Racism In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

Toni Morrison, the author of The Bluest Eye, centers her novel around two things: beauty and wealth in their relation to race and a 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 concerning gender and race. Morrison's characters are clearly at the mercy of preconceived notions maintained by society. Because of these preconceived notions, the racism found in The Bluest Eye is not whites against blacks. Morrison writes about

“‘You are ugly people’” (39). One of the first things that catch the eyes of Morrison’s readers in The Bluest Eye is the classism between her pages. Morrison digs deep into her character’s lives and sets up character flaws that will eventually fall victim to classism. Toni Morrison sets up strong foundations of classism in her book, The Bluest Eye, that shares a harsh truth between the children, adults, and ideas and concepts of beauty.

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.

The second voice in the novel, according to Peach, belongs to a black kinswoman who narrates the sections introduced by excerpts from the primer (26). She is an omniscient narrator who is able to provide a perspective that Claudia could not have given. She has access to information that involves characters that are beyond Claudia's immediate range of experience (26). While Claudia's narration is confined to the present and does not attempt to enter the minds or houses of the other characters, the omniscient narrator moves freely into both of these areas (Bellamy 23). She takes the reader into the Breedlove home in "Autumn" and into Geraldine's house in "Winter," and she enters the minds and lives of Pauline and Cholly Breedlove and Soaphead Church in "Spring" and the mind of Pecola in "Summer." In order to make her story more convincing to the reader, the omniscient narrator uses firsthand sources, such as Pauline's fragmented monologues, Soaphead's letter to God, and Pecola's internal dialogue with her imaginary friend. Thus, the reader can be sure of the accountability of the narrator's story.

In Toni Morrison’s novel, “The Bluest Eye”, a character named Pecola Breedlove had always been wishing to have blue eyes, because it was considered as pretty in the novel’s world. Also, a lighter skins African American, Maureen Peal, bullied the Pecola, who have darker skin, because Maureen Peal thinks herself is cute while Pecola is ugly. Similarly, Pecola always thought of herself in a negative way, in which, she calls herself ugly. On the other hand, Maureen Peal, think highly of herself, because she came from a wealthier family and more people like her. Furthermore, Pecola did not have an easy life due to all those hardships that she had to come across through her life. Morrison’s novel shows a contrast between the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant world and the world the characters of the novel live in by showing us how the characters in the novel are not living a good life and they get treated differently because of their skin color, and they are in a lower class than the others. Also, the kids are being neglected by their parents and there are child molestation in the family. I think today’s world is slowing changing but still has some similar divisions, because there is still racism out there. However, people are starting to stand up for themselves and appreciate their own culture and ethnicity more in today’s world.

In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye the main conflict of the story is about an African American girl that believes her life would be better if she had blue eyes, or in other words being white. The setting takes place in Ohio during the 1940’s, also their is a lot of racism in The Bluest Eye although it is not directly brought out. Instead Toni Morrison addresses racism in this story by having people look at themselves with a form of self hatred rather than a race with privilege judging them.

Society, especially western, conceptualizes beauty through the use of publicity and cinema. We are under constant bombardment from consumer related magazine ads, billboards, television commercials, and movies about what “beautiful” people look like and how we should imitate them. This standard is overwhelmingly portrayed as white beauty. Starting from a young age this standard of beauty is forged in our minds; we want to look like these actors and models; we want to be thin, fit, youthful looking, have a symmetrical face and possibly even posses a particular race. We accept this beauty standard; we notice our various faults among ourselves and self-critique. We try to emulate the models as best we can and we fail to realize that these

In The Bluest Eye, Morrison’s uses her critique of racism so that white readers can imagine or understand what it feels like to be the on the other side of what is not considered beauty as Pecola, Claudia, and Freida suffer from the stigma of ugliness and being African-American (Bump). Through Morrison’s ability to convey the truth to readers about how beauty is socially structured, she uses Claudia, the narrator, to signify the search for the truth, “..the edge, the curl, the thrust of their emotions is always clear to Frieda and me. We do not, cannot, know the mean-ings of all the words, for we are nine and ten years old. So we watch their faces, their hands, their feet, and listen for truth in timbre” (Morrison). We all were the ages of

There are many themes that seem to run throughout this story. Each theme and conflict seems to always involve the character of Pecola Breedlove. There is the theme of finding an identity. There is also the theme of Pecola as a victim. Of all the characters in the story we can definitely sympathize with Pecola because of the many harsh circumstances she has had to go through in her lifetime. Perhaps her rape was the most tragic and dramatic experience Pecola had experiences, but nonetheless she continued her life. She eliminates her sense of ugliness, which lingers in the beginning of the story, and when she sees that she has blue eyes now she changes her perspective on life. She believes that these eyes have been given

Love is a concept that we all desire, the feeling of acceptance, protection and comfort relieves a heavy weight on one’s heart. The novel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, displays multiple interpretations of love. Morrison’s main character, Pecola Breedlove an eleven year old African American girl, displays the best example of love because she unselfishly took on the burdens of her family, friends and society. This burden makes her feel ugly; so she wishes to change her outward appearance, specifically her blue eyes, and wants to change the world around her. Pecola Breedlove naturally craves for acceptance, love and protection from her family, friends and society.

Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, sets forth the story of three young black girls living in the town of Lorain, Ohio during the 1940’s. The story primarily focuses on the life of Pecola Breedlove, which is narrated through the eyes Claudia, who also reflects upon the events through the course of a year. These girls face challenges in their everyday lives concerning fitting into society regarding their skin color and status as minorities. Morrison illustrates extreme situations and plants her characters in these situations to bring forth the seemingly submerge fragile issues of colorism, eluding to a slight context of beauty and racism that are still prevalent today.

Unlike other books on the subject of racism that were published at the time of Toni Morrison, Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” is exceptional because of the manner in which it addresses the persistent effects of slavery, mainly self-hatred, instead of the most apparent problems of isolation. In this book, black characters are infatuated with the idea of what white represents. Being that this book highlights the problems of racism and segregation, the author employs a number of symbols to illustrate his point. One of these symbols used by Toni Morrison is the blue eyes. In the book, the characters are obsessed about the blue eyes and what it represents to each of them.

Many African American women have been the backbone and the guiding light of their household. Women, from the dawn of time have been set to domestic duties, rarely ever stepping out of that role. But for African American women it was a lot different than the average white woman in the 1940s. During the 1940s it was a bit more complex than just playing a domestic role; working in labor factories, cleaning houses and they were also subjected to racism. The 1940s seemed like it was far removed from slavery but in reality, although it was abolished, slavery was embedded into the mind of Americans all over the United States. As if they were not oppressed enough, a complex began amongst African Americans. The complex was based on up north blacks vs. down south blacks, lighter skinned blacks vs. darker skinned blacks amongst other smaller issues that they thought made one superior over the other. This complex brought forth identity issues, especially women.

Racism is a social construct that has plagued America since its conception and is something that continues to do so to this day. In America’s earliest times racism presented itself in the concept of slavery. When that was abolished it presented itself in the Jim Crow Laws and separate but equal. Today racism presents itself in more discreet, sinister ways like mass incarceration, or the recent rash of police shooting of unarmed black teenagers. However, the most sinister way that racism affects us today and the way it infects those in Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye is the importance that is placed on the all-American family and how this excludes African Americans. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye details how American ideals often contradict with the reality of what goes on in America and how vast the difference is between the two especially when it comes to race.

The Bluest Eye, Toni, Morrison’s First Novel is considered as one of the prominent greatest literary works that dominates the genre of Afro- American literature.