During an undergraduate creative writing workshop at Howard University, she worked on a short story about a young Black girl who prayed for blue eyes. It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove–a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others–who prays for her eyes … She is a potential conduit for excellence in the world. … During that time period in the US, public schools used Dick and Jane readers to teach all 1st and 2nd graders. The books showed nothing other than the "typical" American family: financially secure, white (with blue eyes, no doubt), mother, father, sister, brother, dog, cat, all living in a lovely house they surely own. Pecola has drowned in madness. I found myself looking for Pecola, over and over again, and when the narrative finally "finds" her, it is too late. The second section (“Winter”) consists of two short vignettes. A truly heartfelt and passionate expression at your frustration with ignorance. The subject matter is harrowing, so proceed with caution, but the strength of it is absolute. After several rejections, The Bluest Eye was published in the U.S. by Holt, Rinehart and Winston (later Holt McDougal) in 1970. I just know it was published post 1993, because it contains the afterward written by Morrison then, in which she proves to be one of her most severe critics. 110-131. She received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993 she was awarded … Claudia MacTeer. Set in 1941 Ohio, the book is a complex … So she believes she is unlovable, and is subsequently rendered invisible and therefore a perfect target to absorb the abuses of a society of self-hating, op. Toni Morrison is the author of eleven novels, from The Bluest Eye (1970) to God Help the Child (2015). Meanwhile, Pecola converses with an unidentified person—presumably, herself—about her new blue eyes, which she still thinks “aren’t blue enough.” In the final moments of the novel, the adult Claudia tells the reader that Pecola gave birth prematurely and the baby did not survive. Toni Morrison is the author of eleven novels, from The Bluest Eye (1970) to God Help the Child (2015). At the time, Morrison—a single mother living in New York City—was working as a senior editor in the trade division of the publisher Random House. Somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 first-edition copies were printed; Morrison had expected only about 400. Percola's story broke my heart. China, Poland and Miss Marie (also known as The Maginot Line) are surely three of the finest whores in literature. For instance, Mary Jane is described as having a "smiling white face" and "blond hair in gentle disarray, blue eyes … The Bluest Eye is told from several points of view. What is the meaning of the 'See Jane run' sequences throughout the novel? She received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993 she … On a particularly boring afternoon, Junior entices Pecola into his house. The third-person narrator of The Bluest Eye is no dispassionate observer, but one who gives insights into the thoughts of characters and occasionally interprets events in a very explicit manner. 61-109. Oh my goodness, I loved this book - loved it for the language, of course, Morrison is like Woolf or Forester, in how her sentences can do absolutely anything - but also for the way the plot is structured, for how the central character, Pecola, is the most shown and the least known, and for how the denizens of Lorain, Ohio, even the most immoral ones, are treated with equal measures of sympathy and scrutiny by Morrison. Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain Ohio, it tells the story of black, … Soaphead is a deceptive and conniving man; as the narrator observes, he comes from a long line of similarly ambitious and corrupt West Indians. I think it's important that books like these exist, because we need to remember that problems like these exist. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Geraldine calls Pecola a “nasty little black bitch” and orders her to leave. Nine-year-old Claudia and ten-year-old Frieda MacTeer live in Lorain, Ohio, with their parents. Geraldine and Junior’s connection to Pecola is not immediately obvious; she does not appear until the end of the vignette. See all 18 questions about The Bluest Eye…, Books That Everyone Should Read At Least Once, the most haunting, poignant and unforgettable elegy, Readers Choose Today's Great American Novelist. The narrator of parts of the novel, Claudia is a strong-willed and passionate nine … According to the omniscient narrator, Polly and Cholly once loved each other. 