The Bluest Eye

Question 3: In his introduction of Morrison to the Swedish Academy (when she was receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature), Professor Sture Allen argues that "in great minds, gravity and humor are close neighbors." Certainly, The Bluest Eye is filled with gravity. But in this text, is it a close neighbor to humor?

The Bluest Eye is a dark, macabre, and shocking story about an eleven year old girl, Pecola, who is not only raped by her father and becomes pregnant with his child, but becomes a poster child for the shame of her town. Morrison's novel is certainly filled with gravity, but I'd have to argue with Allen that it is, in the case of The Bluest Eye, is not a close neighbor to humor. 

Pecola’s character is intended to be pitiful and saddening. She is described as ugly throughout the book by all whom she interacts with- even by her friends Claudia and Frieda. Pecola is bullied, harassed, blamed, and looked down upon in all respects. Even without considering she was raped and pregnant with her father’s child, her life is heavy and full of sorrow. Nothing surrounding our protagonist, nor her backstory and experiences leading up to her being raped, are humorous or can be considered in the sense a “close neighbor” to the gravity of her story.

Putting aside Pecola, even the buildup of Claudia and Frieda’s characters shows no humor to accompany the gravity of their own lives. Frieda is molested by her families tenant Henry, they are constantly on their toes regarding their mothers mood and whether or not they will be punished and to what extent, and are destined to live under the shadows of the Maureen Peels of the world. The only semi-humorous thing surrounding the sisters was Celia’s vendetta with Shirley Temple, and the nicknames she creates for Maureen in order to pick out her flaws when others saw her as flawless. Even these lighter, childish seeming moments are surrounded by an underlying current of darkness, as they reveal that the two girls are oppressed by the ideals of beauty and physical appearance which are simply out of their reach: light hair, light eyes, light skin, and fancier clothes.

With respect to Professor Sture Allen's argument, I do not believe at all, in the case of The Bluest Eye, that "in great minds, gravity and humor are close neighbors." Morrison, our great mind, does not seem to be using any humor whatsoever to accompany her dark and twisted story, leading me to believe that in the case of this particular novel, gravity and humor are far from being close neighbors. I'd venture to say that in The Bluest Eye, they don't even live in the same town.