The portrayal of racism on the African-American culture is prominent throughout Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eyes. Morrison presents the belief behind the internalized prejudice that black communities and people suffered in the 1940’s. The Bluest Eye speaks the story of how racism was embedded in communities and targeted Africans. After the Lincoln era, whites verbally abused and mistreated African-American citizens by inflicting cruel acts. Specifically, the evils of racism and how certain characters are subjected to oppression. The ideal female in the 1940’s was pictured to be white, blonde, beautiful and, wealthy. Shirley Temple was that icon that empowered the young female generation during this time. She was too good to be true, the all-American
The Bluest Eye, both authors explore the idea of societal constructs and how they aid in creating one's identity by revealing how racist beliefs can either positively or negatively affect it. In the autobiography The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass there is a consistent showing of how racism exploits slaves' identity and image of themselves, making their
Racial profiling, poverty and high crime rates are the major contributors to high incarceration rates for African Americans compared to their percent of the general population. Besides social and economic isolation, African Americans have been marked as inherently criminal with the war on drugs and crime targeting them even when the statics shows they are less likely to be in possession of cocaine for example (Walker, Spohn, DeLone, 2012). The high number of African Americans on death row is the result of institutional racism. Majority of the judges in the United States are white and more often than not are either implicitly or explicitly biased in their rulings (Walker, Spohn, DeLone, 2012).
“Toni Morrison has written several novels known for their epic themes and vivid dialogue.” Some of the novels include “The Bluest Eye” and “Song of Solomon”. In both novels, Morrison references the ongoing issue of racism. Morrison uses the settings and the goal that each main character strives to achieve as similarities.
Culture refers to the social heritage of a people- those learned patterns for thinking, feeling, and acting that are transmitted from one generation to the next, including the embodiment of these patterns in material items. Culture provides the meanings that enable human beings to interpret their experiences and guide their actions (Hughes and Kroehler, 2013). The African culture have played a role in our society for many years. America is known for its diversity and is called the melting pot.
Being enslaved was not an easy job for African Americans. African Americans survived slavery through their connection with their culture. They then went on to contribute to the economic and social development of the South and America. African Americans survived the institution of slavery and Africanized the American South. They helped free themselves by sticking together as a family, resisting, as well as wanting slavery to change.
The Effects of Racism against African Americans Rosa Parks once stated, “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” Although Parks stated this in 2005, her ideas correspond with American society today. For instance, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, and Eric Harris are only a few of the victims who have faced extreme racism. After being stopped for minor violations, and although all were unarmed, the police shot them in the back without proper reasoning.
In the book “The American School” written by Joel Spring there was a lot of talk about the influences of other cultures who impacted the United States. The popular minority cultures talked about in this book are the African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and the Naïve Americans. They all had historical events that impacted their culture. They are were faced with challenges and obstacle’s they had to overcome. Each of these cultures brings a negative and positive aspect to the American culture.
African Americans are one of the largest ethnic groups in the United States and are primarily from West Africa. However, immigrants from the Caribbean, Central America, East Africa, and South Africa are also part of one of the largest cultural groups in the U.S. Many African American ancestors did not come by their free will; they were either sold or traded by slave traders. Throughout history, blacks have been mistreated and discriminated; understanding the history and the contributions made to American culture, allow practitioners to treat and counsel patients more effectively. African culture has significantly influenced American music, fine arts, and foods, by adding its unique flavor and flare.
What is the most pressing issue facing society today? In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison argues that it is beauty standards, even calling physical beauty “the most destructive idea[] in the history of human thought” (122). While this may seem outrageous in a world of terrorism, global warming, homelessness, and hunger, beauty standards and the feelings of inferiority that stem from them affect everybody. In severe cases, these feelings can even manifest themselves deeply inside of a person and lead to eating disorders, depression, anxiety, self-hatred, and even suicide. In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison uses the insecurities of the female characters to demonstrate that beauty standards are a danger to society, as they perpetuate racism and self-hatred.
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.
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
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. Sexism is one
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
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.
Toni Morrison, in numerous interviews, has said that her reason for writing The Bluest Eye was that she realized there was a book she wanted very much to read that had not been written yet. She set out to construct that book – one that she says was about her, or somebody like her. For until then, nobody had taken a little black girl—the most vulnerable kind of person in the world—seriously in literature; black female children have never held centre stage in anything. Thus with the arrival of the character Pecola Breedlove, a little hurt black girl is put to the centre of the story. Pecola’s quest is to acquire “Shirley Temple beauty” and blue eyes – ideals of beauty sponsored by the white world.