The Bluest Eye Claudia MacTeer Quotes

Claudia MacTeer

Quote 13

She, however, stepped over into madness, a madness which protected her from us simply because it bored us in the end. (4.11.7)

Claudia admits to being bored with Pecola's madness and feels somewhat guilty about this.

Claudia MacTeer

Quote 14

The birdlike gestures are worn away to a mere picking and plucking her way between the tire rims and the sunflowers, between Coke bottles and milkweed, among all the waste and beauty of the world – which is what she herself was. All of our waste which we dumped on her and which she absorbed. And all of our beauty, which was hers first and which she gave to us. (4.11.5)

The constant use of the word "us" here implicates the whole town in Pecola's madness.

Claudia MacTeer

Quote 15

Love, thick and dark as Alaga syrup, eased up into that cracked window. I could smell it – taste it – sweet, musty, with an edge of wintergreen in its base – everywhere in that house. (1.1.10)

Although the MacTeer house is cold, they have their love to keep them warm. (Aww!)