Morrisons Bluest Eye Essay The American Way - 1698 Words

The Bluest Eye: The American Way Ownership, class structures, and consumerism go hand in hand. Morrison illustrates this throughout the novel and in the characters identities. Many of the characters identify themselves based on material possessions: the simple ownership of a car, the use of consumer products, and property ownership. Although African Americans may take these things for granted now, in the early 1900s this would be considered a major accomplishment. There is an apparent contradiction of class status among the characters illustrating how beauty determines social stratification. Morrison places each person in the class hierarchy based on how close they are to the white standard of beauty. The Fishers,†¦show more content†¦Although Rosemary is viewed as white, she is still part of the working class. Yet Rosemary looks down on Claudia and Pecola because her father owns a store as well as a car. Although Rosemary is their next door neighbor, material ownership as well as white features sets her apart from them. Rosemarys superiority complex is fostered by a society which views ownership and race as symbols of success. Morrisons highest class level for African Americans begins with the middle class, exemplified by Maureen Peele. Maureen, the closest character in the book to the white model of beauty, is expected to be above the other characters status. Claudia describes Maureen as: A high yellow dream child with long brown hair braided into two lynch ropes that hung down her back. She was rich. . .as the richest white girls, swaddled in comfort and care. (52) Maureen is the envy of Claudia, Pecola, and Frieda. Maureen represents the beauty and wealth of commodity cultures influences. Her appeal is based on the fact that her looks are synonymous with white beauty. She is not a threat to whites because she mirrors their own image, however the characters in the novel resent her for not carrying the stigma of African American features. Geraldine, who does not posess any white features, will do anything to get rid of the stigma of being African American. Geraldine would like toShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s The Bluest Eye1232 Words   |  5 Pagesself-hate one can see that this problem particularly becomes apparent in African American communities, author Toni Morrison in her novel The Bluest Eye not only highlights this self-hated within the Black community but also displays an urgent need for feminism within the black community, through her characterization of Pecola, and Claudia. One indication of Morrison’s intentions is her creation of Pecola as an African American female character who apparently think that she is worthless, as she does notRead MoreThe Bluest Eye Analysis812 Words   |  4 Pages Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye follows Pecola Breedlove’s â€Å"journey† to obtain beauty in the form of the titular blue eyes. Not only is it told in Claudia’s perspect ive, but the readers witnesses several backstories, namely Geraldine, Pauline, Cholly, and Soaphead Church’s, which is in a third-person perspective. This might be seen as odd at first, but after taking a deeper look into their pasts, there is something that stands out: something â€Å"beautiful† in the eyes of these people. These â€Å"beautiful†Read Morestudy on toni morrison Essay2402 Words   |  10 Pagesï » ¿A Study On Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye Ying-Hua,Liao Introduction Toni Morrison was the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature. 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This perception of beauty leads Pecola to insanity because just as societyRead MoreThe Bluest Eye : A Central Component Of The Discussion About Gender1619 Words   |  7 Pagesmakes race a central component of the discussion about gender’ The Bluest Eye concentrates on the key contemporary American issues: racial and sexual politics. More distinctly, the novel centres on the impact that socially constructed views of race have on gender relations within the black community. As Butler-Evans highlights, â€Å"race rather than gender had become the overriding sign for the oppression of black people† and Morrison’s novel responds to this political issue by focusing on this in correlationRead More Compare racial and cultural struggles in Alice Walker’s The Color2850 Words   |  12 PagesThe Color Purple as well as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. In African-American texts, blacks are seen as struggling with the patriarchal worlds they live in order to achieve a sense of Self and Identity. 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Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, challenged this notion by addressing issues about sexual violence and political issuesRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1838 Words   |  8 PagesThe themes of sex, power and violence intersect throughout Toni Morrison’s novel ‘The Bluest Eye’ within a number of narrative scenes. The example Pauline uses is a recount of her more loving relationship with Cholly, where sex, power and violence are intersected as Cholly’ s orgasm coming before hers gives her ‘a power’ of feeling ‘strong’, ‘pretty’ and ‘young’ . However, there are also contradictory intersections of the themes in the novel, such as the intersection of sex, power and violence withinRead MoreComparative Essay : Bluest Eye And The House On Mango Street1981 Words   |  8 PagesCOMPARATIVE ESSAY ON BLUEST EYE AND THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET â€Å"The Bluest Eye† is an English novel written by Toni Morison. The novel â€Å"The House on Mango Street† is written by Sandra Cisneros. These two novels have a number of similarities. The novel â€Å"The House on Mango Street†, revolves around a young girl and her struggle to fit the perplex bits of her personality, sexuality, ethnicity, sex, monetary status and social legacy. These features become possibly the most important factor as EsperanzaRead MoreToni Morrison and Historical Memory5014 Words   |  21 PagesMost of literature written by American minority authors is pedagogic, not toward the dominant culture, but for the minority cultures of which they are members. These authors realize that the dominant culture has misrepresented minority history, and it is the minority writers burden to undertake the challenge of setting the record straight to strengthen and heal their own cultures. Unfortunately, many minorities are ambivalent because they vacillat e between assimilation (thereby losing their separateness