3-58 Morrison, Online overview. She has dreams and a fertile imagination. The main narrator is Claudia MacTeer, a childhood friend with whom Pecola once lived. “Implicit in her desire,” Morrison observed, “was racial self-loathing.” The soon-to-be author wondered how her friend had internalized society’s racist beauty standards at such a young age. The Bluest Eye, written by Nobel-prize winning author Toni Morrison, was her debut novel published in 1970. In the beginning, Claudia and Frieda learn that Pecola has been impregnated by her father. All is well in the world. The latter is false: Toni Morrison has won the Pulitzer and the Nobel because, Toni Morrison is one of my favorite authors. Through this connection, the violence committed against the cat mirrors and forebodes the racial … Its passages are rich with allusions to Western history, media, literature, and religion. The Bluest Eye is a work of tremendous emotional, cultural, and historical depth. The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. Despite the tragic circumstances of their friendship, Claudia and her 11-year-old sister, Frieda, enjoy playing with Pecola. It reads: Hereisthehouseitisgreenandwhiteithasareddooritisveryprettyhereisthefamilymotherfatherdickandjaneliveinthegreenandwhitehousetheyareveryhappyseejaneshehasareddressshewantstoplaywhowillplaywithjaneseethecatitgoesmeowmeowcomeandplaycomeplaywithjanethekittenwillnotplay...lookherecomesafriendthefriendwillplaywithjanetheywillplayagoodgameplayjaneplay. “Love is never any better than the lover. The Bluest Eye is divided into four sections, each of which is named for a different season. During that time period in the US, public schools used Dick and Jane readers to teach all 1st and 2nd graders. Morrison’s references to Dick and Jane—an illustrated series of books about a white middle-class family, often used to teach children to read in the 1940s—help contextualize the novel. In the first section of the novel (“Autumn”), nine-year-old Claudia introduces Pecola and explains why she is living with the MacTeers. The narration itself alternates between first person and third-person omniscient. The Bluest Eye, pp. Pecola Breedlove's desire to have blue eyes like the little blonde-haired girl at the house her mother is employed as housekeeper, is heartbreaking on so many levels, especially after her own personal … “For me, this means that we, as … Claudia, however, “couldn’t join them in their adoration because [she] hated Shirley.” In fact, she hated “all the Shirley Temples of the world.” The adult Claudia recalls being given a blue-eyed baby doll for Christmas: From the clucking sounds of adults I knew that the doll represented what they thought was my fondest wish...all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured. Toni Morrison is the author of eleven novels, from The Bluest Eye (1970) to God Help the Child (2015). I will respectfully disagree, as while Percola's story is terrible in the sense of the almost unrelenting pain & bleakness, it is beautiful with Morrison's gift of language & her ability to create believable characters. When Pecola goes to him asking for blue eyes, Soaphead initially sympathizes with her: Here was an ugly little girl asking for beauty…A little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison foregrounded the demonization of Blackness in American culture, focusing on the effects of internalized racism. The Great American Novel is something of a moving target. I just read this today, and the rating system really doesn't apply to my feelings, which are still fresh, on this book : "I like it" "I really liked it", etc. No cares, no troubles. She graduated from the University of Chicago in 2019 with bachelor’s degrees in English language and literature and political... 49 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Literature Quizzes. I discovered her writing with. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye depicts a young colored girl, Pecola, who believes that she is not considered beautiful in other’s perspective. The three versions symbolize the different lifestyles explored in the novel. Note: this answer isn't official in any way, just what I thought when reading it. [ The Bluest Eye - Ebook written by Toni Morrison. I saw this tweet a couple of weeks ago: "Going through life white, male, middle-class and American is like playing a video game on easy mode." She has dreams and a fertile imagination. Start by marking “The Bluest Eye” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Morrison thought that at the times she lacked the narrative skill to tell the story the way she wanted. The sections narrated in the third person are all focused on some aspect of Pecola's lifethe sections explore either a family member or a specific significant event. She is born to parents who are too busy licking their wounds and tending to their own pain to extend anything resembling love in her direction. Parents need to know that The Bluest Eye is the first novel by the late Nobel-prize winning author Toni Morrison, originally published in 1970. In 1993 she … The Bluest Eyeis set at the end of the Depression, and its effects are still felt by the characters. Refresh and try again. