The Nature Of Racialised Beauty In The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison

Introduction: American Literary stage has an array of expression. It is rightly asserted by Bhongle “Almost every literary genre is rich with new notions, and new ideologies. Women’s writings in America, Afro-American Literature, and Literature of the Immigrants Experience, and of the other ethnic groups- and the actively operating small but significant factors within these broad movements - make the contemporary American Literary scenario highly appealing” Representing principally, feminist cultural theory and ideology, this paper explores the relationship among the chief components— race and religion within the fictional narratives of Afro-American women writers; with reference to the first novel of Toni Morrison.

We all have different perceptions of people, just the same as the people who came before us. Every decade in America’s history since at least 1900, there has been a change in what society defines as beautiful. For example, in 1900-1910 the Gibson Girl was what everyone wanted to be. She was created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson (“Body Image…”).

In both The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me a main theme is image. Morrison uses Claudia, an African American child, to show a distinct hatred for the beauty standard. She had such a strong disdain for Shirley Temple and the white doll she was given as a gift. Her detest for these things was because she could never have those things, the beauty was unattainable.

“I was never a beautiful women, and for that reason I’ve spent most of my life suffering from the shame of falling short of an unattainable standard” (87). Mairs starts off by telling us she was never a beautiful woman. By describing herself as this, it acts as an attention getter so the readers can become more interested in the reading. By putting emphasis on the topic of society 's standards for woman allows Mairs to go into greater depth with the topic, allowing readers to gain more knowledge and understanding of what the standards are like for a woman. A sullen tone is maintained throughout this chapter as Mairs describes the society 's standards for women leaving the readers a choice on how they feel about these standards.

Afro-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.

We had already acquired the habit of doubting ourselves as well as the place we came from” (pg 96). Although all four sisters were beautiful individuals, America’s perception of “beauty” caused self doubt in the young girls. They were too busy trying to look like something they were not to enjoy their true

In the novel, The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, Claudia Macteer is depicted as the polar opposite of the novel 's main protagonist, Pecola Breedlove. Whilst Pecola is surrounded by constantly fighting parents and is even victimized by one of her parents, Claudia was able to grow up in a stable household with loving parents that support both of their children, Claudia and Frieda. Claudia also has a very strong demeanor; she often takes action in many of the plots throughout the novel. Pecola, on the other hand, acts very child-like in some events in the novel and is very frail and closed in. In this novel, Morrison inserted a debate in which she never intended to write into the pages for us, as the readers, to figure out: a Nature vs Nurture

However, an individual’s cultural standards have an influence on their perceptions of beauty. For example, an

Toni Morrison´s The Bluest Eye (1970) conveys the Marxist idealism that social and economic realities are the factors that determine the culture and consciousness of a particular group. The struggle within the context of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the rejection of African American people is displayed in Morrison´s work, showing the author´s consciousness. Thus, in this paper I will try to show the author´s belief that human self-realisation is determined and delimited by the dominant class at every level. For this purpose I will focus on the relation between wealth and social class, on how the dominant class, in this case the white one, imposes its values over the black community, reducing its personality and leading its members to lose their identity. I will also try to show how the victims of the capitalist system see themselves trapped in an order from which it is very difficult to escape, and find themselves forced to give up and accept their current condition. In order to do so, I will use quotations extracted from Morrison´s work and other secondary resources, and I will focus on the main characters of the novel that stand as representations of their social dimension.

Rhetorical 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.

I realized that society determines what it means to be beautiful, through social media, Hollywood, and advertisement. In her essay, McIntosh discuesses her personal experiences and with it she invites the reader to partake in her apprehensions and fears of what it means to have privilege. While reading the essay, It has been brought to my attention about how I am being viewed within a different standard because of the way I look. McIntosh illustrates how she was “as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture” (31). Sometimes, I too have even been put on a pedestal, not because my have made an accomplishment, but because I stand out doing so.

To begin with, Morrison presents with the character of Pecola a feeble, low self-esteem person who is under the spell of the stereotype of white beauty. She considers herself ugly because she does not have the physical attributes of this aesthetic ideal. Moreover, she is influenced by the gaze of the other: how the others see her reinforce the idea that she is not beautiful, lowering even more her self-esteem. As a result, she stands for the tragedy of the self-conscious individual. This is, she is not aware that she does not need to have the white beauty attributes in order to be somebody due to she is an individual by herself. In this case, she is not aware that she is beautiful; but the problem is that the rest of society understands beauty according to a determinate ideal; and anything that does not follow this pattern falls off from being considered beautiful.

There are many aspects of how beauty has played an important role within the African American history. Since early time periods, beauty has constantly been implied within various aspects of cultures that has been passed down from generation to generation. Based on today’s society, there has been a lot of influence within the beauty industry that has been shown to have some sort of effect based upon the social, economic, and political context of African American individual throughout the twentieth century. Through the aspect of trying to be the “perfect woman”, there have been large number of debates that are associated with trying to become the ideal woman within the twentieth century. Now a days, everything is based upon how good a woman

One of the categories in being the ideal woman is being conventionally beautiful because, according to the media, a significant portion of a woman’s self-worth rests in appearance. This can be seen through women’s magazines in particular, which promote altering one’s appearance leads to the significant improvement of one’s “love life and relationships, and ultimately, life in general” (Bazzini 199). Therefore, the media presents a direct relationship with beauty and success: the more attractive a woman is, the better her life will be. Thus, a woman must the take initiative to look beautiful in order to be successful. Through the repetitive exposure of the same type of image in the media, what society considers beautiful often resembles a definitive checklist.

In 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