That quote is from the book‚ “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison. The story takes place at the end of the great depression. Claudia and Frieda MacTeer are two young girls that live with their very poor parents in Lorain‚ Ohio. The family takes in a border named Henry Washington and a young girl named Pecola. Pecola comes from a harsh family and is in love with Shirley Temple. She believes that being white is beautiful and that because she’s dark that she is ugly. When Pecola moves back with her family
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The Bluest Eye is a complex novel written by Toni Morrison‚ an African American literary theorist. Morrison evokes a society still plagued by the premise of slavery and the exposes this mode of white inferiority through The Bluest Eye. “Wicked people love wickedly‚ violent people love violently‚ weak people love weakly‚ stupid people love stupidly‚ but the love of a free man is never safe”‚ Morrison endows these last couple of sentences with a lyrical quality that makes the readers truly understand
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Race and racism are complicated issues in The Bluest Eye. Unlike typical portrayals of racism‚ involving white hatred against blacks‚ The Bluest Eye primarily explores the issue of racism occurring between people of color. Race is not only defined by the color of one’s skin‚ the shape of one’s features‚ or the texture of one’s hair‚ but also by one’s place of origin‚ socioeconomic class‚ and educational background. "Whiteness" is associated with virtue‚ cleanliness‚ and value‚ while being black is
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It would not be an exaggeration to call this poem opaque‚ though it may seem plain enough. And it would not be an exaggeration either to call this poem plain‚ though it may seem opaque enough. The poem’s structure is plain‚ an enumeration‚ far from mechanical‚ of the life aspects of one night‚ an idealized night‚ an archetypal one‚ that allows for a great multiplicity of life acts associated with it. The precondition‚ the one precondition for such a night to take place is that this must happen "whilst
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Nia‚ Maria‚ Helen and Nelly Winter Keepsake Pg.62-63 Maureen Peal is the new girl in town. Frieda and I were bemused‚ irritated and fascinated by her. We looked hard for flaws to restore our equilibrium‚ but had to be content at first by uglying up her name‚… Pg 65. Bay Boy. Woodrow Cain‚ Buddy Wilson and Junie Bug- black boys who teased Pecola. “Black e mo Black e mo ya daddy sleeps necked..” What the boys kept saying to Pecola. Pg. 73 Maureen trying to make herself seem superior
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create affects who we grow into later in life. In The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison presented a Character named Pecola. Pecola was raised by neglectful parents. They paid little to no attention to her nor did they show her any love/affection. They fought all the time in front of Pecola and never stopped to think of how such violence affected her. Pecola fought with self-hatred. She didn’t like who she was. She became a victim of the white standard of beauty. This caused her to have very low self-esteem. How
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Toni Morrison’s‚ The Bluest Eye was surrounded by controversy as Ohio’s board of education considered banning the book in high school curricula. On one hand‚ certain parents and school leaders found the book to be too graphic for students in its depiction of sexual violence. Conversely‚ those opposed to the ban as discussed by MSNBC’s Melissa Herris Perry‚ argued that teaching this book allowed for a safe space to address the grave implications of racism and sexual violence‚ ultimately illuminating
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Toni Morrison‚ one of the most important and talented African Americans contemporary writer‚ she wrote a book call “The Bluest Eye” to express her feeling about the social treatment of the American Americans. The Bluest Eye is telling a story about a little girl‚ Pecola‚ who dreams every day to become beautiful. Her family and the surroundings‚ however‚ do not believe in her or makes fun of her. It seems like the whole society wont give her a chance to become beautiful. One of the most touching
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In The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison‚ the main protagonist‚ Pecola Breedlove‚ is outcasted by the Black community of Lorain‚ Ohio and Morrison shows this through collective voice. Pecola is a young African American girl with very dark skin who thinks that if she could have blue eyes‚ she would be the White communities standards of pretty and treated like the other girls surrounding her. The Black community looks down on her and rejects her. One scene in The Bluest Eye when this is evident
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Cynthia Ms. Stern AP Language Bluest Eye Passage 28 November 2012 Bluest Eye The passage is an excerpt from The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. The overall purpose of this excerpt is to showcase both Claudia’s and Freida’s innocence as they struggle to comprehend—and fix—the tragedy of the situation Pecola was in. Our astonishment was short-lived‚ for it gave way to a curious kind of defensive shame; we were embarrassed for Pecola‚ hurt for her‚ and finally we just felt sorry for her. Our
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