Browse Items (5 total)

blue eye.jpg
In the novel, Pecola has an all-consuming obsession of having blue eyes. To her, having blue eyes would make her beautiful, saving her from her circumstances as a victim, a black person, and from poverty.



dick and jane.jpg
The primer books featuring Dick and Jane make several appearances throughout the novel. An excerpt from one of these books is used in the introduction of the story. Run-together quotes from these books are also used as chapter titles.

doll.jpg
Dolls are present in the novel as containers of the mystery of beauty for Claudia. Every doll Claudia is given is destroyed in search of what makes them beautiful, leading to a transferred hatred of young white girls.

shirley cup.jpg
Claudia and Frieda MacTeer possess a little blue Shirley Temple cup. Frieda and Pecola fawn over this cup because of Shirley's beauty. Pecola is so attached to the cup that she consumes 3 pints of milk from it, throwing Mrs. McTeer into a frenzy.

marigolds.jpg
Marigolds are present in the very beginning and end of the story. The MacTeer girls bought and planted marigold seeds in an almost religious offering in exchange for Pecola's baby to survive.
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