SOURCE: Bishop, John. “Morrison's The Bluest Eye.” Explicator 51, no. 4 (summer 1993): 252-55.

In the following essay, Bishop comments on the ironic implications of Pecola's name in The Bluest Eye with respect to ideals of beauty.

Many writers have noted the importance of names (and the act of naming) in Toni Morrison's novels but, surprisingly, no one in print has noted the ironies surrounding the name of Pecola Breedlove, the central character of The Bluest Eye.¹

“I just moved here. My name is Maureen Peal. What's yours?”

“Pecola.”

“Pecola? Wasn't that the name of the girl in Imitation of Life?”

“I don't know. What is that?”

“The picture show, you know. Where this mulatto girl hates her mother 'cause she is black and ugly but then cries at the funeral. It was real sad. Everybody cries in it. Claudette Colbert too.”

“Oh.” Pecola's voice was no more than a sigh...