Theme of Home in The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison

In “the bluest eye”, the word “home” is more than just a physical meaning, but more on the mental level. It’s an idea that defines self-agree and self-worth of a character in the story and also conveys the way people around them perceive it. In another way, it insinuate the social status of each person, as well as the values and emotional life of each character.

Having a home can tell a person's income and social status, which is very important for black people. In Chapter Spring, MacTeer said” Knowing that there was such a thing as outdoors bred in us a hunger for property, for ownership. The firm possession of a yard, a porch, a grape arbor. Propertied black people spent all their energies, all their love, on their nests.” Because before, when black people were still slaves, they were identified as properties but not humans, so when blacks have the chance to own any kind of property, they will try their best to decorate and show the best side of what they have as hard as possible.

The house usually represents the home, which is a warm and harmonious haven. In the prologue, the author describes Dick-and-Jane's house as safe and comfortable, the family lives in a perfect, normal, happy atmosphere. Owning and caring for the home has become the main focus of black families, but their house in this novel is not comfortable, it was in a bad situation because of their skin color and also become a way to build and maintain a sense of the value of themselves and among the society.
Although the house of MacTeer is old, dark, and leaking air, Mrs. Macteer is very proud and positive because that is her home. Geraldine lived in a beautiful house, which made her feel better than other black families. Claudia and Frida's collection of coal dropped from the trains illustrates their family's condition, in stark contrast to Dick and Jane's ideal home, which was introduced at the beginning, But no matter how bad the condition of the house are, it is still the “home”, and it is always part of their family identity and sense of responsibility

Pecola’s Father----Cholly, even though he was the main factor that cause all the terrible things happen to the Breedlove family, he actually longs for a sense of home and family. Cholly has never had a sense of home and family, which sheds light on his inability to be a father.

Even after Aunt Jimmy save him, he still lives in a dysfunctional environment, where he was forced to stay with her aunt, lacks a figure of father and the love from dad. Aunt Jimmy attempts to change Cholly's future by naming him after her brother, and try to make as many connections as possible to his father. However, the naming didn’t bring what Cholly were missing to him, but symbolically continuing the legacy of dysfunction in the family.