1.Identify and briefly define important words, terms, concepts, or characters.
-Shame: Itis the painful feeling of something dishonorable or disgrace caused by oneself or another. In the book Pecola, Frieda and Claudia feel shame for the way they look. They feel dishonorable and disgraced because not even their own family looks at them as they look at a white blond, blue eyed girl. They feel ugly.
-Pecola Breedlove: A black eleven year old girl who becomes friends with Claudia and Frieda Macteer after county officials place her temporarily in their home. Pecola suffers racial harassment from society in numerous times during the novel. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so she can be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children.
-Claudia Macteer: She is the narrator of the story. She is a nine year old black girl that becomes friends with Pecola. She hates white baby dolls because she did not understand why these dolls and white girls would make the people look at them and say 'Awwwwww,' but no one would do that for her.
-Frieda Macteer: A black ten year old girl. She is Claudia's older sister. She defends Pecola when she is getting harassed. Frieda seems to have more knowledge then Pecola and Claudia, she is also the bravest one.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
- In the novel we see the difference between a white girls life and a black girls life during this time. In Pecola's life their is no laugh and plays unlike white girls her age. Pecola and her family were poor and black and stayed in this ugly torn down town because they believed they were ugly. Pecola did not understand why she was treated the way she was. 'Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike'(pg45). Pecola only wanted to fit in and be treated as everyone else, and she believed that if she had blue eyes she would be different and beautiful. Pecola 'each night, without fail prayed for blue eyes. Fervently, for a year she had prayed'(pg46). Pecola is constantly getting racial harassment from society. Once she went to the store to buy candy and she stands right in front of the man behind the counter but he acts as if he does not see her, because for him there is nothing to see. Pecola sees anger and disgust in his eyes, he did not even want to touch her hand to get the money.'Pecola feels the inexplicable shame'(pg 50). Pecola was constantly harassed and called ugly. She desired to have what white children had which was happiness, acceptance and love.
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
- 'Each night, without fail, she prayed for blue eyes'(pg 46). Having blue eyes will only make Pecola different but in wont stop racial harassment, she will still be treated the same. So why does Pecola pray for blue eyes rather then to being white?
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Pecola wanted blue eyes instead of being white driectly since all her pain and shame that her suffered are catched by her eyes. She saw people disliked her by their insulted behaviors. so, she might get new perceptions through the blue eyes if she had one. Also, she wanted to be unique since everyone often ignored her presence all those years. If she had blue eyes with dark skin, she would take all people's attention, no matter she stands in balck or whites society.
She wants blue eyes to be different from everyone else. People would stop twice to look at her because her blue eyes will catch their attention and their admiration. She is a lonely girl that didn't get love from her family so she wants to seek it through some other means and since being herself isn't getting her that love, the blue eyes that everyone seems to love in Shirley Temple and all little white girls is all that she wants.
Pecola wanted blue eyes because when people look at her, she wants them to see beauty. When a person looks at someone else, they look into their eyes, so this is why Pecola wants the blue, beautiful eyes. She also metions in the novel that if she had beautiful eyes, people wouldn't want to do bad things in front of her, becuase they wouldn't want those beautiful eyes to see bad things.
Pecola thinks that if only her eye was different that people will treat her differently. She thinks the only thing that makes her ugly is her eyes. She thinks that Sherley Temple is being loved by everybody because of her blue eyes, so she wants that attention too.
I believe Pecola wanted blue eyes because it was a symbol of beauty. If she had the blue eyes then no one would make fun of her anymore and people would start seeing her as a beautiful girl whether it be in her own colored society or in the white society. It would make her different and unique because there are no black girls with blue eyes but there are many white girls. A black girl with blue eyes is way more striking and shocking then just another white girl.
I believe that Pecola wanted blue eyes so she can see things more beautiful. With all the bad things that happened around her, her eyes have seen things ugly. In the part where she was talking about her blue eyes, this was the only part where she mentioned something beautiful. The more blue her eyes, the more beautiful things she can see and experience.
I thinks that Pecola asked for the bluest eyes so she could feel loved and get the attention that she has not had throughout her life. She was never really recognized by her family or friends, so I feel that her having the bluest eyes made her feel more comfortable with herself and I guess she figured she would get more attention.
Pecola wanted blue eyes because they were all she thought she would really need for the world to look at her differently. While racial prejudice from whites might stop is she became white, that might cause too great a rift between her and the people she grew up with. Whatever misdeeds exist between blacks and whites are not of paramount concern to Pecola. She is looking for an easy way to solver her own problem in her own world.
Pecola pray for blue eyes rather than white because she believes that people surrounding her looks at her eyes and the "eyes" symbolizes white little girls just like shirley temple. When Pecola pray for blue eyes, she just wants to be like everybody else besides black.
Pecola dreams for the blue eyes instead of being white because she wants to be different from the rest of the people. Other kids will similar problems might dream of being white, but Pecola is different. She likes what other people do not like. Like for example she did not liked Shirley Temple, and everybody else did.
I think Pecola was attract by blue eye rather then white color. I think she only think that blue eyes is the reason make white people so beautiful. So if she has same blue eyes it would make her beautiful then people would treat her better.
Pecola wanted blue eyes because she thought that if she had blue eyes, her parents would stop fighting, and then when looking at her eyes they would feel bad and would not fight in front of such beautiful girl. She also wanted to have blue eyes because she noticed that all the adults praised little white girls with beautiful blue eyes; it did not matter to her if she was not white because she thought that by just having blue eyes her whole appearance would change.
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