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What Is The Setting Of The Bluest Eye

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In the novel, The Bluest Eye, we learn about the lives of black, middle school aged girls. The novel takes place in 1941, during a time where racial and prejudice situations are prevalent in the lives of African Americans. The children experience a childhood full of racialism, great pain, and subordination,
The children who we come to learn so much about are two sisters, Claudia and Frieda, Pecola, who is their foster sister now. Claudia gives a brief look into the setting of the story in describing her home as well. "Our house is old, cold, and green". She explains where she lives and how cold the house is and how it looks. She introduces us to, Mr. Henry a friend of the family that comes to visit them occasionally. The children sit and hear grown folks talking in the kitchen. They hear how the grown folks talk about each other bad, there is not much good to usually say. "Well, somebody asked him why he left a nice good churchwoman like Della for that heifer" (13). This shows how African Americans are negative about each other and rarely have any nice encouraging words to say about one another.
Pecola is now in the home due a fire at home by Cholly Breedlove, her father. She has been on a long journey of great pain and confused about what kind of identity she wants to have. She is now in the home with Claudia and Frieda since the event has taken place. She has a cup with Shirley Temple embedded on the front, a very popular white girl that little girls of all races idolize.

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