Tuesday, December 17, 2019

The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison Essay - 1314 Words

The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, encompasses the themes of youth, gender, and race. The African American Civil Rights Movement had recently ended at the time the novel was written. In the book, Morrison utilizes a first-person story to convey her views on racial inequality. The protagonist and her friends find themselves in moments where they are filled with embarrassment and have a wish to flee such events. Since they are female African Americans, they are humiliated in society. One of Morrison’s essential arguments is on the theme of inequity. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison implies that American culture induces the discrimination that occurs amongst the minority groups in the United States. Before the publication of The Bluest Eye, there were many other works that explored the concept of discrimination in our society. Anais Nin, Adrienne Rich, and Virginia Woolf serve as some of the key philosophers of this time. By examining and correlating Morrison’s novel to other pi eces of literature, a poetic insight is found in the contents of the book. These poems provide the reader with a different perspective on the themes presented. Morrison utilizes this feature in her own writing, weaving her ideas with excerpts from the children’s primer Dick and Jane. Morrison does not base her content from the excerpts, but utilizes them to strengthen her beliefs. Claudia, an African American girl, faces incompetence due to her race, gender, and age. She feels powerless, wishing an escapeShow MoreRelatedThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1720 Words   |  7 Pagesof The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison, criticizes the danger of race discrimination for any kinds of situations with no exception. The purpose of the paper is explain how pervasive and destructive social racism was bound to happen in American society. The intended audiences are not only black people, but also other races had suffered racism until now. I could find out and concentrate on the most notable sym bols which are whiteness, blue eyes and the characterization while reading the novel. Toni MorrisonRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1587 Words   |  7 Pagessaid, â€Å"We were born to die and we die to live.† Toni Morrison correlates to Nelson’s quote in her Nobel Lecture of 1993, â€Å"We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.† In Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye, she uses language to examine the concepts of racism, lack of self-identity, gender roles, and socioeconomic hardships as they factor into a misinterpretation of the American Dream. Morrison illustrates problems that these issues provoke throughRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison956 Words   |  4 PagesHistory of Slavery Influenced the Characters of The Bluest Eye Unlike so many pieces of American literature that involve and examine the history of slavery and the years of intensely-entrenched racism that ensued, the overall plot of the novel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, does not necessarily involve slavery directly, but rather examines the aftermath by delving into African-American self-hatred. Nearly all of the main characters in The Bluest Eye who are African American are dominated by the endlessRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1189 Words   |  5 PagesA standard of beauty is established by the society in which a person lives and then supported by its members in the community. In the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, we are given an extensive understanding of how whiteness is the standard of beauty through messages throughout the novel that whiteness is superior. Morrison emphasizes how this ideality distorts the minds and lives of African-American women and children. He emphasizes that in order for African-American wom en to survive in aRead MoreThe Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison1095 Words   |  5 PagesSocial class is a major theme in the book The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison is saying that there are dysfunctional families in every social class, though people only think of it in the lower class. Toni Morrison was also stating that people also use social class to separate themselves from others and apart from race; social class is one thing Pauline and Geraldine admire.Claudia, Pecola, and Frieda are affected by not only their own social status, but others social status too - for exampleRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison2069 Words   |  9 Pagesblack/whiteness. Specifically, white people were positioned at the upper part of the hierarchy, whereas, African Americans were inferior. Consequently, white people were able to control and dictate to the standards of beauty. In her novel, ‘The Bluest Eye’, Toni Morrison draws upon symbolism, narrative voice, setting and id eals of the time to expose the effects these standards had on the different characters. With the juxtaposition of Claudia MacTeer and Pecola Breedlove, who naively conforms to the barrierRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1103 Words   |  5 Pages Toni Morrison is known for her prized works exploring themes and issues that are rampant in African American communities. Viewing Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye from a psychoanalytical lens sheds light onto how, as members of a marginalized group, character’s low self-esteem reflect into their actions, desires, and defense mechanisms. In her analysis of psychoanalytical criticism, Lois Tyson focuses on psychological defense mechanisms such as selective perception, selective memory, denialRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1462 Words   |  6 PagesBildungsroman literature in the 20th century embodies the virtues of different authors’ contexts and cultures, influencing the fictional stories of children’s lives around the world.. The Bluest Eye is a 1970 publication by Toni Morrison set in 1940s Ohio in America, focal around the consequence of racism in an American community on the growth of a child, distinct in its use of a range of narrative perspectives. Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid is a novel set in post colonial Antigua, published in 1985Read MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison992 Words   |  4 PagesSet in the 1940s, during the Great Depression, the novel The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, illustrates in the inner struggles of African-American criticism. The Breedloves, the family the sto ry revolves around a poor, black and ugly family. They live in a two-room store front, which is open, showing that they have nothing. In the family there is a girl named Pecola Breedlove, she is a black and thinks that she is ugly because she is not white. Pecola’s father, Cholly Breedlove, goes through humiliatedRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1044 Words   |  5 PagesIn the novel The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison confirms the existence of racism within the African American community. Unbelievably, many African Americans suffer from what is termed internalized racism. Internalized racism produces the same effect as racial racism: feelings of worthlessness, inferiority, and unattractiveness. In addition, the effect can produce the opposite feelings: superiority, hatred, and feelings of self-worth. Pecola, an 11-year-old black girl, desires to have the physical characteristics

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