Adolescent Development in The Bluest Eye

 *As of writing this, I have not yet finished The bluest eye.*    

 One of the most difficult things about reading Toni Morrison's The bluest eye is watching young girls strive so intensely to embody the racist standards of white people in order to gain their respect, but continually experience harsh rejection from them. This theme of assimilation is pervasive throughout the lives of Pecola and Claudia, though they react differently to their circumstances. At this young age, their mothers' attitudes towards and relationships with their daughters have immense effects on how they process the standards they are held to and how their self-image forms. 

    Adolescence is a very critical point in the development of any person: this is when our brains are forging synaptic pathways and abandoning ones that no longer serve us through processes called synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning, respectively. These changes are especially evident in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is active when we are thinking about ourselves, planning, making complex decisions, and interacting with others (Blakemore 2:00). While our prefrontal cortexes are still developing, our limbic systems are extremely sensitive. The limbic system is responsible for our emotional processing and for the feeling of reward we experience after taking risks or doing exciting things. Since the prefrontal cortex is not developed enough to manage impulses, adolescents tend to act on them or do things that will result in feelings of reward (Blakemore 12:15). Thus, our interactions and relationships with those around us at this time are of the utmost importance. 

  

  What comes to mind first when thinking of these two concepts (the book and brain development) side by side is self-image. If the brain area concerned with self-reflection and social interaction is going through a wave of change, how could this contribute to the characters' experiences? I feel like a lot of people understand that what happens in childhood and adolescence has a massive effect on shaping personality and values, but I don't think many people know just how critical of a period it is. For example, Claudia is given white baby dolls. Dolls she is told she should be excited to receive, that she is told only good girls receive. Through this, she is being taught that whiteness is to be sought after and is for only those who are good enough to obtain it. She rejects this notion with ferocity, mutilating the dolls as an expression of anger she does not quite understand, yet feels so deeply. Now, if Pecola were given the same doll, she would undoubtedly cherish it. Why may this be? I argue that the single most important difference between these two girls is their family life. 

"Study after study finds that adolescents who believe their parents or guardians are there for them- caring, involved, and accepting- are healthier, happier, and more competent than their peers..." 

(Steinberg, Chapter 4) 

  Claudia's mother may be harsh at times, but she, Mr. MacTeer, and her sister Freida all genuinely care for and support one another. For Pecola, this is obviously not the case. She is not shown love or affection by her parents or her brother, violence and indifference taking their place. On top of that, Pecola has been told by nearly the whole world that she is ugly, and her brain is not yet developed enough to be able to work through all that she has been through. The people she is supposed to be able to rely on in this time of vulnerability and change are not there for her, and that makes all the difference. She is not weaker or dumber than Claudia; she is simply a child in a broken home in a broken society. 

 

Works Cited

Blakemore , Sarah Jayne. “The Mysterious Workings of the Adolescent Brain.” TED: Ideas Worth             Spreading, September 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zVS8HIPUng&ab_channel=TED

Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. 1970. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.

Steinberg, Laurence. Adolescence. 12th ed., McGraw-Hill Education, 2020.