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Racism in literature
Racial Stereotypes and their Effects
How is racism portrayed in literature
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In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison analyzes the heartbreaking belief that impacted people of the1940s believe that if they are white or a Middle Class American then they seem to have more beauty than African Americans. In the novel a young, poor African American girl by the name of Pecola Breedlove developed that belief. Her belief makes her question where if she belongs in the world. Pecola does not have an opportunity to grow up as a regular child. Her parents’ history is appearing to take a toll on her throughout her life. Her dad, abandoned her since birth, therefore she does not have a feeling of fatherhood. Her mom is built upon hatred and obliviousness. The Breedlove's all are faced racism and classism everyday, and the white standard of magnificence. Experiencing childhood in this condition, Pecola is powerless all around and turns into the casualty of separation of both white and black individuals in her environment. Pecola characterizes beauty as somebody who has blue eyes and at that point she can rise above from the ugliness to live in a world where everything seems is less demanding. A less demanding life is the one thing that she wishes to have because from her mom to the children from school she receives hate and misery from them. The tormenting she gets at school and unpleasant family life persuades that …show more content…
Polly is always relying upon the movies to proclaim the qualities of excellence. “She was never able, after her education in the movies to look at a face and not assign it some category in the scale of absolute beauty…. (Morrison 122)”. Pauline depends on the movies to manage to her who is beautiful, and who is not, as well as individuals do so in today’s society. This convinces Pauline to promptly choose whom she would care for over and whom she would disregard. Since Pecola is black and in this manner she is not perfect to Polly. Polly adores a young white girl more than her own particular
Claudia has a strong desire to be included, but her different opinions about life unfortunately create difficulties for her fitting into society. She sees the world from a very different perspective than others. From very early on, Claudia's desires differ from the majority's opinion. She desires to have emotions; society,though, desires possessions. Furthermore, Claudia is physically revolted by what seems to be the epitome of beauty in society's eyes. She feels that she is the only one who feels that little white baby dolls with yellow hair and blue eyes are not beautiful. In a bold attempt to destroy the common perception of beauty, Claudia mangles the dolls she receives, "to see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me" (20). She desires to be included in the unity of society. However, Claudia wants to be included on her own terms. She does not want to limit or conform her beliefs to fit what society wants her ...
In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, the struggle begins in childhood. Two young black girls -- Claudia and Pecola -- illuminate the combined power of externally imposed gender and racial definitions where the black female must not only deal with the black male's female but must contend with the white male's and the white female's black female, a double gender and racial bind. All the male definitions that applied to the white male's female apply, in intensified form, to the black male's, white male's and white female's black female. In addition, where the white male and female are represented as beautiful, the black female is the inverse -- ugly.
Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye provides social commentary on a lesser known portion of black society in America. The protagonist Pecola is a young black girl who desperately wants to feel beautiful and gain the “bluest eyes” as the title references. The book seeks to define beauty and love in this twisted perverse society, dragging the reader through Morrison’s emotional manipulations. Her father Cholly Breedlove steals the reader’s emotional attention from Pecola as he enters the story. In fact, Toni Morrison’s depiction of Cholly wrongfully evokes sympathy from the reader.
A reader might easily conclude that the most prominent social issue presented in The Bluest Eye is that of racism, but more important issues lie beneath the surface. Pecola experiences damage from her abusive and negligent parents. The reader is told that even Pecola's mother thought she was ugly from the time of birth. Pecola's negativity may have initially been caused by her family's failure to provide her with identity, love, security, and socialization, ail which are essential for any child's development (Samuels 13). Pecola's parents are able only to give her a childhood of limited possibilities. She struggles to find herself in infertile soil, leading to the analysis of a life of sterility (13). Like the marigolds planted that year, Pecola never grew.
