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Discuss about the racial perspective of The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison
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Essays on the bluest eye by toni morrison
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Does our social class define our position in the world? This is the question raised by the short stories Sonny’s Blues and Recitatif. James Baldwin’s Sonny and Toni Morrison’s Twyla both struggle to find their proper place in society – Sonny by moving away from the Harlem projects where he grew up; Twyla by leaving the orphanage where her mother abandons her. However, both characters encounter unexpected difficulties along the way: Sony grapples with heroin addiction and the disapproval of his own family; Twyla combats the anger of her oldest friend and the institutionalized racism of 1960s America.
“Toni Morrison has written several novels known for their epic themes and vivid dialogue.” Some of the novels include “The Bluest Eye” and “Song of Solomon”. In both novels, Morrison references the ongoing issue of racism. Morrison uses the settings and the goal that each main character strives to achieve as similarities.
James Baldwin’s short story Sonny’s Blues reveals the dangers of institutional racism. Institutional racism appears to be woven into the fabric of society, expressed in the practice of social and political institutions. Limiting opportunities to the youth catalyzes their loss of hope and leads them to a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure, where the student comes to accept the fact that they will result to no more wealth and success than their parents acquired. Through poverty-stricken imagery of Harlem and the light and dark dichotomy, Baldwin suggests how introducing institutional racism at a young age restrains pupils from reaching their maximum potential in life, causing them to seek redemption thereafter.
The Bluest Eye, both authors explore the idea of societal constructs and how they aid in creating one's identity by revealing how racist beliefs can either positively or negatively affect it. In the autobiography The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass there is a consistent showing of how racism exploits slaves' identity and image of themselves, making their
Rhetorical Analysis Essay The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison takes place in Ohio in the 1940s. The novel is written from the perspective of African Americans and how they view themselves. Focusing on identity, Morrison uses rhetorical devices such as imagery, dictation, and symbolism to help stress her point of view on identity. In the novel the author argues that society influences an individual 's perception on beauty, which she supports through characters like Pecola and Mrs. Breedlove.
The first piece in my portfolio is a piece of Pecola with blue eyes. One of the overarching ideas presented throughout The Bluest Eye is that white features, specifically blue eyes, is the epitome of physical beauty. Throughout the book, there is vivid visual imagery of blue eyes such as those of “lovely Mary Jane” (Morrison 50). The use of the word lovely further correlates her physical appearance and blue eyes with beauty. This causes Pecola to crave blue eyes so desperately that “every night, without fail, she prayed” in order to gain what she and everyone else unanimously view as beauty (46).
Literature is said to be timeless, however if a novel would have been written in a different place than its original, does this mean that the entire novel would be different? This can be considered in The Bluest Eye as it is set in The United States in the year of 1941. A year full of major events that put a mark on the U.S. history. However, if the novel were to be written in a different place then would it look differently than its original or would the themes, motifs and symbols of the novel remain unaltered? Were The Bluest Eye to be written and set in pre-World War II Europe, Morrison’s setting, symbolism and climactic moments would all be adapted to this different context.
This can also connect to the present time where African Americans experience systemic racism which can prevent them from achieving high levels of capital. During class, my peers were able to connect this to the other end of the spectrum which was White Americans who are able to experience an easier life. This is because most White Americans are born with a ‘silver spoon in their mouth’ meaning they have many advantages over Black people such as being born into a higher socioeconomic status. Although this may not be true for all White Americans, just being White alone gives you the advantage of White privilege which is another example of an inequality African Americans experience today. Moreover, when something is clear you are able to see what is coming from the other side.
In The Bluest Eye, Morrison offers multiple perspectives to help explain the intensity of racism and what it means to be oppressed and degraded in society. Through the eyes of various characters, readers are taken on a journey during the 1940s to demonstrate how each black character copes with the unfair standards and beliefs that society has. While some of the characters internalize self-hatred and have the desire to be someone else, others do not wish to change themselves to fit into the societal standards. Throughout the novel, there are clear and distinct remarks that are made to help distinguish the difference between white characters and black characters which is quite crucial. Morrison uses dirt and cleanliness to symbolize how society
She is proud to be an African American and tries to incorporate it as much as possible. Another major influence for her book was a real life interaction with a young girl who dreamed for blue eyes. Morrison’s reaction to the girl was anger and confusion on what leads a young girl to desire a transformation in her looks. These thoughts stayed with her and eventually led to the writing of The Bluest Eye during the Black is Beautiful movement working to reclaim African-American beauty. Pieces of Morrison’s life can be seen throughout the story.
What is the most pressing issue facing society today? In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison argues that it is beauty standards, even calling physical beauty “the most destructive idea[] in the history of human thought” (122). While this may seem outrageous in a world of terrorism, global warming, homelessness, and hunger, beauty standards and the feelings of inferiority that stem from them affect everybody. In severe cases, these feelings can even manifest themselves deeply inside of a person and lead to eating disorders, depression, anxiety, self-hatred, and even suicide. In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison uses the insecurities of the female characters to demonstrate that beauty standards are a danger to society, as they perpetuate racism and self-hatred.
Toni Morrison´s The Bluest Eye (1970) conveys the Marxist idealism that social and economic realities are the factors that determine the culture and consciousness of a particular group. The struggle within the context of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the rejection of African American people is displayed in Morrison´s work, showing the author´s consciousness. Thus, in this paper I will try to show the author´s belief that human self-realisation is determined and delimited by the dominant class at every level. For this purpose I will focus on the relation between wealth and social class, on how the dominant class, in this case the white one, imposes its values over the black community, reducing its personality and leading its members to lose their identity. I will also try to show how the victims of the capitalist system see themselves trapped in an order from which it is very difficult to escape, and find themselves forced to give up and accept their current condition.
Toni Morrison, the first black women Nobel Prize winner, in her first novel, The Bluest Eye depicts the tragic condition of the blacks in racist America. It examines how the ideologies perpetuated by the dominant groups and adopted by the marginal groups influence the identity of the black women. Through the depictions of white beauty icons, Morrison’s black characters lose themselves to self-hatred. They try to obliterate their heritage, and eventually like Pecola Breedlove, the child protagonist, who yearns for blue eyes, has no recourse except madness. This assignment focusses on double consciousness and its devastating effects on Pecola.
Root, Identity and Community have always been the underlying theme of Toni Morrison. Through the accounts of her novels, Toni Morrison shows several ways in which slavery, which was the most oppressive period in the black history, has affected the identity of African American. In Bluest Eye, Morrison shows that a black woman who searches for her true identity feels frustrated by her blackness and yearns to be white because of the constant fear of being rejected in her surroundings. Thus Morrison tries to locate post colonial black identity in the socio-political ground where cultures are hybridized, powers are negotiated and individuals are reproduced as resistant agents. She not only writes about claiming the superiority by the white but also
Morrison is among the pioneer of those contemporary black writers who have redefined African- American writings in more ways than one. This assignment will focus on the aspects of gender bias and double consciousness in The Bluest Eye. The Bluest Eye works at different layers of the lives of black people. At one level it accounts for the racial discrimination faced by Afro-Americans throughout their life time.
