including Shirley Temple in the novel is to paint a picture of the ideal girl; a figure of conformity. She represented everything that Pecola thought she should be: blue eyes‚ blonde hair- a simply adorable little girl; and everything Maureen Peal felt she was: wealthy‚ light skinned‚ and what people liked to see. The Bluest Eye illuminates true dependence on absolute beauty; the yearn of conforming to an ultimate standard of it. The usage of Shirley Temple exemplifies this desired beauty and in
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It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder‚ but when the image of beauty is one that has been ingrained into the mind since childhood‚ how can that statement possibly be true. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison proves this statement to be contradictory‚ because‚ in her novel‚ beauty is no longer just a person’s opinion but has been made into an unwritten rule‚ a standard set by society for society. The use of the theme black as other makes evident the cause and effect relationship a person’s
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literature. In fact‚ they can tell a history of a people within a novel. According to Terry Eagleton‚ Marxist criticism is concerned with the symbolic meanings of a story as a product of a certain history. (Eagleton‚ 2) In Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye‚ the soil and the marigolds are
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Racism in “The Bluest Eye” Several examples of racism are encompassed in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Characters who are members of the black community are forced to accept their status as the “others”‚ or “outsiders”‚ which has been imposed on them by the white community. In turn‚ blacks assign this status to other individuals within the lighter-skinned black community. In this novel‚ characters begin to internalize the racism presented by these people‚ and feel inferior. The stereotype
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Read the Following passage and in a well written essay discuss how the author Toni Morrison uses stylistic devices to convey the tone of the time period (1941‘s) through Claudia’s eyes. Passage: Pg 10 Stylistic Essay: The Bluest Eye In the passage from The Bluest Eye‚ written by Toni Morrison‚ the author writes about difficult challenges that not only the young girls in the book have to face but everyone of that time has to endure. Taking place in the 1940’s the author uses many stylistic
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The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. 224 pp. New York: Holt‚ Rinehart and Winston. $8.95. The Bluest Eye‚ set during the 1940s after the end of the Great Depression in Lorain‚ Ohio‚ tells the heartbreaking story of eleven year old Pecola Breedlove‚ who perpetually prays for blues so she can be as beautiful and loved as blue-eyed‚ white American children. Pecola believes that she’s destined to live a tragic life due to her perceived ugliness‚ which is constantly reinforced by the way the people in her
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Unlike To Kill a Mockingbird‚ in which an African-American is persecuted by whites simply on the basis of skin color‚ The Bluest Eye presents a more complicated portrayal of racism. The characters do experience direct oppression‚ but more routinely they are subject to an internalized set of values that creates its own cycle of victimization within families and the neighborhood. The black community in the novel has accepted white standards of beauty‚ judging Maureen’s light skin to be attractive and
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Pure Hatred Towards an Inanimate Object In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye‚ the speaker’s disdain for the doll is made evident through the drastic changes in tone throughout the piece‚ and the speaker’s use of sentences with many clauses to draw attention to key points. The tone of the piece‚ revealed through the connotations of abstract diction‚ mirrors the speaker’s thoughts towards the doll. The tone of the piece starts pleasant‚ containing words with positive connotations such as “special” and
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The Bluest Eye Questions 1. The Bluest Eye provides numerous examples that show the idea that white is beautiful and black is ugly. These white beauty standards deform the loves of black women. There are many examples that white is superior like the white baby doll that was given to Claudia‚ the idea of Shirley Temple‚ how the light-skinned Maureen is cuter than the other black girls‚ and Mrs. Breedlove’s preference for the white girl over her own daughter‚ Pecola. The adult women learned to hate
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In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) and Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)‚ both authors show how oppression manifests itself as internalized racism. The influence of the “Black Is Beautiful” cultural movement is present throughout the novel and the album. Throughout the novel‚ each character deals with oppression differently. It is understandable considering each individual has been raised in a different way. However‚ society is one of the main reasons that each one
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