Cultural Feminism In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison’s first novel The Bluest Eye (1970) makes a scathing attack on the imposition of white/Anglo-Saxon standards of beauty on black women and creation of cultural perversion. It presents a critique of the dominant aesthetic that is internalized by majority of the black community, and attempts to deconstruct the meta-ethnicity, which exercises a hegemonic control over the lives of blacks in America. The political connotations of ethnicity are derived from the desire of minority ethnic groups in a multi-ethnic society to resist oppression by the dominant culture. The celebration of a separate identity constitutes its cultural corollary. Thus The Bluest Eye becomes a powerful expression of Toni Morrison’s ethnic cultural feminism which …show more content…
The main idea in the novel is the domination of blacks by the existing American standards of beauty – blue eyes, blonde hair and white skin. It deals honestly and sensitively with the damaging influence of white standards and values on the lives of black people. It demonstrates how the systems of oppression are spawned and sustained by the white supremacist and exploitative culture. The analysis of the novel brings out the implications of the imposition of white dominant culture on black sensibility. It portrays in poignant terms the tragic conditions of blacks in racist America. It examines how the ideologies, perpetuated by the institutions controlled by the dominant group, influence the making of the self -image of black woman, thereby exposing the devastation caused by white cultural domination in the lives of Africans. The text informs us that eleven-year old Pecola is pubescent, half-child and half-woman. In the defining moment of sexual and psychic awakening, she is raped and impregnated by her father. Ironically he is the only person who regards her as
Symbolism In Lorna Roth's A Christmas Carol
1430 Words | 6 PagesIn the March Vogue issue, model Karlie Kloss was the latest culprit to appropriate culture. Kloss, a white typical all-American girl, was seen as a geisha or a typical female Japanese entertainer in a editorial to ironically boost Japanese diversity. The movie “Ghost in the Shell”, which originated in Japan as an amine and featured an Asian cast was appropriation when it turning into a movie with white actress Scarlett Johansson as the leading role. Even Netflix’s “Death Note” used white actors for the film of the Japanese adaptation. Toni Morrison wrote The Bluest Eye in 1940 but it is still relevant today.
Summary Of Black Culture In Beloved By Toni Morrison
1837 Words | 8 PagesAfrican-American author Toni Morrison 's book, Beloved, describes a black culture born out of a dehumanising period of slavery just after the Civil War. Culture is a means of how a group collectively believe, act, and interact on a daily basis. Those who have studied her work refer to Morrison 's narrative tales as “literature…that addresses the sacred and as an allegorical representation of black experience” (Baker-Fletcher 1993: 2). Although African Americans had a difficult time establishing their own culture during the period of slavery when they were considered less than human, Morrison believes that black culture has been built on the horrors of the past and it is this history that has shaped contemporary black culture in a positive way. Through the use of linguistic devices, her representation of black women, imagery and symbolic features, and the theme of interracial relations, Morrison illustrates that black culture that is resilient, vibrant, independent, and determined.
The Gathering Of Old Men Analysis
1343 Words | 6 PagesIn The Gathering of Old Men, by Ernest J. Gaines, and The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, the authors follow the story of different black communities and how they are affected by oppression. In The Gathering of Old Men a white man, Beau, is found dead in a black man’s yard, Mathu. Mathu’s ‘daughter’ brings together all of the black men in the surrounding neighborhoods to say that they were the ones who shot Beau. In The Bluest Eye a black child, Pecola, is oppressed in many ways throughout the story and near the end is raped by her father. The most substantial part of the story however, is afterwards and how she eventually becomes insane from the onslaught of oppression she faced.
The Bluest Eye Beauty Standards Essay
975 Words | 4 PagesThey constantly encounter the problem of not living up to society’s beauty standards, which results in feelings of self-hatred based on race. These feelings perpetuate racism, as society, and even black people, tend to favor white beauty since it is held up as superior. The problems that Pecola, Pauline, and Claudia face in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye are not just figments of the past. Today, millions of women across the country feel some sort of self-loathing stemming from dissatisfaction over how they look. It is important that society tries to free itself from these nonsensical standards and celebrate the unique beauty of each individual
Rhetorical Devices In The Bluest Eye
1648 Words | 7 PagesRhetorical Analysis Essay The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison takes place in Ohio in the 1940s. The novel is written from the perspective of African Americans and how they view themselves. Focusing on identity, Morrison uses rhetorical devices such as imagery, dictation, and symbolism to help stress her point of view on identity. In the novel the author argues that society influences an individual 's perception on beauty, which she supports through characters like Pecola and Mrs. Breedlove.
Symbolism In The Bluest Eye
1647 Words | 7 PagesIn The Bluest Eye, Morrison offers multiple perspectives to help explain the intensity of racism and what it means to be oppressed and degraded in society. Through the eyes of various characters, readers are taken on a journey during the 1940s to demonstrate how each black character copes with the unfair standards and beliefs that society has. While some of the characters internalize self-hatred and have the desire to be someone else, others do not wish to change themselves to fit into the societal standards. Throughout the novel, there are clear and distinct remarks that are made to help distinguish the difference between white characters and black characters which is quite crucial. Morrison uses dirt and cleanliness to symbolize how society
The Color Purple And The Bluest Eye Essay
450 Words | 2 PagesThe Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and The Color Purple by Alice Walker are two modern works of literature that initially unsettled and deeply shocked people around the globe. Both novels give us an insightful view on the inhumane treatment that African-Americans had to endure during the ‘60s and ‘70s in a white, male-dominated America. Pecola Breedlove is an eleven year old girl who is socially victimized and is absorbed with the idea that the only way to be “beautiful” is by having blue eyes and blonde hair like Shirley Temple. She is almost painfully optimistic in a very antagonistic white society who continually reminds her of her “blackness” or “ugliness”. When we are first introduced to Pecola, she is homeless.
