Bluest Eye Study Guide

1. The novel is divided into an untitled prelude and four sections. The four sections are named after

• the four seasons
• the four "sacred numbers"
• the Four Winds in classical mythology
• the four cardinal directions

2. The very first section of the novel, elements of which are used later as chapter headings, is a

• a fairy tale about a princess with blue eyes
• a short quotation from the Book of Job
• passage from a grade school reading primer, repeated and altered
• a poem re-imagining The Aneid set in Ohio

3. Claudia MacTeer, the novel's main narrator, is Pecola's

• friend
• mother
• sister
• aunt

4. Claudia tells us in the beginning of the novel that Pecola

• was impregnated by her own father
• is a free-spirited girl who taught all the women to stand up for themselves
• suffered under Jim Crowe laws
• had blue eyes

5. The date given in the prelude for the denouement of the novel's events is

• 1873
• 1939
• 1965
• 1984

6. The time of the novel's events ties the story to

• Reagan's racism and his war against America's black poor
• the Vietnam war and the violence against the poor
• the Reconstruction era and the legacy of slavery
• World War II and the Nazi regime's ideas of beauty

7. In the prelude, Claudia says that when facing the tragedy of Pecola, one

• asks "why" and then, because "why" is too difficult to handle, asks "how"
• asks "how" and then, because "how" is too difficult to handle, asks "what"
• asks "what" and then, because "what" is too difficult to handle, asks "where"
• asks "when" and then, because "when" is too difficult to handle, asks "why"

8. The above-mentioned question posed by Claudia in the prelude shows that

• questions are meaningless and silly when dealing with issues of race
• humans all have total free will
• asking "what" is too painful, so one contents oneself with background information like "where"
• philosophical questions like "why" might be impossible to handle, but a novel can dissect a social situation and an event, tackling the troubling question of "how"

9. Claudia's parents could best be described as

• stern but loving
• abusive and cruel
• alcoholic and amusing
• over-indulgent

10. The MacTeer family gets a new boarder named

• Baby Suggs
• Cholly Breedlove
• Oedipa Maas
• Mr. Henry