Bluest Eye

In Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”, Morrison gives her audience a taste of what it’s like to live under the influence of racism in the small town of Lorain, Ohio. The novel shows how the Breedlove family was affected by racism, this is important because we see how they view whiteness to be good and beautiful.
The preference in beauty and goodness is measured by the lightness of skin instead of the value of a person. Cholly Breedlove as a child grew up with the idea that African Americans are not capable of representing good but is able to represent evil,
Blue was hovering about on the periphery of the circle–a faint smile of anticipation softening his face. The father of the family lifted the melon high over his head–his big arms looked taller than the trees to Cholly, and the melon blotted out the sun. Tall, head forward, eyes fastened on a rock, his arms higher than the pines, his hands holding a melon bigger than the sun, he paused an instant to get his bearing and secure his aim. Watching the figure etched against the bright blue sky, Cholly felt goose pimples popping along his arms and neck. He wondered if God looked like that. No. God was a nice old white man, with long white hair, flowing white beard, and little blue eyes that looked sad when people died and mean when they were bad. It must be the devil who looks like that–holding the world in his hands, ready to dash it to the ground and spill the red guts so niggers could eat the sweet, warm insides. (104-105)
Cholly portrays his friend, Blue, as the devil immediately after comparing him to God. He viewed Blue as the devil because of his skin, hair, and build. The fact Blue was a good friend to Cholly didn’t influence how he represented him. The words; “nice”, “white”, and “long hair”, paint a good picture of what God looks like. God is seen to represent all good and beautiful things this is way Cholly can’t view Blue as God. The devil represents all evil and bad things and we see that blacks are... [continues]

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