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Toni Morrison doesn't get the respect she deserves and has rightfully earned. In the second and third vignettes, the reader learns about Pecola’s parents, Pauline (Polly) and Cholly Breedlove. I remember writing my "objective" and "tone-neutral" in-class essay while trying to stifle my own feelings of resentment. The loved one is shorn, neutralized, frozen in the glare of the lover’s inward eye.”. Only the most determined quizmaster will be able to reach its denouement. Those that choose to remain in the darkness are the deadweight on our attempts to become truly tolerant and cooperative as a species. She received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993 she … Updates? Morrison thought that at the times she lacked the narrative skill to tell the story the way she wanted. Symbols "Mary Jane" - Toni Morisson's novel The Bluest Eye uses the symbolic image of Mary Jane, a logo for a piece of candy, to parallel Pecola's desire to be pretty. Because that moment was so racially infused…the struggle was for writing that was indisputably black. By 1965 Morrison’s short story had become a novel, and between 1965 and 1969 she developed it into an extensive study of socially constructed ideals of beauty (and ugliness). Unfortunately, one's gender, one's race, one's socioeconomic status and even one's physical appearance are all-too-handy touchpoints for those who are too lazy to think and are thus used to dismiss so much of what it means to be human. After she comes inside, he throws his mother’s beloved cat at her face. They are a happy family! When TV came on the scene, families were all depicted in the same way - Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, etc., the only slight variations being the number and genders of children and inclusion or not of pets. Since its publication in 1970, there have been numerous attempts to ban The Bluest Eye from schools and libraries because of its depictions of sex, violence, racism, incest, and child molestation; it frequents the American Library Association’s list of banned and challenged books . This quiz consists of 49 questions from Britannica’s most popular quizzes. by Plume. So she believes she is unlovable, and is subsequently rendered invisible and therefore a perfect target to absorb the abuses of a society of self-hating, oppressed people who need to pour their sorrows into the vessel with the most cracks: the innocent (in their eyes, contemptible) black girl. She explained that in the mid-1960s “most of what was being published by Black men [was] very powerful, aggressive, revolutionary fiction or non-fiction.” These publications “had a very positive, racially uplifting rhetoric.” Black male authors expressed sentiments like “Black is beautiful” and used phrases like “Black queen.” At the time, Morrison worried that people would forget that “[Black] wasn’t always beautiful.” In The Bluest Eye, she set out to remind her readers “how hurtful a certain kind of internecine racism is.”. 209-216 The Other in The Bluest Eye We recall that ‘The Bluest Eye’ was banned in many places. The term, used to describe a work of fiction that accurately shows the... To see what your friends thought of this book. Over the years, their relationship steadily deteriorated. At the end of the third vignette—just before the events of the first section begin—Cholly drunkenly stumbles into his kitchen, where he finds Pecola washing dishes. Morrison’s prose was experimental; it is lyrical and evocative and unmistakably typical of the writing style that became the hallmark of her later work. The Bluest Eye was not a commercial success. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. It is the end of the Great Depression, and the girls parents are more concerned with making ends meet than with lavishing attention upon their daughters, but there is an undercurrent of love and stability in their home. But they are only three of the gorgeous characters that populate this gorgeous book. The narrative style, even in third person, is one of great psychological intimacy. His outrage grew and felt like power. That possibility bothers Pecola because she wants to have the bluest eyes of all. Book Summary The events in The Bluest Eye are not presented chronologically; instead, they are linked by the voices and memories of two narrators.In the sections labeled with the name of a season, Claudia … Soaphead forms a plan to trick Pecola. The first version is clear and grammatically correct; it tells a short story about “Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane,” focusing in particular on Jane, who seeks a playmate. Some 20 years after its initial publication, Morrison, reflecting on the writing of her first novel in a 1993 afterword to The Bluest Eye, described her prose as “race-specific yet