short story "Nawabdin Electrician" was selected by Salman Rushdie to be in America's Best Short Stories of 2008
Works: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
Style: He uses very particular and precise diction matched with flowing and detailed description.
Quote: "Half-Pakistani and half-American, I have spent equal amounts of time in each country, and so, knowing both cultures well and belonging to both, I equally belong to neither, look at both with an outsider's eye. These stories are written from that place in between, written to help both me and my reader bridge the gap."  
Questions: On who did yo base the conflict and character of Nawabdin?
What was the most exciting/thrilling/interesting thing that happened to you during your time in Pakistan?

Nawabdin Electrician

In this short story by Daniyal Mueenuddin, the main character, Nawabdin, he is clearly a hardworking man and he is every good at what he does. And yet he isnt well off with his 12 daughters for whom he needs to pay for dowries. But he is a happy man, a man that is happiest when he is busy and doing things. He has many jobs, working on the farm, cheating the electric company, and trying to fix anything he can get his hands on. He has a positive outlook, he is still poor, but he does his best to enjoy and love life, rather than wallowing in sadness, depression, and doing unethical and immoral things.

But the important thing is, that rather than being wealthy or a successful business man he is happy, surrounded by the love of his wife, whom he adores, and his daughters who make him smile, he is a happy person. Sure he is a a bit of a predicament with the dowries of his many daughters, and sure he isnt the wealthiest man in the world, but he lives his life happily and with people he loves. And when something threatens his happiness, and the happiness of his family, he doesn't have mercy and risks his life for his happiness. The robber is actually much like Nawabdin, a poor man trying to support his family in the ways he can, but he goes about it in a less honest and different way than Nawabdin, rather than pursuing things that will make money and make him happy.