"The Bluest Eye" and Racism in America

Paper Summary:

This writer of this paper discusses Toni Morrison's first novel 'The Bluest Eye', which was published in 1970 and was the first link in a long chain of novels all focusing on the pressing issues of white dominance and its impact on the psyche of black people in the United States. Though racial hatred and discrimination is not as intense now as it must have been in the writer's childhood, this story has been developed and told in such a manner that it arouses sympathy for the black child. This paper examines Morrison's writing style, which the writer of this paper admires, yet contends that the author is too often obsessed with the plight and suffering of her community which tend to make her books often very distressing and disturbing. This paper explores the plot of the novel which revolves around the young child Pecola, who belonged to the Breedlove family while the narrator, Claudia MacTeer, a young girl from MacTeer family observes life around her and presents it as she views it. Morrison is considered master storyteller and "The Bluest Eye" is a classic example of her genius.

Table of Contents:
Abstract
Research Outline
Research: "The Bluest Eye"
References

From the Paper:

"The book is essentially about colonization's impact on a child's psyche. Morrison was of one of those black writers who believed that the best way to fight discrimination and segregation was through psychological training. In the bluest eye for example, she focuses on the reactions of many black Americans to the white culture and concludes that black are oppressed not only because of intense racism but because of the perceptions regarding white skin color that perceived within the black community. Malin Walther Pereira writes, "Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, focuses intently on the colonizing effects of white female beauty on a black girl and her community. In her 1993 Afterword to the novel, Morrison explicitly ties the issue of beauty in The Bluest Eye to the politics of racial beauty and identity in the 1960s. She writes: "the reclamation of racial beauty in the sixties stirred these thoughts [about beauty], made me think about the necessity for the claim."

More papers on "The Bluest Eye" and Racism in America:

• Book Review # 117526 : "The Bluest Eye" Speaks to a Nation"
• Book Review # 94120 : "The Bluest Eye"
• Book Review # 68780 : "The Bluest Eye"

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