The Bluest Eye was published at the turn of the decade of 1970, the novel explores race, sexuality and the powerful notion of beauty that could affect the construction of an individual’s identity and in this case Toni Morrison challenges self-image representations of children who experience gender oppression (Werrlein, 2005). Similarly to The Bluest Eye, The Woman Warrior explores a young woman who experiences gender oppression, Kingston reveals how cultural conflicts in society could affect her identity as a Chinese American women and through this Kingston created a heroine who transgresses traditional gender boundaries in a Chinese community. Maxine Kingston’s novel tactically complicates notions of identity construction as the narrator …show more content…
These stories are told to present the ways that they have constructed or shaped the person Kingston has become. Kingston struggles with her identity as a Chinese American woman. The character in No Name Woman shares qualities in Kingston as they are rebellious and go against the oppressive Chinese culture and go against being a subjective female. To avenge herself against the Chinese culture, Kingston breaks the silence taboo and tells her story. She writes as a Chinese American woman who challenges and battles with patriarchy but critics have argued that she does so from a position that is radically unstable (Marotti, …show more content…
It involves confronting her otherness- first, as a woman in patriarchal society; secondly as a member of an ethnic minority in America; and finally, as an English speaking American within a “real” Chinese family. It is only through painfully confronting, acknowledging, and validating her otherness at all three levels that she discovers her true individual self and its connections with and place within community and family. In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison illustrates how gender identities are formed and replicated in an individual’s life. Pecola used as an example presents the extent to which rejection can be greatly formative. Morrison’s portrayal of a young broken girl sheds light on gender identity as Pecola struggles to obtain her identity as a female. Through the protagonist Pecola, readers can see how society and media plays a heavily influenced role on females from a very young age and plays a part in the construction of their identity based on their appearance. Morrison’s writings are truly an exemplary display of the difficulties involved in obtaining a positive social identity as
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. Pecola, a young girl during a time of extreme racism and discrimination, is raised in an abusive and unstable home. The effects of the abuse on Pecola has a large impact on her views of the world and
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.
Morrison is effective in relaying her message about the various impacts that society has on an individual 's identity through imagery, diction, and symbolism by showing
In Toni Morrison’s book, Pecola Breedlove was instantly a victim to her own blackness. Her and her family “...wore their ugliness, put it on, so to speak, although it did not belong to them” (Morrison 38). Pecola was darker than others and was told “You are ugly people” (Morrison 39). Her classmate Maureen was “A high-yellow dream child with long brown hair” (Morrison 62). Maureen represented privilege with her lighter skin.
Pecola and her mother, Pauline, see themselves as ugly because they hold themselves to beauty standards in which light-skinned people are the ideal. Pecola and her mother have a brutal home life due to the drunken violence of Cholly Breedlove, and the constant pressure of beauty standards only adds to their misfortune. Morrison explains this pressure by asserting that “[i]t was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they
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,
But 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
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 the reader to delve into what life is like for these characters. Through the different narrations, the reader is faced with difficult truths that people would rather not think about: during this time there is an immense amount of hatred for people of color, even within the community itself and it negatively affects both individuals and family units. As well as this
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison explores the story of multiple characters from different perspectives while centering around the story of Pecola’s life as she faces racism, rape, and desertion. The novel is set in the 1940s where racism was prevalent in all communities and amongst all people. Throughout the novel, Morrison shows how African American communities face both symbolic and institutionalized racism, even from their own race. Middle class African Americans like Maureen and Geraldine are clouded by the idea of whiteness being the ideal beauty as they bash lower class African Americans. Additionally, most characters face institutionalized racism as the division between within black societies leads to tension and conflicts.
Morrison is among the pioneer of those contemporary black writers who have redefined African- American writings in more ways than one. This assignment will focus on the aspects of gender bias and double consciousness in The Bluest Eye. 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.
Morrison '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
It is the mother’s vulnerability to the racial standards of beauty that is transmitted to the daughter and ultimately leads to her victimization. In fact, the reason of Pauline’s vulnerability to the racially prejudiced notions of beauty lies in her relationship with her own mother. The relationship between Pecola Breedlove, the protagonist, and her mother, Pauline Breedlove, is ironically characterized by lack of love, and emotional attachment, indifference, frustration and cruelty. Set in a small town in Ohio, during the Depression, The Bluest Eye is the story of eleven year old Pecola Breedlove, who, victimized by the racist society, yearns for blue eyes, which, she believes, will make her worthy of love, happiness and acceptance in the
1) Society has change the way Pecola perceives herself and she has the idea in her mind that her life would be less miserable if she has blue eyes. She is always thinking that “if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different” (Morrison 46). Pecola has gotten the impression of her life being complete if only she has blue eyes. She would see the eyes of others and become envious of their blue eyes. The boys at school would always pick on her and call her an ugly black girl.
Toni 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.
Societal influence and internalized discrimination is the main message in Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye. Using her main character Pecola as the focal point of the novel, Morrison establishes how the influence of race and beauty standards corrupted a young girls mind. Within each chapter, Morrison was able to depict cultural icons such as Shirley Temple, idolized classmates like Maureen and a mother figure all attack a vulnerable character. Because Pecola Breedlove does not meet the white western culture standards, Pecola is in a “world in which only little white girls with blue eyes are loveable” (Bennett). Morrison has illustrated countless times to overlook the white gaze and step out of the spotlight.