Feminism In The Novel 'Sula' By Toni Morrison
2006 Words | 9 PagesAccording to an Arizona Law Journal from 1994, “Feminism is the set of beliefs and ideas that belong to the broad social and political movement to achieve greater equality for women” (Fiss, 512). This quote is salient because feminism is a “broad social and political movement” meaning that striving for gender equality can be achieved in a plethora of ways. In the novel Sula, author Toni Morrison utilizes characters like Hannah and Sula Peace to create a feminist novel as both characters are the antithesis of conventional women who are oppressed and dependent upon men. This novel takes place in a town in Chicago referred to as The Bottom from 1919-1965 during a time of racism and sexism when women were seen as property.
Social And Social Class In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye
1356 Words | 6 PagesBut it is not only the race and the colour of their skin what makes them unable to change their situation, but also poverty. Race and wealth are intertwined, and Pecola is the fundamental victim of this relationship, for she is a young black girl suffering from this ideology that determines her life. The dominant class imposes its values upon the other, for they think they are the best ones, reducing thus the personality of the people belonging to other classes, and at the same time, making them unable to change their oppressed situation, for they do not have the chance. They just accept their current position, and thus they will always be
Identity In The Bluest Eye
835 Words | 4 PagesMorrison 's first novel, The Bluest Eye, examines the tragic effects of imposing white, middle-class American ideals of beauty on the developing female identity of a young African American girl during the early 1940s. Inspired by a conversation Morrison once had with an elementary school classmate who wished for blue eyes, the novel poignantly shows the psychological devastation of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who searches for love and acceptance in a world that denies and devalues people of her own race. As her mental state slowly unravels, Pecola hopelessly longs to possess the conventional American standards of feminine beauty—namely, white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes—as presented to her by the popular icons and traditions of white culture. Written as a fragmented narrative from multiple perspectives and with significant typographical deviations, The Bluest Eye juxtaposes passages from the Dick-and-Jane grammar school primer with memories and stories of Pecola 's life alternately told in retrospect by one of Pecola 's now-grown childhood friends and by an omniscient narrator. Published in the midst of the Black Arts movement that flourished during the late 1960s and early 1970s, The Bluest Eye has attracted
Theme Of Racism In Toni Morrison's Sula
1194 Words | 5 PagesIn Toni Morrison’s novel, Sula, Morrison utilizes the racist incidents within the Bottom to illustrate the submissive, degrading, and foolish influence of racist America on African Americans, while still successfully capturing the dignity and sense of community of the African Americans, ultimately demonstrating the stupidity of racism. Morrison first depicts African Americans as wanting to conform and assimilate into the white American culture through Helene’s Wright behavior towards her daughter, Nel Wright. By disliking Nel’s physical appearance, Helene represents the discrimination many African Americans have against their heritage and roots; therefore, she submits to the racism. The stupidity also becomes apparent because of Morrison’s
The Nature Of Racialised Beauty In The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison
800 Words | 4 PagesThe novel shows black people who are aware of the danger of conforming to Western standards of beauty. In the beginning of the novel, Claudia describes herself as indifferent; She realizes that she does not really hate Maureen but instead hated “the thing that made her beautiful” (Morrison, page 58). Claudia always asked herself “What was the secret? ... Why was it important? And so what?”
The Role Of Feminism In Toni Morrison's Beloved
2515 Words | 11 PagesShe was influenced by the ideologies of women’s liberation movements and she speaks as a Black woman in a world that still undervalues the voice of the Black woman. Her novels especially lend themselves to feminist readings because of the ways in which they challenge the cultural norms of gender, slavery, race, and class. In addition to that, Morrison novels discuss the experiences of the oppressed black minorities in isolated communities. The dominant white culture disables the development of healthy African-American women self image and also she pictures the harsh conditions of black women, without separating them from the oppressed situation of the whole minority. In fact, slavery is an ancient and heinous institution which had adverse effects on the sufferers at both the physical as well as psychological levels.
The Effects Of Motherhood In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye
3280 Words | 14 PagesAfro-American women writers present how racism permeates the innermost recesses of the mind and heart of the blacks and affects even the most intimate human relationships. While depicting the corrosive impact of racism from social as well as psychological perspectives, they highlight the human cost black people have to pay in terms of their personal relationships, particularly the one between mother and daughter. Women novelists’ treatment of motherhood brings out black mothers’ pressures and challenges for survival and also reveals their different strategies and mechanisms to deal with these challenges. Along with this, the challenges black mothers have to face in dealing with their adolescent daughters, who suffer due to racism and are heavily influenced by the dominant value system, are also underlined by these writers. They portray how a black mother teaches her daughter to negotiate the hostile, wider world, and prepares her to face the problems and challenges boldly and confidently.
Theme Of Double Consciousness In The Bluest Eye
1542 Words | 7 PagesToni Morrison, the first black women Nobel Prize winner, in her first novel, The Bluest Eye depicts the tragic condition of the blacks in racist America. It examines how the ideologies perpetuated by the dominant groups and adopted by the marginal groups influence the identity of the black women. Through the depictions of white beauty icons, Morrison’s black characters lose themselves to self-hatred. They try to obliterate their heritage, and eventually like Pecola Breedlove, the child protagonist, who yearns for blue eyes, has no recourse except madness. This assignment focusses on double consciousness and its devastating effects on Pecola.
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