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The Bluest Eye Article Evaluation: - Examine sources, link them - Elaborate on Pecola's physical appearance (ugliness) - Emphasize Pecola's desire for blue eyes – elaborate on where she got this idea (dolls) - Opening sentence under Plot Summary is a run-on – split into two sentences

The Bluest Eye was written by Toni Morrison in 1970. Morrison, a single mother of two sons, wrote the novel while she taught at Howard University.[1] She centers the story around a young African American girl named Pecola who grows up during the years following the Great Depression in Lorain, Ohio. Because of her dark skin color and harsh characteristics, Pecola is constantly called "ugly." As a result, she develops an inferiority complex, which fuels her desire for the blue eyes she equates with "whiteness," and therefore, beauty. The point of view of the novel switches between the perspective of Claudia MacTeer, the daughter of Pecola's foster parents, and a third-person narrator with inset narratives in the first person. Due to the controversial issues the book raises such as racism, incest, and child molestation, there have been numerous attempts to ban it from schools and libraries.[2]

In Lorain, Ohio, 9-year-old Claudia MacTeer and her 10-year-old sister Frieda live with their parents, a tenant named Mr. Henry and Pecola Breedlove, a temporary foster child whose house was burned down by her unstable, alcoholic, and sexually abusive father. Pecola is a quiet, passive young girl who grows up with little money and whose parents are constantly fighting, both verbally and physically. Pecola is continually reminded of what an "ugly" girl she is by members of her neighborhood and school communities. In an attempt to beautify herself, Pecola wishes for blue eyes – a standard that was perpetuated through the gifting of white, blue-eyed dolls throughout her childhood. Most chapters' titles are excerpts from the Dick and Jane paragraph in the novel's prologue, presenting a white family that may be contrasted with Pecola's. The chapter titles contain sudden repetition of words or phrases, many cut-off words, and no interword separations.

Background

Persepolis details Satrapi's life during the war between Iran and Iraq. Persepolis depicts Satrapi's childhood in Iran, while Persepolis 2 depicts her high school years in Vienna, Austria, and her subsequent return to Iran where she attends college, marries, and later divorces before moving to France. Hence, the series is not only a memoir, but a Bildungsroman.

Persepolis has won numerous awards, including the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Scenario in Angoulême, France for its script and in Vitoria, Spain, for its critique of totalitarianism. The film version has also received high honors, such as the Official French Selection for the 2007 Best Foreign Language Film. The graphic novel has been translated from French to English, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Swedish, Georgian, and other languages, and has sold 1,500,000 copies overall.