The Bluest Eye Women and Femininity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Their conversation is like a gently wicked dance: sound meets sound, curtsies, shimmies, and retires. Another sound enters but is upstaged by another: the two circle each other and stop. (1.1.19)

Claudia, eavesdropping, finds beauty in the sound of women talking.

Quote #2

Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs – all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured. 'Here,' they said, 'this is beautiful, and if you are on this day "worthy" you may have it.' (1.1.38)

Women's culture promotes identification with whiteness.

Quote #3

Marie sat shelling peanuts and popping them into her mouth. Pecola looked and looked at the women. Were they real? Marie belched, softly, purringly, lovingly. (1.3.47)

Marie defies all societal notions of femininity.