A2 Literature - The Imitation of Life

In The Bluest Eye, Maureen is interested in Pecola's name and asks whether she has been named after the girl in film The Imitation of Life (1934). Actually, the character she is thinking of in the film is called Peola - but the reference is important because there are some key links between the film's narrative and The Bluest Eye. Most significantly, Peola is a mixed race girl who pretends that she is white, rejecting her black mother in the process. Here is a clip from the film: