Abstract This paper discusses how, in the novel "The Bluest Eye," by Toni Morrison, the character Cholly Breedlove is prevented from love and enjoyment throughout his life by being left for dead by his mother, humiliated by white hunters, and ignored by his father. The writer explains how the cumulation of the negative experiences in Cholly's life results in him becoming a broken and unsettled man. He is held back from his potential as a human being and made to feel that there is no place on earth for him.
From the Paper "A few days after being born Cholly's mother wrapped him up and left him for dead in a pile of trash. He could have had a family that loved him, and a mother and a father who cared, but instead he was abandoned by both of them. Here the narrator shows how Cholly felt about life after being saved by his Aunt Jimmy "...he wondered whether it would have been just as well to have died there. Down in the rim of a tire under a soft Georgia sky."(133). Cholly was forced to live with the knowledge that his mother didn't love him enough to keep him and that his father didn't care enough to recognize him."
Abstract The paper begins with a look at the stereotypical character Cholly portrays and how Cholly fits the stereotype. The paper then introduces Cholly's psychological background and history and analyzes his behavior. Finally, the paper explores why Morrison made the stylistic choices she did in dealing with the character of Cholly.
From the Paper "By raping Pecola, Cholly was taking his revenge on women, making himself the victor in a battle that he lost as a child and demonstrating that he is not helpless. He is, in effect, abandoning Pecola by raping her, even before he physically leaves his family. The moment he rapes her, he is no longer a father figure (if he ever indeed was) but a source of pain, and a thief of her innocence, as his parents were to him. She is left to bear a premature child that dies moments after it is born, as Cholly, in a sense, did, with his slow transformation into inhumanity that began at birth. As with Cholly, the fault of the death of Pecola's child was the fault of no one in particular, but of the horrible surrounding circumstances that seem to have passed from generation to generation."
Comparison of two races in the 40's through Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye", looking at Pecola's gradual descent to madness as a result of circumstances of the time.
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 6 sources, 2002, $ 45.95
Abstract This paper focuses on racial discrimination in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. There are comparisons of white and black races in different areas, such as family dynamics, economics, etc. The author also discusses on the individual's search for self-identity.
From the Paper:
"Racial discrimination had a great impact on characters, plot, and themes in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye". Morrison illustrates the effects of prejudice on teen-aged girls throughout an exceptionally segregated period. The parable is weaved through the many woes of a hardworking, African-American family. Pecola Breedlove, the main character, registers the differences between race-separated classes, but longs for just one luxury that is primarily associated with whites; blue eyes. Through this scenario, Morrison explores the effects of the image paradigm held by whites on the self-esteem of the average African-American teen."
Abstract The paper explores four books which are linked by the trauma of the women characters - "The Bluest Eyes" (Toni Morrison), "Jasmine", (Bharati Mukherjee) "Bastard Out of Carolina" (Dorothy Allison), and "White Oleander" (Janet Fitch). The paper shows how each book involves the story of a young woman who suffered abuse through no fault of her own and that although they take place at different times, different locations and to different types of young women, they are linked. The author touches on the thread of abuse towards women in real life.
From the Paper "As a young girl she shows her strength when she saves the village women from a wild dog. Throughout her life in India, Jasmine, a young Punjab girl undergoes a series of changes. She is the embodiment of the fatalistic beliefs of the Hindu religion as she goes through cycles that allow her to become a mature woman in a new country, America. The story is told from the perspective that young woman in America as she recalls the life she lead in India, and how she came to America. Behind her is the oppression of females. Ahead of her is hope for a better life. In her is the clash of beliefs from the fatalistic Hindu, to the optimistic American. Along the way her name is changed several times until she winds up with the non-ethnic Jane, instead of Jasmine."
Abstract In Toni Morrison's, "The Bluest Eye", Pecola is an innocent 11 year old who is a victim to society's stereotypes. The color of her skin, only because it is a darker shade of black, makes her ugly in the eyes of black and white people the same. The paper shows that Pecola not being accepted by her family, peers, and members of the community because she does not meet society standards contributes to her madness, but Pecola's search for beauty is the cause of her madness.
From the Paper "Like the marigolds that Claudia and Frieda planted, Pecola never gets a chance to grow. Pecola is taunted for her looks, despised for living in poverty, and abused by her father who rapes and impregnates her. Pecola's madness may have initially been caused by her family's failure to give her identity, love, and security which were essential to help Pecola grow. Society, as well, plays a major role in her insanity. For Pecola she can only escape into fantasy to gain her beauty (Harris 73)."
Abstract This paper reviews the novel, 'Bluest Eye'. The paper discusses how gender, race and class oppression intersect in the 'Bluest Eye' in a very specific way. Those forms of oppression are located in the society and their influence seems to be very subtle but can last a lifetime. In the novel, they are especially observed in the media and in history. The paper further discusses how the novel deals with ideas about beauty and how power is accepted because it is linked with class and race. The pivotal incident in the book is Cholly's rape of his own daughter.
Abstract This paper analyzes Toni Morrison's novel "The Bluest Eye". The writer explains how this book doesn't belittle the characteristics of its individuals, nor does it place judgment on their actions; rather, the book emphasizes the influence of past suffering and circumstances - exploring how things came to be instead of why they came to be. The writer suggests that "The Bluest Eye" is a quintessential demonstration of the inflexibility of the world. The writer further discusses how Morrison keeps herself from blaming the plight of characters like Cholly and Pecola on any one person or action. The writer concludes that the characters' sufferings construct themselves from a mesh of negative events that were woven together by circumstances; circumstances that were created from Morrison's world - a world that seems more inclined to create misery than it does to create joy.
From the Paper "The universe of The Bluest Eye is the bigot; it is the spawn of prejudice, the breeder of hate and racism; it shrivels the seeds of flowers just as easily as it shrivels a human baby. Morrison constructs a world hostile to human life, one that sets up humanity to suffer by endorsement of the cruel and perversion of the beautiful.
Pauline's dream is beautiful. She dreams of a male protector, an ethereal and heavenly thing that will wash away her worries and lift her up into happiness. He is a "Presence, an all-embracing tenderness with strength and a promise of rest....She had only to lay her head on his chest and he would lead her away...forever" (113). This dream seems fulfilled when Cholly happens upon her on the side of the road one day, but this chance encounter is a cruel ploy of circumstance."
Abstract The paper examines how all of the characters in "The Bluest Eye" face life changing problems because of internalized racism in their society. The paper analyzes the mother of the Breedlove family, Pauline, the
father of the Breedlove family, Cholly, and the daughter, Pecola, who develops a strange and consuming form of internalized racism. The paper shows how Morrison directly approaches the issue of racial self-loathing brought on by the idea of white supremacy.
From the Paper "The mother of the Breedlove family is named Pauline. Pauline always struggled with low self esteem because at the age of two she stepped on a rusty nail that gave her a lame foot and an unusual gait to her walk which was the only thing to save her from "total anonymity" as Morrison puts it. Pauline is able to use her deformity as her internal excuse for the emptiness she feels, "her general feeling of separateness and unworthiness she blamed on her foot." This misdirection of blame is common to the psyche of a person suffering from internalized racism, the idea that the surrounding culture of white citizens look down on you as something less than human is too hard a pill to swallow so characters tend to avert their anger or blame on some other aspect of life. Pauline's image especially suffers when she moves with her husband Cholly to Ohio where the few black women she meets were "amused by her because she did not straighten her hair," or where makeup as they did."
