Meringue Pie

When I first saw the nickname Claudia and Frieda came up with for Maureen Peal, I wondered, "Is there another reason for the nickname other than the similarities between the spelling?"  Sure enough, after searching it up on Google images, I came across a small, white, and cute picture of the pie:

Does this description ring a bell? Well it should, because that is exactly how Toni Morrison portrays Maureen Peal in The Bluest Eye.  Maureen Peel is described in the book as a "disrupter of seasons", and "a high-yellow dream child with long brown hair braided into two lynch ropes that hung down her back"(62).  This passage suggests the oppression of blacks, as supported by Maureen's skin color and social status. Also, the "two lynch ropes" also stimulate racial oppression. Even though Maureen is portrayed as a "dream" child, the connotation of her descriptions hold the darker meaning of what her family really is.  Her introduction hints that her family's success is directly related to the oppression of the poor and colored.

No matter how hard Claudia and Frieda try to "restore their equilibrium", their attempts at classifying Maureen as someone equal to them will never work.  This is simply because of their differences in color and class status.  Everyone else looks at Maureen as a perfect role model, and nothing can be done to change that.  

I'm kinda hungry now, I guess this is the burden Shankar has to endure while writing his blog posts :P