race-free,” the product of a desire to be “free of racial hierarchy and triumphalism.” In her words: The novel tried to hit the raw nerve of racial self-contempt, expose it, then soothe it not with narcotics but with language that replicated the agency I discovered in my first experience of beauty. The Bluest Eye is the first novel of Nobel-Prize winning writer Toni Morrison. Through Geraldine, Polly, Pecola, and other characters, she demonstrated how even the most subtle forms of racism—especially racism from within the Black community—can negatively impact self-worth and self-esteem. She is born to parents who are too busy licking their wounds and tending to their own pain to extend anything resembling love in her direction. Her work is very hard to peg down. The fourth and final section (“Summer”) takes place after Pecola loses her mind. I just know it was published post 1993, because it contains the afterward written by Morrison then, in which she proves to be one of her most severe critics. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. But she is the inheritor of pathological trauma that is centuries old. "Is she saying what they did was okay?! Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. The Bluest Eye, pp. The Bluest Eye is set in 1941, a few years after the end of the Great Depression; at this time, poverty was a real looming threat for most American families. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). She shows the reader how the racial issues of the distant and not-so-distant past continue to affect her characters in the present, thereby explaining, if not justifying, many of their actions. By shifting the point of view, Morrison effectively avoids dehumanizing the Black characters “who trashed Pecola and contributed to her collapse.” Instead, she emphasizes the systemic nature of the problem. If the dog “behaves strangely,” he tells her, her “wish will be granted on the day following this one.” Unbeknownst to Pecola, the meat is poisoned. Set in Morrison’s hometown of Lorain, Ohio, in 1940–41, the novel tells the tragic story of Pecola Breedlove, an African American girl from an abusive home. We’d love your help. His latest scheme involves interpreting dreams and performing so-called “miracles” for the Black community in Lorain. Thus begins her sharp descent into madness. … Frieda and Pecola bond over their shared love of Shirley Temple, a famous American child star known for her blonde curls, babyish singing, and tap-dancing with Bill (“Bojangles”) Robinson. Here is the little black girl. When Claudia is not narrating, a third-person narrator takes her place. Imagine a Nobel Laureate reading her work, and then explaining her art. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The Bluest Eye helped me eventually gain language for articulating a simple truth: whiteness is not neutral. In Plato's analogy of the cave, we are continually trying to move to the light. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. ”, “Love is never any better than the lover. I listened to this via, I've had a look, both on Goodreads & the internet, & I can't find the cover of my ebook edition. The novel itself is fairly short; it concludes after only 164 pages. The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison is the Robert F. Goheen Professor of Humani-ties, Emeritus at Princeton University. He gives her a piece of raw meat and demands that she give it to his property owner’s dog. Never realizing that people who don't love themselves can never love anybody else. I’ve read a lot of fucked things in literature, though it is extremely rare that I read something so messed up that it makes me hate the book. She has been destroyed by a cultural perversion that wholly negates the dreams and … Its passages are rich with allusions to Western history, media, literature, and … At this point Geraldine appears, and Junior promptly tells her that Pecola has killed the cat. This was my first Toni Morrison--it was Toni Morrison's first Toni Morrison--and since she continued writing I will continue reading what she wrote. The first is that of white families like the Fishers; the second is that of the well-adjusted MacTeer children, Claudia and Frieda, who live in an “old, cold, and green” house; and the distorted third is that of the Breedloves. The form of this novel was also experimental and was highly innovative: Morrison built a “shattered world” to complement Pecola’s experiences. Questions of race and gender are at the centre of The Bluest Eye. The MacTeers take in a boarder, Henry Washington, and also a young girl named Pecola. Claudia tells the reader what her mother, Mrs. MacTeer, told her: Pecola is a “case…a girl who had no place to go.” The Breedloves are currently “outdoors,” or homeless, because Pecola’s father, Cholly, burned the family house down. ", “Love is never any better than the lover. I found