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Identity In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

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Therefore, here attempted to believe that Toni Morrison's very success as a writer may be a testimony to her power to examine themes from various angles and to accept unresolved situations as they are. Patrick Bryce Bjork in his conclusion observes that: "Her[Toni Morrison] characters waver within the contradictions and ambiguities o desire and repression, control and chaos, attraction and chaos, attraction and repulsion, connection and withdrawal" (Song of Solomon, 1977). Some scholars have even come to the conclusion that what Toni Morrison talks about in her novels is almost entirely foreign, different from the notion of the "rugged individualist" that characterizes the works of the Transcendentalists, even distasteful to many Americans …show more content…

The reason for her preference lies in Shirley’s blue eyes. Pecola throughout her life knew that she was ugly, her father, mother, and brother were all ugly and so was she. As a result, pecola looked upon Shirley and her blues eyes, worthy of being placed on her cup, as an icon of beauty. Her image, placed upon a cup and all over the silver screen, was something the out-group and dominant culture in pecola’s life had idolized. True beauty, Shirley’s beauty, was something no black girl could ever aspire achieve. The second source of …show more content…

Pg 91) Earlier in the story Geraldine had explained to Junior the difference between “colored people and niggers.” The class/racial identity introduced in this part of the novel display one of the many consequences of white racism. Geraldine lived her life in an upper class world (i.e. as upper class as black could achieve at that time). However het stature as a decent or “colored” person, in the eyes of her white, middle class peers was constantly threatened by what she saw in her mind as poorly kept, and poorly mannered “niggers”. The positive identity that Geraldine had made for herself was one that placed her above less fortunate members of her race. For this reason, she lashed out at Pecola, simply because of her disheveled appearance and Junior’s accusation. Hewstone and Cairns offer a good explanation for Geraldine’s behavior in their explanation of Henri Tajfel’s writings. According to Tajfel’s reasoning group behavior typically fits into three major

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