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The concept of worldview
The concept of worldview
The concept of worldview
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Throughout her novel, The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison asserts the convoluted association between blackness, masculinity, and corporeality through the complicated character of Cholly Breedlove. Under the white gaze, Cholly is a victim to his identity as a black man because the trauma provoked by his lack of agency, particularly over his own body, prevents him from fulfilling the expectations society has of him as as a male, husband, and father. Cholly’s inability to achieve these societal expectations severely contaminates his masculinity and creates a self-abhorrence in his black manhood. Illustrated when he is sexually violated by the two white men and rejected by his own father, Cholly’s inadequate control over his body reinforces his inferiority, …show more content…
Shortly following the flashlight scene, Cholly flees to Macon, Georgia in search of his father, whom he believed would be sympathetic of his “wildly irrational” (151) fear that Darlene might be pregnant. In this, Cholly’s naïve confidence for his father’s welcoming nature and attempt to escape responsibility demonstrates his child-like immaturity. The disheartening reality of Cholly’s enraged, drunk, and gambling father cause Cholly to brutally abandon his optimism for a superior black role model and foreshadows his own catastrophic future. When Samson ruthlessly rejects Cholly, exclaiming, “get the fuck outta my face,” (156) Cholly attempts to preserve his manhood by restraining himself from crying; however, while “focusing every energy on his eyes, [Cholly’s] bowels suddenly opened up” (157). Cholly’s mortifying defecation illustrates his literal inability to exercise authority over his body and constrains him to a metaphoric state of infantilization. This is further portrayed when the narrator describes him to be laying in a “fetal position, paralyzed, his fists covering his eyes,” (158) an image that mirrors the image of a crying baby. Cholly’s forceful return to a childlike state, despite his blatant efforts to uphold his masculinity, reinforces his position of inevitable …show more content…
Because it comes at the cost of other characters, Cholly’s “dangerous freedom,” (160) though acquitting him from societal rules, expectations, and ethics, strips him of all morality and emphasizes his beastly qualities. Like an animal, Cholly is only interested in satisfying his own needs and desires and is willing to do whatever is necessary to fulfill these corporeal voids. His mere interest in “his own perceptions and appetites” (160) prevents him from empathizing with other characters and reinforces his enslavement to his lustful desires. As a result, Cholly’s animalization allows him to be capable of horrifically raping his own daughter. This is illustrated when Cholly is overcome by a repulsive remembrance of Pauline from “the first time he saw her in Kentucky,” (162) when he sees Pecola “[shift] her weight and [stand] on one foot scratching the back of her calf with her toe” (162). The irony in Cholly’s admission that “he wanted to fuck [Pecola]- tenderly”(163)— in which the narrator employs an unexpected combination of “fuck,” an action that is often associated with a lack of connection or intimacy, and “tenderly,” an adverb that can be used interchangeably with “softly” and “lovingly”— resembles his inability to repress his savage-like desires while revealing
As a result of racism and white supremacy, Cholly did not know where to place his anger. He does not direct his anger towards white men (who are socially superior to Cholly) but instead towards black women (who are socially inferior to Cholly). Cholly takes the example of the white men by abusing his own social power over Pauline. This longing for superiority and skewed view of love also contributed to the rape of his
Undoubtedly, Michael Tritt uses a psychological strategy to critically analyze “Young Goodman Brown”. He carefully constructs his criticism through quotes from other critics and the short story. Sigmund Freud is also quoted because he theorized the projection process.
...mply in terms of reliance upon subjugation to men. Her defiance of the custom of demurring in the presence of men stirs envy in Celie, who lacks Sofia's self-assurance, and who consequently advises an exasperated Harpo, to 'beat her' into submission. This is a point of growth for Celie who comes to realize that she has committed a 'sin against Sofia spirit'. Celie is becoming aware of the nature of her own oppression. She is able to analyze her own behavior and admit her jealousy of Sofia's ability to fight back against abuse and to resist male oppression. Here Walker, deftly illustrates the ease with which the cycle of abuse is perpetuated among the abused and the oppressed. In the story, Sofia, represents the indomitable spirit of the woman of color who is determined to be herself regardless of the pressure to submit to the indignities of prejudice and sexism.
Toni Morrison's novel "The Bluest Eye", is a very important novel in literature, because of the many boundaries that were crosses and the painful, serious topics that were brought into light, including racism, gender issues, Black female Subjectivity, and child abuse of many forms. This set of annotated bibliographies are scholarly works of literature that centre around the hot topic of racism in the novel, "The Bluest Eye", and the low self-esteem faced by young African American women, due to white culture. My research was guided by these ideas of racism and loss of self, suffered in the novel, by the main character Pecola Breedlove. This text generates many racial and social-cultural problems, dealing with the lost identity of a young African American women, due to her obsession with the white way of life, and her wish to have blue eyes, leading to her complete transgression into insanity.
