Morrisons Bluest Eye Essay Self-Definition - 2535 Words

In Toni Morrisons 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 males female but must contend with the white males and the white females black female, a double gender and racial bind. All the male definitions that applied to the white males female apply, in intensified form, to the black males, white males and white females black female. In addition, where the white male and female are represented as beautiful, the black female is the inverse -- ugly. Self-definition is crucial, not only to being, but to creating. As†¦show more content†¦But what happens when this complex issue of gender is further complicated by the superimposition of race, when a black female struggles with transforming the negative space of the female unconscious and the negative space of the black unconscious into a cohesive positive form that is the black females self? In Toni Morrisons 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 males female but must contend with the white males and the white females black female, a double gender and racial bind. All the male definitions that applied to the white males female apply, in intensified form, to the black males, white males and white females black female. In addition, where the white male and femal e are represented as beautiful, the black female is the inverse -- ugly. The black community that internalizes white definitions of self is not unlike the community of women who internalize patriarchal societys definitions of female self; in both cases the results are devastating and self-defeating. Ten-year old Claudia, in a savage renunciation of false racial and gender definitions internalized by the blackShow MoreRelatedstudy on toni morrison Essay2402 Words   |  10 Pagesï » ¿A Study On Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye Ying-Hua,Liao Introduction Toni Morrison was the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature. She is a prominent contemporary American writer devoted to the black literary and cultural movement. Her achievements and dedication to the promotion of black culture have established her distinguished status in American literature. Many critics applaud Toni Morrison’s artistic talent and contribution to American literature. Darwin T. Turner, for exampleRead MoreToni Morrison and Historical Memory5014 Words   |  21 Pagesliterature for African-Americans that enables them to remember their history from slavery to the present. Toni Morrison has been called Americas national author and is often compared with great dominant culture authors such as William Faulkner. Morrisons fiction is valued not only for its entertainment, but through her works, she has presented African-Americans a literature in which their own heritage and history are truthfully disclosed. However, Morrison does not record factual history insteadRead More A Comparison of Christian Symbols in Song of Solomon, Sula, and Beloved2397 Words   |  10 PagesAlthough religion does not exist as a central theme in Toni Morrison’s work, it does set premise for a richly intertwined web of symbolism. Morrison’s novels focus on the lives of characters acting in the present day or recent past. For African Americans, events of the past are a crucial facet of culture as they seek to remember their history, the most influential of these events reaching far back into the years of slavery. Historians argue that for incoming slaves, Christiani ty offered a religiousRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1760 Words   |  8 Pagesmind, not knowing whether to doubt herself or listen to her screaming thoughts. in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, we meet Claudia, a young girl growing up in a puzzling environment. Claudia is growing up in an era where society’s ideology has been carved out by a single group—White America. Beauty is one of the aspects that is forged by this group. Claudia is aware of what society tells her: beautiful is blue eyes and blond hair, and it is not dynamic. Her awareness takes her on a muddled journey,Read MoreThe Effects of Scientific Racism on Black Women Essay5776 Words   |  24 PagesThe Effects of Scientific Racism on Black Women Scientific racism has been used to oppress, enslave and to justify torture. In my essay I will explore how scientific racism has been used to detriment the health of women of colour. Throughout history women of colour have been experimented upon, sexualized and reproductively abused with scientific racism as justification or the underlying premise for the thought behind this abuse. I will explore this idea using examples throughout various periods