Racism

Racism in Different Forms These two stories have to do with a great deal of racism and ignorance within American culture along with culture around the world. To give a quick overview into the two books The Bluest Eye takes place during the 1940’s during a time of great racism and hatred toward African-American and minority culture as a whole. To make matters even worse there is racism within cultures which plays a major role in the story. While A Stranger in the Village written in 1955 depicts an African-American man moving into a village in Switzerland where some of the villagers have never seen a person of color before. This short story shows more of a culture to culture hatred and displays that many cultures were built on racism and White’s being the superior race. In these two stories Both Toni Morrison author of The Bluest Eye and James Baldwin author of A stranger in the Village have similar but different beliefs on racism in the world. Morrison talks about how racism doesn’t only happen outside, but also within one’s culture. While Baldwin talks more about how racism shaped many cultures and how this world is no longer white, and it will never be white again. While reading through A Stranger in the Village Baldwin made it clear that racism still exists in the world and is very much a real thing. He says that being an American we don’t notice color like other countries do because we have lived alongside each other for many years. While other cultures like the little village in Switzerland “It did not occur to me-possibly because I am an American-that there could be people anywhere who have never seen a Negro.” This was culture shock to the people of the village who at first would touch his hair or skin to see what a black man felt like. Sometimes “the children would shout Neger! Neger! As I walked through the streets.” This is a direct influence of the parents of the children. Baldwin goes on to explain that “white men prefer to keep black man at a certain human remove because it is easier for him thus to preserve his simplicity and avoid being called to account for crimes committed by his forefathers, or his neighbors” This statement could not be more true and sums up exactly what the author is trying to get across. He does go onto say that over time the villagers started to wonder less about his skin and hair and more about where he came from. The people of the village started to warm up to him and except him but still like any place where racism exists, others still didn’t disliked him saying “the devil is the black man.” While the Americans enslaved many African Americans the origination of racism didn’t come from the states, but in reality it all boils down to Europe where our forefathers originated from. In society the Americans are a much more well-rounded culture because we have lived side by side each other for hundreds of years. Baldwin goes to say on his last line of the story “This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again” meaning that we have built this country on diversity and freedom no matter how hard we have had to fight for it. The Bluest Eye was written in a different set of circumstances where she believes to some extent everyone is racist. This story was set in the 1940’s where she shows us a different form of racism that many people don’t even think about when the word racism comes to mind. She shows us that racism can even exist within ones culture. Geraldine, Junior and Maureen Peal are all African-Americans but light skinned and middle class people where the Macteer and Breedlove family are dark skinned and are lower class families. Maureen befriends Pecola an eleven year old dark skinned girl but one day after getting into a fight with Frieda and accidently striking Pecola during it Maureen yells “I am cute! And you are ugly!, Black and ugly.” This hurt Pecola greatly and for the first time we see racism within the black culture, depicting if you have lighter skin you are closer to white, which apparently makes you better. To the light skinned wealthy people such as Maureen “Black” is associated with being poor, unsuccessful and a criminal. Morrison then goes on to write about Geraldine an older light skinned black women with a son named junior. She explains to her son the “differences between colored people and niggers… Colored people are neat and quiet; niggers are dirty and loud.” She treats these dark skinned African-Americans as almost a separate race. Her son Junior doesn’t believe in what his mother tells her and revolts against her, abusing and killing her beautiful blue eyed cat that was so dear to her.(blaming it on Pecola)The end of this story ends very sadly with her father Cholly raping her, dieing in an accident at work, and sadly taking the innocents from Pecola altogether. Within these two stories there are many similarities between them, the obvious one being racism and the hatred of the African-American culture. Both stories showed a person trying to overcome the differences in their culture and wanting to be accepted for who they are. In both cases the African-American person had to except what the white people believed of them and just agree with what they were saying, and how they acted towards them. They all knew that to fight back would only cause more problems in the future. Such as in A Stranger in the Village when the little children would call him a “Neger” he would shake it off and go with the “Smile-and-the-world-smiles-with-you routine” meaning if you act like you don’t care then they get no satisfaction out of what they are doing. This also happened in The Bluest Eye when individuals would make fun of Pecola calling her ugly she learned to shake it off and deep down inside she knew she was beautiful no matter what anyone said to her. In each story they both encountered people with an undeserved since of entitlement. Such as in A Stranger in the Village where most of the people in the village have never seen America nor much outside their village, “Yet they move with an authority which I shall never have.” Or the light skinned African-Americans in The Bluest Eye thinking they are better than the darker skinned people just because their light skin is closer to white. There is no real reason these people should feel this since of entitlement but they do just because the color of their skin. Along with these similarities the two stories also present some major differences. While The Bluest Eye focuses mainly on racism within the African-American culture A Stranger in the Village focuses on the more traditional white verse black racism. In his writing Baldwin seemed to be more accepting of the whites while Morrison is more skeptical of whites as well as their own race. Baldwin believes that there will always be racism in the world but there is no more white supremacy while Morrison believes that racism and white supremacy will always be around. The major difference that separates these two stories is that of in culture racism, which many of us don’t even think about when we hear the word racist. In The Bluest Eye they thought that if you had lighter black skin you were less of an African-American than those of darker color skin, this is totally wrong. Instead of being proud of their past heritage they pushed it away in order to get away from it. A stranger in the Village seemed to embrace his past heritage and be proud of it no matter what anyone said. To say the least The Bluest Eye opened up a whole different form of racism, which many of us may not even know about.
To sum both these stories up they both focused on racism and what the author really believed was a problem in the world. Even if they focused on a different form of racism they’re still talking about something that affects them every day. Being an African-American writer in the 1950’s racism was a firsthand experience, something they couldn’t get away from. So in order to shed light on the subject they took to the pen and explained their views on racism as they saw it from day to day.