Brownfield seeing his father paralyzed by fear when in the presence of another man causes him to lose respect for the patriarchal figure and his reverence for the Caucasian landowner to grow, ?Brownfield, trembling?filled with terror of this man who could, by his presence alone, turn his father might as well been a pebble? (Walker 10). Brownfield?s mental image of his father being a masculine figure to be respected and feared is forever ruined. Not only does Shipley cause Brownfield to become disillusioned with his father, he also creates a chasm between Grange and the most important person in his life: Margaret.
In the novel, “The Bluest Eye”, Toni Morrison exposes the roots of a broken community, unveiling the effects it has on its members. Morrison illustrates various disturbing characters that are insecure, lost and troubled. Through extended metaphors she is able to trace back these behaviors to the characters’ past. The structure of her novel follows a repetitive rationale of the character’s behavior after revealing their gruesome actions. The passage (116) further develops the text’s theme of a dysfunctional community. Although the exposure the effects of racism seems to be the main theme, Morrison goes deeper and explores the reason how and why the community continues to live in oppression.
We don't meet the vulnerable Cholly at the opening of the book. What we first learn about him is that he burned down his house, and that he abuses his wife. Through Pauline's reflections, we learn how loving Cholly was and how much they loved each other. It is not until later in the novel that we begin to learn about his childhood, and all the humiliating and terrorizing experience he has had.
In the story, “Recitatif,” Toni Morrison uses vague signs and traits to create Roberta and Twyla’s racial identity to show how the characters relationship is shaped by their racial difference. Morrison wants the reader’s to face their racial preconceptions and stereotypical assumptions. Racial identity in “Recitatif,” is most clear through the author’s use of traits that are linked to vague stereotypes, views on racial tension, intelligence, or ones physical appearance. Toni Morrison provides specific social and historical descriptions of the two girls to make readers question the way that stereotypes affect our understanding of a character. The uncertainties about racial identity of the characters causes the reader to become pre-occupied with assigning a race to a specific character based merely upon the associations and stereotypes that the reader creates based on the clues given by Morrison throughout the story. Morrison accomplishes this through the relationship between Twyla and Roberta, the role of Maggie, and questioning race and racial stereotypes of the characters. Throughout the story, Roberta and Twyla meet throughout five distinct moments that shapes their friendship by racial differences.
With The Bluest Eye, Morrison has not only created a story, but also a series of painfully accurate impressions. As Dee puts it "to read the book...is to ache for remedy" (20). But Morrison raises painful issues while at the same time managing to reveal the hope and encouragement beneath the surface.
In the novel “The Bluest Eyes”, by Toni Morrison, Racial self-loathing and hatred is a major theme through the text, and is even evident in the title. Instead of making the plot center around events over racism, the book shows a deeper portrayal of racism, emphasizing on the way racial self-hatred and loathing plagues the black characters. The novel shows an extended depiction of the ways in which internalized white beauty standards distort the lives of the black characters. The author shows this by having African Americans who have lighter features, Maureen Peal, Geraldine and Soaphead Church, and characters with darker features, Pecola and her Parents Cholly, and Pauline Breedlove. Through them we are able to see racial self-loathing, there
Self-hatred is something that can thoroughly destroy an individual. As it was fictitiously evidenced in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, it can lead an individual to insanity. Toni Morrison raises the idea that racism and class can detrimentally influence people’s outlook on themselves.
At a time when blue-eyed, pale skin Shirley Temple is idolized by white and black alike,
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, is a story about the life of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who is growing up during post World War I. She prays for the bluest eyes, which will “make her beautiful” and in turn make her accepted by her family and peers. The major issue in the book, the idea of ugliness, was the belief that “blackness” was not valuable or beautiful. This view, handed down to them at birth, was a cultural hindrance to the black race.
Toni Morrison, the author of The Bluest Eye, centers her novel around two things: beauty and wealth in their relation to race and the brutal rape of a young girl by her father. Morrison explores and exposes these themes in relation to the underlying factors of black society: racism and sexism. Every character has a problem to deal with, and it involves racism and/or sexism. Whether the characters are the victim or the aggressor, they can do nothing about their problem or condition, especially when it concerns gender and race. Morrison's characters are clearly at the mercy of preconceived notions maintained by society.
Throughout Toni Morrison’s controversial debut The Bluest Eye, several characters are entangled in the extremes of human cruelty and desire. A once innocent Pecola arguably receives the most appalling treatment, as not only is she exposed to unrelenting racism and severe domestic abuse, she is also raped and impregnated by her own father, Cholly. By all accounts, Cholly is detestable and unworthy of any kind of sympathy. However, over the course of the novel, as Cholly’s character and life are slowly brought into the light and out of the self-hatred veil, the reader comes to partially understand why Cholly did what he did and what really drives him. By painting this severely flawed yet completely human picture of Cholly, Morrison draws comparison with how Pecola was treated by both of her undesirable parents.