She faces constant criticism, has an aggressive home life, and lives in a society that considers beauty as being white, which negatively affects Pecola and leads her to fantasize about becoming more beautiful. She feels the only way to Morrison uses Shirley Temple to show Pecola’s fondness for beauty. Shirley Temple was a popular young actress during the 1930’s, and was known for her curly blonde hair and blue eyes. Pecola developed a fascination for Shirley Temple cups, “she was fond of the Shirley Temple cup and took every opportunity to drink milk out of it just to handle and see sweet Shirley’s face”(pg.23). This image shows that Pecola believes that having blue eyes will maker her life like Shirley making her more like a white child. Another instance showing this is when Pecola goes to the store she buys the candy Mary Jane, which has a girl with blue eyes on the wrapper. We see her fascination with Mary Jane’s blue eyes, and she felt if she ate the candy she would become Mary Jane. This is shown when Morrison writes, “To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane”(pg.50) When it comes to Pecola mother, there is similar racial self-loathing manifested in her as
petitioning for white beauty, Pecola Breedlove is desperately attempting to pull herself out of the
Two of the major instances of sexual abuse present in the novel involved both Mr. Henry with Frieda and Cholly with Pecola. The incident with Mr. Henry, while very serious...
In the tragic novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, a young, black girl, Pecola Breedlove, struggles in a battle to preserve her innocence and to be seen as beautiful by the racist world around her. Pecola’s innocence is a representation of her childhood and is threatened by her early experiences due to her circumstances and the way the world views her. Although her parent’s abuse is not to be forgiven, the novel gives the ability to sympathize with them due to the lives they have led. Neither one of Pecola’s parents, Cholly nor Pauline, are truly able to understand the needs of their children due to their own childhood experiences.
Society places value on the aesthetics of beauty. Before you open the novel, both racism and beauty are revealed through the title, The Bluest Eye. Young girls wish that they could be beautiful. Pecola Breedlove in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is no exception. However, this is not the case in the Breedlove family.
In The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Pecola, the protagonist of the book, is being portrayed as a young African American girl who believes in her own ugliness under the society’s standards of beauty. Even though her experience is not a typical example of an African American’s life, she serves as a symbol of black community self-hatred. Throughout the book, Morrison shows the Pecola’s internal self-loathing by describing her desire to be considered beautiful in the white world. “Frieda brought her four graham crackers on a saucer and some milk in a blue-and-while Shirley Temple cup …...gazed fondly at the silhouette of Shirley Temple’s dimpled face….I couldn’t join them in their adoration because I hated Shirley” (Morrison 19)
By constructing the chain of events that answer the question of how Pecola Breedlove is caste as a pariah in her community, Toni Morrison in The Bluest Eye attempts to satisfy the more difficult question of why. Although, unspoken, this question obsessively hovers over Pecola throughout the novel and in her circular narrative style Morrison weaves a story that seeks to answer this question by gathering all of the forces that were instrumental in the creation of a social mishap. By using what seem like tangents in the story, we are shown examples of how forces beyond human control such as nature, an omniscient being and primarily a legacy of rejection have come together to establish the heritage of desolation that has been passed on to Pecola Breedlove.
(The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison). Morrison wanted to expose the hard truth and even based Pecola on a real person she met; “...She said he doesn't exist [God]. I said “Well how do you know?”, and she said she prayed for blue eyes for two years and he didn't deliver.” (The Beginnings of The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison). Morrison used today’s view of beauty and how it effect darkskin women and portrayed today through complex characters.
Parents are the first role models that children are exposed too, making them influential in the growth of a child. A diverse group of parents are present in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, that demonstrate the effects of parenting. The story is set in 1940’s America, a time where black people weren’t so accepted by society. Here readers meet Claudia, Frieda, and Pecola, young black girls who struggle to understand the unfair reality of the world they live in.
The theme of beauty standards specifically the want for blue eyes is emphasized in the last chapter when Pecola suggests that she is ostracized from society because people feel jealous of her. She repeats the same statement “you’re jealous of me” (Morrison, 199) and “they’re pretty blue eyes” (Morrison, 200) when talking to Claudia and responding to why people won’t look at her. This repetition adds emphasis and therefore Morrison strengthens her argument by adding pathos for Pecola’s character. This is extremely significant as Pecola now has successfully convinced herself that the reason for her loneliness is jealousy.
image of Shirley Temple. She even eats Mary Jane candies. “To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane.”By doing so, Pecola tries to avoid the ugliness which is a concept or prejudice imposed upon Blacks by the Whites. She goes through traumatic experiences throughout the novel. Her encounter with fifty two year old storekeeper makes her aware about her subordinate place in the society.