Race And Racism In The Bluest Eye

Race and racism are complicated issues in The Bluest Eye. Unlike typical portrayals of racism, involving white hatred against blacks, The Bluest Eye primarily explores the issue of racism occurring between people of color. Race is not only defined by the color of one's skin, the shape of one's features, or the texture of one's hair, but also by one's place of origin, socioeconomic class, and educational background. "Whiteness" is associated with virtue, cleanliness, and value, while being black is associated with immorality, dirtiness, and worthlessness.

These ideas of race, having to do with cleanliness, virtue, and value, become internalized to varying degrees by different characters. Internalizing these ideas of race ultimately leads to racial self-hatred among the characters of The Bluest Eye, which creates various forms of dysfunction in the characters' lives for example Soaphead Church, who can't stand the dirtiness he associates with black women, directs his sexual desires toward children. Born Elihue Micah Whitcomb, Soaphead Church a light-skinned West Indian misanthrope who was raised in a family proud of its mixed blood, politically ambitious and continuously corrupt. To the Whitcombs, whites were always superior and therefore beautiful; as a result, they cherished their relationship with whites and sought to maintain their heritage of
The family has constructed their identity based on their white heritage. The "white strain" becomes their most important asset, as it allows them limited access to the white world. This obsession, however, leads to a hatred of their black ancestry, self-hatred, and even incestuous marriages to preserve the white heritage. Education becomes another defining characteristic of the family's whiteness, and through education they are able to attain positions of power. These positions of power, however, allow the family to continue the legacy of racial