myself looking for Pecola, over and over again, and when the narrativ. Set in Lorain, Ohio in 1941, the novel traces how Pecola Breedlove, the dark-skinned daughter of a poor … I initially struggled with this book because I had Pecola in my mind as the protagonist (I officially I hate back cover. I feel so bad for not liking this book, because I know I'm in the minority, and because I know it deals with some very very important topics! I think that part of this has to do with the unfortunate connotations people have regarding Oprah's Book Club and part of it stems from, if not outright racism and misogyny, than the racist and misogynist assumptions that Morrison is popular only because she is a nonwhite woman, liberal guilt etc. A truly heartfelt and passionate expression at your frustration with ignorance. “There can’t be anyone, I’m sure, who doesn’t know what it feels like to be disliked, even rejected. Corrections? Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Nonetheless, the novel has been categorized as an American classic in the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and William Faulkner. The Bluest Eye, debut novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, published in 1970. I initially struggled with this book because I had Pecola in my mind as the protagonist (I officially I hate back cover book summaries) and the narrative seemed to stray quite a bit, encompassing an entire family, an entire community in Lorain, Ohio, and beyond. It is, in part, because of the Depression that Cholly does not have a job and that waste is so abhorrent to … In the chapter about Autumn Pecola visits a candy store … The cat, released in mid-motion, is thrown full-force at the window. Welcome back. Being black only compounded the issue, and families … Haley Bracken was an Editorial Intern at Encyclopaedia Britannica in 2018 and 2019. Morrison, The Bluest Eye, pp. The lover alone possesses his gift of love. Literature is a broad term that—among Britannica’s quizzes, at least—can include everything from American novels to antonyms and synonyms. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read The Bluest Eye. It remains a wondrous feat to analyze or attempt to define whatever masterpiece of hers you are reading at the time. I wonder who the Mexican Toni Morrison is. Most of the chapter titles are taken from the simulated text of a Dick and Jane reader. She changed narrators and focal points within and between the four sections. well, i'm experiencing severe bookface fatigue and wasn't gonna report on this until i read this cool-as-shit bookster's review: When we finished this book, about half the class--- including me--- were infuriated at Morrison for humanizing certain characters that caused Pecola to suffer the most. The fourth vignette picks up not long after the rape. The third version lacks punctuation, capitalization, and spaces between words. She has received the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Unfortunately, one's gender, one's race, one's socioeconomic status an. One disappointment followed another, and sustained poverty, ignorance, and fear took steep tolls on their well-being. The greatest writer I've ever read, an icon, the G.O.A.T., started her literary career in a fashion that is more brilliant than I even imagined. Why is the book's title The Bluest Eye (singular)? The books showed nothing other than the. Pecola is symbolically connected to the cat, which has black fur but the blue eyes she's always desired. An almost infinite amount, apparently. I have NO idea how to rate this book. They have toys and friends who play nicely with them. It begins by delving into the personal history of Soaphead Church, a misanthropic Anglophile and self-proclaimed spiritual healer. I will respectfully disagree, as while Percola's story is terrible in the sense of the almost unrelenting pain & bleakness, it is beautiful w. I've had a look, both on Goodreads & the internet, & I can't find the cover of my ebook edition. The New York Times celebrated Morrison’s willingness to expose “the negative of the Dick-and-Jane-and-Mother-and-Father-and-Dog-and-Cat photograph that appears in our reading primers…with a prose so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry.” All things considered, Morrison felt that “the initial publication of The Bluest Eye was like Pecola’s life: dismissed, trivialized, [and] misread.”