Ignored as a person. Denied as a species. ‘The total absence of human recognition” (Morrison, 36). For decades, African-Americans have not only been looked down upon by white people, they have been dehumanized. Toni Morrison is controversial for pillorying this topic, that has been silenced by white society for years, not from the ‘Master Narrative’ perspective, that is the white male one’s, but from the exact opposite of this: an African-American girl. By doing this, she does not only awake pity for Pecola at the reader but also show how anti-black racism is constructed by social forces, interracially as well as intra-racially. Morrison represents African-Americans as people who suffer from the vacuum that white people create between them, the internalization of the white beauty ideal as well as the distancing behaviour towards their own people by African-Americans. African-Americans feel inferior to white people, as a result of white people trying to distance themselves as far as possible from African-Americans. White people want to have clear boundaries between me and not-me, the Other, in order to retain their identity (Kolehmainen). In The Bluest Eye, African-Americans function as the Other for white people, thereby representing everything that they do not want to be. However, without the Other, there is no self. So people that consider themselves to be better than African-Americans can only feel so by contrasting themselves to them. For example, light-coloured Maureen Peal screams to Frieda, Claudia and Pecola “I am cute! And you ugly! Black and ugly black e mos! I am cute!” (Morrison, 56-57), which proves she needs to juxtapose black with cute in order to feel cute herself. Therefore, the vacuum of white people looking upon... ... middle of paper ... ...ize the white beauty ideal, but also the act of distancing themselves from their own people. Therefore, “the discriminatory practices are set forth by people that are themselves the victims or the progeny of victims of racial discrimination” (Kolehmainen). What Morrison wants to convey, however, is that one must realize that beauty is not one virtue, “it is something one can do” (Morrison, Foreword). Works Cited Kolehmainen, Tuula. "And My Sign Didn’t Make Sense Without Hers: Challenging Stereotypes in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, “Recitatif”, and Tar Baby ." . University of Helsinki, 11 01 2011. Web. 20 Feb 2014. Barlaz, Hinda A.. "A Reading Guide to Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye." . The Learning Center. Web. 20 Feb 2014. . Morrison, Toni . The Bluest Eye. 164. London: Vintage, 1970. print.
Mat Johnsons novel, Pym challenges readers not only to view his work with a new set of eyes but also the work of all American literature with the understanding that the idea of Whiteness still has a very strong power over literature today. It is unfortunate that in today’s society, the pathology of Whiteness still holds a very strong presence in literary world. Literature from American authors versus literature from African American authors still continues to be segregated and handled with two different sets of criteria. Johnson’s novel engages in different aspects of the argument presented in Toni Morrison’s work entitled Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. One of the main ideals that Pym engages in is the thought that “…a figuration of impenetrable whiteness … surfaces in American literature whenever Africanist presence is engaged” (29). Through the character Chris Jaynes, Johnson’s novel focuses much attention on the Whiteness seen in the literary world and how it still affects literature today. Mat Johnson’s Pym addresses Morrison’s argument by challenging the reader to identify the pathology of whiteness as well as encourages readers not to only identify the problem but try to find new ways to combat it.
When a good salesman pushes an item, the first step is to have the audience succumb to his way of thinking. Morrison's product here is a philosophy, an idea that is the theme of her book. That idea is that physical beauty is "probably the most destructive idea in the history of human thought." She pushes this idea right through the reader's brain. It is the ruin of the black girls. If only they were pretty. If only they had pretty blue eyes.
Toni Morrison and bell hooks believe that mainstream society condemns black life as meaningless and unimportant. In Toni Morrison's "On The Back of Blacks", she describes the oppression the black community experiences from today's white society. She labels it ...
The difference of color is seen through the eyes, but the formulation of racial judgement and discrimination is developed in the subconscious mind. Toni Morrison’s short story “Recitatif (1983)” explores the racial difference and challenges that both Twyla and Roberta experience. Morrison’s novels such as “Beloved”, “The Bluest Eye”, and her short story “Recitatif” are all centered around the issues and hardships of racism. The first time that Twyla and Roberta met Twyla makes a racial remake or stereotype about the texture and smell of Roberta’s hair. Although they both were in the orphanage because of similar situations, Twyla instantly finds a racial difference. The racial differences between Twyla and Roberta affects their friendship, personal views of each other, and relationship with their husbands.
