"Bluest Eye"
“No one believed that a black African could write a good book” (Satwase). In the Bluest Eye Toni Morrison uses wrong and discomfort to show the crushing consequences that come from racism. In 1950 America, racial discrimination was implied by different skin colors. The Bluest Eye shows ways in which white beauty standards hurt lives of black females, blacks that discriminate on each other and the community’s bias on who you were. Toni Morrison uses the racism of the 1950 's and shows that "It is the blackness that accounts for, that creates, the vacuum edged with distaste in white eyes". Characters that faced uncomfortable racism include Claudia MacTeer, Pecola Breedlove, and Geraldine.
Many female characters were discriminated by the white is beautiful idea, Claudia states, “the dismembering of the dolls was not the true horror. The truly horrifying thing was the transference of the same impulses to little white girls. The indifference with which I could have axed them was shaken only by my desire to do so. To discover what eluded me: the secret of the magic they weaved on others. What made people look at them and say, "Awwwww," but not for me? The eye slide of black women as they approached them on the street and the possessive gentleness of their touch as they handled them” (Morrison 22). Claudia hates Shirley
Temple, unlike Pecola who idolizes her, and does not understand the fascination black adults have with little white girls. Claudia’s envy isn 't detached or simply emotional; its jealousy that drives her curiosity to know why exactly one set of racial features would be privileged over another she hated that being white is what is considered beauty. Morrison presents the white view of blacks as the other and the blacks ' experience of themselves as other (in the following quote she refers to the other as a pariah, which means an outcast or a despised person or animal): “There are several levels of the pariah figure working in my writing. The black
Many female characters were discriminated by the white is beautiful idea, Claudia states, “the dismembering of the dolls was not the true horror. The truly horrifying thing was the transference of the same impulses to little white girls. The indifference with which I could have axed them was shaken only by my desire to do so. To discover what eluded me: the secret of the magic they weaved on others. What made people look at them and say, "Awwwww," but not for me? The eye slide of black women as they approached them on the street and the possessive gentleness of their touch as they handled them” (Morrison 22). Claudia hates Shirley
Temple, unlike Pecola who idolizes her, and does not understand the fascination black adults have with little white girls. Claudia’s envy isn 't detached or simply emotional; its jealousy that drives her curiosity to know why exactly one set of racial features would be privileged over another she hated that being white is what is considered beauty. Morrison presents the white view of blacks as the other and the blacks ' experience of themselves as other (in the following quote she refers to the other as a pariah, which means an outcast or a despised person or animal): “There are several levels of the pariah figure working in my writing. The black
Cited: 1) Colson, Mary. The story behind Toni Morrison 's The Bluest Eye. Chicago, IL: Heinemann Library, 2006. 2) Morrison, Toni. the Bluest Eye. New York: Plume Book, 1994. 3) Satwase, Vaishali. "African American Literature." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. 30 Nov. 2010 . 2) Colson, Mary. The story behind Toni Morrison 's The Bluest Eye. Chicago, IL: Heinemann Library, 2006. 4) Morrison, Toni. the Bluest Eye. New York: Plume Book, 1994. 5) "Pecola Breedlove in The Bluest Eye." Shmoop. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. . 6) Satwase, Vaishali. "African American Literature." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. 30 Nov. 2010 .