The Bluest Eye Analysis

Throughout Toni Morrison's short story "Recitatif", there is a continuous undertone of racial tension between the two main characters, Twyla and Roberta. Although it is never disclosed which character is white and which is black, Morrison makes it clear that the two are on opposite sides of the fence in this tension. The story takes place over many years of the character's lives and examines five different time periods in which their lives intertwine. In this paper I will examine how Morrison strategically manipulates our own thoughts on racial stereotypes to muddle our ability to discern the races of Twyla and Roberta as they grow and their paths stray. To start, to stereotype is "to believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular

The world is filled with labels, some negative and some positive. When it comes to negative labeling, a person’s sense of beauty in themselves and in the world is impacted. In The Bluest Eye, author Toni Morrison uses her characters such as Pecola to illustrate how another’s labeling can alter the way one internalizes his or her own beauty; Morrison poses an overall negative storyline filled with labels and discrimination that in turn allows the reader to identify the highlighted and deeper beauty that is not always visible to the naked eye.

Being just in the American criminal justice system is a topic that is highly debated. Some believe the system is just, while others believe it is a flawed. The truth however, is that humans are not always right. God is the only who can practice justice in complete perfection, because humans are not perfect. Although many people in the American criminal justice system have good intentions, sadly that does not necessarily mean they are always just. The American criminal justice system tries to be truly just and has been before, but humans are not perfect and cannot always be truly just.

Developing who she was around the time of the Great Depression, Toni Morrison had inspiring stories that reflected her childhood. During her life there has been some hardships and times where she has had to be strong. Toni Morrison was a highly educated women whose stories Beloved and The Bluest Eye are two of her most controversial stories. She made adjustments but stood up for what she believed in. Growing up as an African-American female during the US civil rights movement, Toni Morrison became a controversial author because she shares her life experiences that generates intense critical reaction.

Toni Morrison wrote The Bluest Eye in 1940 but it is still relevant today. The color of Claudia and Pecola skin effected everything they did. It effected their treatment of dolls to their social interactions. The girls had no choice but to confirm to their world that lighter is better, and put themselves down for it. They had no representation and grew up with the notion that lighter is better. Those girls are not the only ones. In this day-in-age women of color are put up to false standards. They are thrown into a whitewashed society where they are unrepresented and are thus given a misshapen view of

It is hard to define identity in the sense of human characteristics and qualities of one’s self or even a group of people. However, every day people manage to define their identity through various outlets of life. In the documentary, Through a Lens Darkly, the director, Thomas Allen Harris, asks artists who are African Americans to define themselves and their culture through photography. He uses his own identity in demonstrating the effect of photography on his own life as an African American. Through the rest of the documentary, Harris explores the identities of African Americans through photography publicly and privately in past and present.

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. Furthermore, the novel explains how society shapes an individual 's character by instilling beauty expectations. Morrison is effective in relaying her message about the various impacts that society has on an individual 's character through imagery, diction,

In 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

When asked to describe the ideal American family one would most likely say nuclear, working dad, stay at home mom etc. Depending on your own personal believe, the ideal american family can be described in various ways. But, did one of your descriptions include having white skin? When you google

Set in segregated America, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison covers topics that most people are not proud of. It takes the reader back to an era of filled with discrimination and hatred towards people of color, even within their own communities. Morrison chooses to have multiple narrators, which allows

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.

Toni Morrison published her first book, The Bluest Eye, in 1970. In this novel, Toni Morrison shows how societies racist and false beliefs on beauty can be seriously destructive if believed and taken to heart. Toni Morrison displays the destructive nature of racialised beauty through the character in the novel named Pecola Breedlove. Pecola lacks self esteem and believes that she is the blackest and ugliest girl, and she believes that white is the only beautiful race. Morrison challenges Western standards of beauty and demonstrates that the idea of beauty is socially constructed. Toni Morrison shows how when one race is used as the standard of beauty, the value of the other races is diminished. The standard

Root, Identity and Community have always been the underlying theme of Toni Morrison. Through the accounts of her novels, Toni Morrison shows several ways in which slavery, which was the most oppressive period in the black history, has affected the identity of African American. In Bluest Eye, Morrison shows that a black woman who searches for her true identity feels frustrated by her blackness and yearns to be white because of the constant fear of being rejected in her surroundings. Thus Morrison tries to locate post colonial black identity in the socio-political ground where cultures are hybridized, powers are negotiated and individuals are reproduced as resistant agents. She not only writes about claiming the superiority by the white but also

In the novel, “Sula”, author Toni Morrison addresses a series of obstacles faced by individuals who find themselves entrenched within marginalised societies. Morrison’s writing style differs from most other authors in the sense that it sheds light on imperative issues that would otherwise remain concealed; issues such as internecine racism, patriarchy and scapegoating within the African-American context. In “Sula”, Morrison introduces the question: What is the relationship between the individual and the community? She manages to do so by describing the conflict that exist between the Sula Peace and her local community. As a consequence of this conflict Sula, one of the main protagonists in the novel, becomes the scapegoat of her community. This essay will attempt to critically analyse the significance of scapegoating in “Sula” by looking at important aspects such as setting, time period, characters, and the relationship that exists between the individual and the community – from both literary and psychological perspectives.

The Bluest Eye works at different layers of the lives of black people. At one level it accounts for the racial discrimination faced by Afro-Americans throughout their life time. At another level, it is a clear narration of how internalized concepts of beauty works in the minds of blacks and they themselves become their oppressors. All through the novel we can find numerous instances where “whiteness” is the measure for beauty. This is evident in all the characters in the novel who degrade themselves for not being fair and lovely like the whites. The novel is narrated through the eyes of a ten-year old girl Claudia McTeer who witnesses white hegemony around her as well as this superiority being unquestioningly accepted by the blacks.