. The Bluest Eye, pp. But she is the inheritor of pathological trauma that is centuries old. In the first vignette, Claudia and Frieda talk about how Mr. Henry—a guest staying with the MacTeers—“picked at” Frieda, inappropriately touching her while her parents were outside. They also comment on the incompatibility of those “barren white-family primer[s]” (as Morrison called them) with the experiences of Black families. Just a few days ago I happened to have a conversation with someone (quite a 'well-read' person too) who said quite casually, almost in an offhand manner, how he found books written by women 'uninteresting'. For those of us born into this: how many chances do we get to fuck things up and still come out just fine? The story was in part true; it was based on a conversation with a childhood friend who wanted blue eyes. Because it revealed how much gender and race factor into all experiences, The Bluest Eye … In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison tells the story of a young African American, Pecola, and the social struggles of the time period, including the difficulties of growing up as a young black woman in the … “Here,” they said, “this is beautiful, and if you are on this day ‘worthy’ you may have it.”. Overwhelmed by conflicting feelings of tenderness and rage, Cholly rapes Pecola and leaves her unconscious body on the floor for Polly to find. There is no gift for the beloved. After Frieda told her mother, her father “threw our old tricycle at [Mr. Henry’s] head and knocked him off the porch.” Frieda tells Claudia she fears she might be “ruined,” and they set off to find Pecola. Friendly at first, Maureen ultimately humiliates Pecola and her friends by declaring herself “cute” and Pecola “ugly.” The second vignette, narrated by a third-person omniscient narrator, focuses on Geraldine and Louis Junior, a young mother and son in Lorain, Ohio. Morrison conceived of the idea for the novel some 20 years before its publication. The first of these is narrated by Claudia, and in it she documents Pecola’s fascination with a light-skinned Black girl by the name of Maureen Peal. September 6th 2005 In a 2004 interview Morrison described her motivations to write the novel. After the dog eats the meat, gags, and dies, Pecola believes her wish has been granted. Yet, we are celebrating its 50 th anniversary. The county placed Pecola with the MacTeer family until “they could decide what to do, or, more precisely, until the [Breedlove] family was reunited.”. The point of view of the introduction is first person; the speaker is the adult Claudia MacTeer remembering and reflecting upon one year in her childhood. She is a potential conduit for excellence in the world. 132-183. The Bluest Eye is a work of tremendous emotional, cultural, and historical depth. On prodding him for the reason behind his 'disinterest', he replied that 'books written by women just do not engage' him. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, … It was published in 1970. Momentarily or for sustained periods of time,” Toni Morrison stated in her author note, as she explained the context of this novel. Alas, Rest In Power... tw: domestic abuse, animal abuse & death, incest, pedophilia, rape, China, Poland and Miss Marie (also known as The Maginot Line) are surely three of the finest whores in literature. The sisters hope that the baby will not die; they pray for it and even offer a sacrifice (a bicycle) to God. Is she telling us they weren't to blame and we should feel sorry for them?!" Oh my goodness, I loved this book - loved it for the language, of course, Morrison is like Woolf or Forester, in how her sentences can do absolutely anything - but also for the way the plot is structured, for how the central character, Pecola, is the most shown and the least known, and for how the denizens of Lorain, Ohio, even the most immoral ones, are treated with equal measures of sympathy and scrutiny by Morrison. They were married at a relatively young age and migrated together from Kentucky to Lorain. Junior stops her, claiming she is his “prisoner.” Junior then picks up his mother’s cat and begins swinging it around his head. Three versions of the simulated text appear at the beginning of the novel. The second version repeats the message of the first, but without proper punctuation or capitalization. Pecola loves Shirley … Here is the little black girl. Claudia narrates from two different perspectives: the adult Claudia, who reflects on the events of 1940–41, and the nine-year-old Claudia, who observes the events as they happen. So, yes, it contains socially objectionable, injurious elements. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, … Eleven-year-old Pecola equates beauty and social acceptance with whiteness; she therefore longs to have “the bluest eye.” Although largely ignored upon publication, The Bluest Eye is now considered an American classic and an essential account of the African American experience after the Great Depression. So her cracks multiply and she breaks apart and spills over and she gets blamed for not being pristine by the very people who broke her. Toni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford) was an American author, editor, and professor who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature for being an author "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.