Toni Morrison's novel "The Bluest Eye", is a very important novel in literature, because of the many boundaries that were crosses and the painful, serious topics that were brought into light, including racism, gender issues, Black female Subjectivity, and child abuse of many forms. This set of annotated bibliographies are scholarly works of literature that centre around the hot topic of racism in the novel, "The Bluest Eye", and the low self-esteem faced by young African American women, due to white culture. My research was guided by these ideas of racism and loss of self, suffered in the novel, by the main character Pecola Breedlove. This text generates many racial and social-cultural problems, dealing with the lost identity of a young African American women, due to her obsession with the white way of life, and her wish to have blue eyes, leading to her complete transgression into insanity.
Throughout the United States’ history, race and racism has been a prominent part of society and unfortunately may never go away. It is important to address these issues and make them heard and to educate people. In short fiction stories, it is a common theme, especially those authored by African American writers who have had experience in society. In one particular piece of short fiction, “Recitatif”, the author Toni Morrison explores the effect, usually the theme of her stories, of race and racism using the youth during the 1960s and all the way up to the 1980s, mainly by confronting the common act of making assumptions about characters using character traits and historical events. In “Recitatif” the readers are intended to make an assumption
Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks” (71). All these objects listed by McIntosh are things I have access to and certainly take for granted. Due to a history of non-white racial oppression, which transformed into decades of racial discrimination that still lingers today, the white race has dominated our society in terms of resources and prosperity. The ideas of wealth, higher-level education and ambition to succeed are all traits commonly linked to people of the white race that collectively define privilege. The aspect of privilege can also produce disadvantages for people of the white race as well. In the book Promoting Diversity and Justice, the author D. Goodman notes that people of advantage groups develop a sense of superiority, which will sometimes lead them to wonder if, “their achievements were based on privilege or merit” (107). Along with a diminished sense of accomplishment, the cost ...
Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye provides social commentary on a lesser known portion of black society in America. The protagonist Pecola is a young black girl who desperately wants to feel beautiful and gain the “bluest eyes” as the title references. The book seeks to define beauty and love in this twisted perverse society, dragging the reader through Morrison’s emotional manipulations. Her father Cholly Breedlove steals the reader’s emotional attention from Pecola as he enters the story. In fact, Toni Morrison’s depiction of Cholly wrongfully evokes sympathy from the reader.
beauty in her culture, Pecola must do the impossible: find white beauty. Toni Morrison shows
Mobley, Marilyn Sanders. “ Toni Morrison.” The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Eds. William L. Andrews, Frances Smith, and Trudier Harris. New York: Oxford UP, 1997.508-510.
In the short story “Recitatif”, Toni Morrison introduces her readers to the societal evolution of the United States through the experiences of two characters, Twyla and Roberta. The relationship between both characters changes through five encounters, each encounter corresponding to a different time period. As Twyla and Roberta are from different races, these time periods are significant as they relate to the Civil Rights Movement in America. The juxtaposition of Twyla and Roberta, the comparison of Mary and Maggie, and the intertextuality between “Recitatif” and “The Wizard of Oz”, all contribute to the author’s stance against racism. Toni Morrison wants people to disregard their racial barriers and acknowledge each other as human beings, as all humans go through the same struggles and pain in life.
Morrison did not offer answers to this issue of abuse to one’s mind, but rather she wanted to make people think about how they perceive these two forms of mistreatment. Morrison wanted to raise awareness on why psychological harm should be viewed as just as damaging as some of the other disparaging treatments for children. Works Cited Alexander, Allen. The. “The Image of God in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.”
It should be understood that Morrison's novel is filled with many characters and many examples of racism and sexism and the foundations for such beliefs in the black community. Every character is the victim or an aggressor of racism of sexism in all its forms. Morrison succeeds in shedding light on the racism and sexism the black community had to endure on top of racism and sexism outside of the community. She shows that racism and sexism affect everyone's preconceived notions regarding race and gender and how powerful and prevalent the notions are. Within the community, racism affects how people's views of beauty and skin can be skewed by other's racist thoughts; sexism shapes everyone in the community's reactions to different forms of rape.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”: A Marxist reading of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye
Fulton, Lara Mary, "An unblinking gaze: Readerly response-ability and racial reconstructions in Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Beloved'" (1997). Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). Paper 4.