ts, the role of the church in African-American life. "I, I have caused a miracle. I gave her the eyes. I gave her the blue, blue, two blue eyes," Soaphead says. The implication is that the church's promise that if you worship God and pray to Him that everything will be alright is no better than Soaphead's promise to Pecola that she will have blue eyes. Morrison reveals the significance of Pecola's name through the character of Maureen Peal. Maureen confuses Pecola's name with the name of a character in the movie Imitation of Life. By this allusion, Morrison illustrates that Pecola's life is an imitation of the real experiences of black women. Morrison also uses metaphors to describe the conditions under which African-Americans in general and Pecola in particular are forced to live. There are two major metaphors in The Bluest Eye, one of marigolds and one of dandelions. Claudia, looking back as an adult, says in the beginning of the novel, "there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941". She and her sister plant marigold seeds with the belief that if the marigolds would grow and survive, so would Pecola's baby. Morrison unpacks the metaphor throughout the book, and, through Claudia, finally explains it and broadens its scope to all African-Americans on the last page. "I even think now that the land of the entire country was hostile to marigolds that year. Certain seeds it will not nurture, certain fruits it will not bear . . ." The implication is that Pecola, like so many other African-Americans, never had a chance to grow and succeed because she lived in a society ("soil") that was inherently racist, and would not nurture her. The other flower, the dandelion, is important as a metaphor because it represents Pecola's image of herself. Pecola passes some dandelions going into Mr. Yacobowski's store. "Why, she wonders, do people call them weeds? She thought they were pretty". After Mr. Yacobowski humiliates her, she again passes the dandelio...
