Identity In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

A mammy, as defined by Mirriam-Webster University, is “a black woman serving as a nurse to white children especially formerly in the southern United States.” However, in modern viewpoints, the title of “Mammy” is considered a racial slur. According to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, the Mammy caricature “portrayed an obese, coarse, maternal figure. She had great love for her white "family," but often treated her own family with disdain.

Morrison came to realize that “beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do” (167). In the afterword of the novel she puts her astonishment: Until that moment I had seen the pretty, the lovely, the nice, the ugly, and although I had certainly used the word ‘beautiful’, I had never experienced its shock – the force of which was equaled by the knowledge that no one else recognized it, not even, or especially, the one who possessed it. (167) The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison’s effort to explore the trauma of color-prejudice that makes a black girl desire for a “radical alteration” by possessing blue eyes. Morrison affirms in the afterword of the novel that “implicit in her desire was racial self loathing” (167).

In the essay Maya Angelou’s character Margaret, who’s not yet in her early teens, began working for her white boss Mrs. Cullinan. Miss Glory, another black maid who work for Mrs. Cullinan, taught Margaret to be organize, basic etiquette, and a wide variety of vocabulary. Miss Glory tells Margaret that Mrs. Cullinan was unable to have children. This caused a deep sorrow and regret in the emotions of Margaret towards Mrs. Cullinan, for she had a lot of pity towards. This part of the essay, to my understanding, set it apart from the others, because of Maya Angelou brilliant emotional concept she added to her character “Margaret” to feel pity on her mistress.

In “The Color Purple”, Alice Walker tells of the lives of African American women and their struggles with confidence and keeping their heads up through the shocking injustices forced upon them. In this book there are many examples of dynamic characters. A dynamic character is a literary or dramatic character who undergoes an important inner change as a change in personality or attitude. Celie, Albert, and Sofia are three examples of characters that experience these transitions. Celie’s life has been one heartbreak after another but she overcomes her low self-esteem despite it, Albert, Celie’s husband, was close to the worst person I’d ever seen but after Celie leaves him his character changes dramatically, and Sofia, initially fierce and strong, loses herself after being her outspoken and courageous self took away her whole world but she soon finds her way back.

The first female African-American to win the Eunice Prize and the Pulitzer Prize, Gwendolyn Brooks made a big impression on America, (Shor 2006). She was an amazing poet who “committed herself to black pride”, (Shor 2006). As Brooks was an outcast due to her lack of social skills and race, she found comfort in writing poems that correlated her nationality, (Kent 1990). As a result of this, Gwendolyn Brooks grew up and saw the cruel outside world. In her poetry she writes with some humor about the stereotypes of the poor blacks, and the devastating consequences that the racist world sprung upon her ethnicity.

My art represents the overall theme and what the book 's message was trying to explain to society. My art demonstrates how most black women in america 's society are all treated the same horrible way. The roots represent the long past and how society treats them all together that 's how all the roots are connected. Black women will never be a full flower because they will always be seen by society as the lowest level of a human being. On the other hand white women are seen as flowers because they are always seen as the top of society when they are planted they automatically reach the top of the barren soil.

In other words Mayella had little power in her class. People didn’t respect her because of her class, and you can tell Mayella is not used to being respected because in court Atticus calls Mayella “ma’am and miss” (DBQ Mayella, 15) and Mayella gets mad

The poem “Nigger” by Judy Simmons corresponds with the plight of Frado’s life in the book Our Nig. The story of Frado starts with her as a free black in the North living with and serving a white family called the Bellmonts. Frado was born into a society in which she was already at a disadvantage because of her skin color and socioeconomic status. The poem “Nigger” reflects the hatred that constantly surrounds Frado’s life and how she grows up through that hatred and tries to find her way out of it.

Women in 1930’s would always wear dresses and could not wear pants, so they could hardly do anything outside. No sport could be played with a dress, and no women would play a sport. Women playing a sport would be considered blasphemous. But today there are many sport leagues that consist entirely of women. The NCAA has an entire division for women.

In the 1930’s, being a woman was considered a bad thing, no matter if you were rich or poor, black or white you were not really respected, in lieu of that fact Mayella takes many of her misfortunes and turns them into power. Although this may be true, it must be remembered that Mayella and her family are the poorest of the poor in Maycomb, they are even poorer than many of the black people in the town. Mayella

These oppressions persist today and so do their effects on black families and even more in young black people. Because Morrison makes the issue not only beauty but also our perception of ugli-ness in general, the problem of the “ugly little girl asking for beauty” is a cultural problem. Every time a young person looks in the mirror and sees that they are not as beautiful as a movie star or not as as beautiful as the television, magazine, and billboard ads tells them they should be, they feel the fear of rejection and abandonment, and through this novel, readers have experienced the emotional pain of that which destroyed Pecola. “Suffering with Pecola, knowing that pain con-sciously, feeling it, acknowledging it openly and directly, most of

Filippo Negroli’s 1543 Burgonet is a stunning work of art. Except, it’s not just a work of art. A burgonet is a helmet and a helmet is used in battle; Negroli’s work is both beautiful and battle-ready. So what was this helmet’s purpose? Was it a parade helmet?

Morrison provides the readers with the emotional landscape and the spectrum of black female sexuality of her characters who suffer from sexual violence. Morrison introduces Geraldine, a black women in town who is very sterile about her behavior, especially her sexuality. Whenever she has sex with her husband, she contemplates “why they didn’t put the necessary by private parts of the body in some more convenient place - like the armpit, for example, or the palm of the hand” (84). Geraldine and other women like her have been subjected to oppression from white society. Geraldine adopted the same norms of beauty and definition of womanhood as whites by emulating whiteness.