Despite the fact that Toni Morrison does use oppressive language, she does so in a manner that it can be disregarded in the grand scheme of the book. In order to avoid using this type of language she develops the story in a series of different character perspectives. She also targets characters that are most subject to oppression. Lastly, she incorporates the use of such language into both black and white characters. Each part of the book is told from someone else's point of view. This allows for the reader to develop the novel through the thoughts and eyes of the characters that are a part of it. Morrison explains in the foreword that she had a problem with, "centering the weight of the novel's inquiry on so delicate and vulnerable a character …show more content…
could smash her and lead readers into the comfort of pitying her rather than into an interrogation of themselves for the smashing (Morrison, XII)." As a solution to this problem she decided to split the book into different character views.
Morrison herself does not believe that she was successful in her goal to move people. She states that, "many readers remain touched but not moved (Morrison, XII)." Next, in her novel, Morrison targets a specific kind of character; one that is the most subject to prejudice and oppression both in the book and in the real world (back then at least). For this reason, she chose to use black female children. She also targets "ugly" people. She Dumatol2 explains that the characters lived where they were because, "they were poor and black, and they stayed there because they believed they were ugly (Morrison, 38)" It is because Pecola believes in her heart that she is ugly that she so greatly wishes to have blue eyes. And not only does she believe that this will fix her appearance, but she also believes that everyone will finally accept her. She believes that she will become like Shirley Temple or the likes of her. She explains that this began with, "Christmas and the gift of dolls. The big, the special, the loving gift was always a big, blue-eyed Baby Doll (Morrison, 20)" With the gift of blue-eyed baby dolls coming left and right Morrison shows the character struggling to understand why anyone would ever think that this is what she wanted as a
present. She shows Pecola tearing the doll apart, looking for an answer; for something that could explain why she is so widely bought and accepted. It is through tough deliration that she decides that the thing that makes her so special; so wanted, are her blue eyes. Lastly, in her continuous effort to negotiate her oppressive language, she includes the use of such language in both black and white characters. This eliminates any reason to look at the white characters as overly racist. The "N word" seems to be a common word between the two communities and it doesn't seem to faze them when it is used. However the author does manage to give the reader more backstory to its use. She had explained to him the difference between colored people and niggers. They were easily identifiable. Colored people were neat and quite; niggers were dirty and loud (Morrison, 87). In conclusion, it is through smart negotiation and explanation that Toni Morrison is able to incorporate oppressive language into her text in the most invisible of manners. In other words, Dumatol3 its incorporation is apparent, but it doesn't offend or distort the reader's view of the story. One could argue that oppressive language was necessary to make the book more understandable and more appealing to real-world situations. Toni Morrison definitely negotiated her way out of using oppressive language.
Another topic that in interesting to discuss is why this white boy was forced to live in such poor conditions. Dalton Conley stated in the book that despite his mother and fathers economic standings, his family was able to maintain a livable lifestyle where many neighbors and friends at that time could not of enjoyed. His family could have moved to a more up scale, refined community, but simply couldn't afford it.
A common theme in books that involve slavery, but extremely important. Race can be defined as a group of people who are grouped together because they are related by similar descent. Throughout the book the whites were grouped together and separated by their power. The blacks as well were grouped together and was withheld from freedom. Even in the book when Celia persistently told the lawyer that she worked alone in her crime. They did not want to come to terms with the fact that no other slave helped, especially given her gender and physical state. They categorized the slaves based on there race, in wanting to punish someone for the death of Mr.
The reader is first introduced to racial prejudice in the novel through the characters of the children with whom the novel opens. The Logan children are going to school when they meet their friend TJ, who tells them about the burning of Mr Berr...
...al stereotypes to allow the readers to make their own assumptions based on their personal thoughts and beliefs. Many of the stereotypes that Morrison chose to use portray more of a socioeconomic class and not discriminating by race. As the setting or environment changed, it will be seen as a symbol of transformation of both Roberta and Twyla friendship. Each circumstance that they went through was distinctive. It tested the strength of their relationship with one another and exemplified their struggles they were facing in society. They had to adjust their beliefs to match the changing phases in the United States as many blacks and whites today still face problems in society about racial stereotypes and segregation. Toni Morrison portrayed racial identity not by black and white, but as irrelevant to relationships but rather by means of distinguishing between people.
Morrison shows readers a side of American History rarely seen. She shows the deepness of prejudice and how many different ways it has effected people. While she does this she also tells a story of soul searching, Milkman tries to find himself among many people who are confused and ate up by hate and prejudice. In the end, he is able to find who he is and where he stands on all of the issues that are going on around him. When he gets this understanding Milkman retrieves, and achieves his childhood dream of flying.
The Black women writers like Alice Walker, Paule Marshall, Toni Cade Banbara and Toni Morrison have always propagated the black feminist consciousness through their works. By giving voice to the voiceless, these writers renounce all the negative stereotypical images of black women. Morrison is an important writer among the league who has always startled her readers with her creative powers by giving her work such a finesse that one feels engulfed in her storyline. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993, her novels are replete with African American cultural aura : myths, symbols, festivals and the name that she assigns to her characters. Sula (1973) is the second novel of Toni Morrison which is set in her Medallion, Ohio. The novel involved a lot of critical attention as far as her depiction of Sula is concerned. Sula, the protagonist of this eponymous novel, is unlike the other female protagonists for the way she attains her personal identity is quite unusual. She is not a conventional woman who accepts the societal laws and norms wholeheartedly but her heroism lies in her way of abrogating such societal pressures. She challenges all such patriarchal paradigms that aim at belittling black women. The birth of the community “Bottom” directs us to the notions of racism prevalent in America. The name Bottom is ironic in the sense that it is high up the hills and hence believed to be a “nigger joke”. The master outwits his slave by offering him such land where the living was tiresome.
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.
Mock, Michelle. “Spitting out the Seed: Ownership if Mother, Child, Breasts, Milk, and Voice in Toni Morrison’s Beloved.” College Literature, Vol. 23, No.3 (Oct, 1996): 117-126. JSTOR. Web. 27. Oct. 2015.
The social conventions that are set up in this book play out in a small black community in Ohio called "the Bottom." The community itself formed when a white slave owner tricked his naïve black slave into accepting hilly mountainous land that would be hard to farm and very troublesome instead of the actual bottom (fertile valley) land that he was promised. The slave was told "when God looks down, it's the bottom. That's why we call it so. It's the bottom of heaven-best land there is" (4), and on the basis of this lie a community was formed. Its almost as if the towns misfortune is passed down ...
white children.¬ While she was at this age, she was faced a lot of criticism and was
She imagines that she is finally accepted in their social group because of her beauty. In short, the
that the novel is a log of events and a tale of what might be in the
Toni Morrison’s writing is affected by her upbringing in Georgia where sharecropping and racial violence were extremely prevalent and by embracing her heritage as a child through African folklore, music, rituals, and myths, where her family was intimate with the supernatural. Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, a small town in Ohio in 1931. Her birth parents are Ramah and George Wafford. Toni received her Bachelors Degree from Howard University in English and shortly after that; Morrison went back to college to receive her Master’s Degree in English from Cornell University. Later after Morrison married and had two sons, she began working in New York as a textbook editor for a subsidiary of Random House. She began to have more and more free time in the evenings; this environment helped her turn to writing novels. Morrison has received many awards and recognition for her novels. To this day, Morrison is still writing, enjoying life and has recently written a letter to President Obama regarding endorsing him.
is used to draw the reader into the same state of mind of the writer.
attitude towards her made her to realize about her disadvantage in the appearance. Regardless of this,