The Bluest Eye Research Paper
Errick Pope Pope 1
English 1102
Dr. Barker
January 23, 2013
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye is a novel about the events that occurred in America during the 1940s. It is mainly about an African American family, the Breedloves, and their everyday struggle to cope with the situations they faced during that time. In the 1940s, African Americans had to deal with many types of oppression, marginalization, and idealism. The Breedloves had to also deal with the fact that they are socially, financially, and politically inferior to white people in that time. The idealism is prominent in The Bluest Eye. During …show more content…
Pecola and Claudia tried to find something imperfect about Maureen. They did this because they were jealous of her being light skinned and “as rich as the richest of the white girls”(Maureen pg. 62). When Pecola and Maureen get into an argument, Maureen starts to call her an ugly, black girl. They go back and forth with it, they were being prejudice towards each other, Pecola picks on Maureen because she is light skinned and calls her “six-finger-dog-tooth-meringue-pie,” and Maureen picks on Pecola because she is darker than her. Another example of intra-racial racism is when Junior invites Pecola to his house in exchange for some kittens. When Pecola sees Junior’s home, it is really different from hers. His was pretty and well furnished; her home was nothing like that. See, Junior’s mother, Geraldine, did not let Junior to play with black people. She had explained to him the difference between “colored” people and “niggers”. “Colored” people were neat and quiet; “niggers” were dirty and loud. Junior belonged to the “colored” group. He was neat, he kept his hair cut low, and he wore white shirts and blue trousers, although he was light skinned, the line between “colored” and “nigger” was not always clear. He took Pecola into a room, he threw a black cat at her. The cat scratched her face, trying to right itself. Junior kept Pecola prisoner in that room and pushed her down when she tried to leave. After the …show more content…
African Americans faced many economic barriers during that time period. The black people worked in the mines or worked as servants for white people. The people of middle class white culture think that they have to separate themselves from lower class blacks, or what they called “black e mos,” who they thought were lazy criminals. Race is a very important determinate in The Bluest Eye. Because Cholly is a black guy, the white guys humiliate him when he is forced to have sex with the girl for their amusement. After that happened, Cholly developed a hatred towards women, leading to alcoholism, and in turn, him raping Pecola. Similarly, Soaphead Church was raised in a type of family that would marry light skinned black people to make their family’s features whiter. He starts an obsession for purity in everything, but mostly racial purity, which was being
English 1102
Dr. Barker
January 23, 2013
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye is a novel about the events that occurred in America during the 1940s. It is mainly about an African American family, the Breedloves, and their everyday struggle to cope with the situations they faced during that time. In the 1940s, African Americans had to deal with many types of oppression, marginalization, and idealism. The Breedloves had to also deal with the fact that they are socially, financially, and politically inferior to white people in that time. The idealism is prominent in The Bluest Eye. During …show more content…
Pecola and Claudia tried to find something imperfect about Maureen. They did this because they were jealous of her being light skinned and “as rich as the richest of the white girls”(Maureen pg. 62). When Pecola and Maureen get into an argument, Maureen starts to call her an ugly, black girl. They go back and forth with it, they were being prejudice towards each other, Pecola picks on Maureen because she is light skinned and calls her “six-finger-dog-tooth-meringue-pie,” and Maureen picks on Pecola because she is darker than her. Another example of intra-racial racism is when Junior invites Pecola to his house in exchange for some kittens. When Pecola sees Junior’s home, it is really different from hers. His was pretty and well furnished; her home was nothing like that. See, Junior’s mother, Geraldine, did not let Junior to play with black people. She had explained to him the difference between “colored” people and “niggers”. “Colored” people were neat and quiet; “niggers” were dirty and loud. Junior belonged to the “colored” group. He was neat, he kept his hair cut low, and he wore white shirts and blue trousers, although he was light skinned, the line between “colored” and “nigger” was not always clear. He took Pecola into a room, he threw a black cat at her. The cat scratched her face, trying to right itself. Junior kept Pecola prisoner in that room and pushed her down when she tried to leave. After the …show more content…
African Americans faced many economic barriers during that time period. The black people worked in the mines or worked as servants for white people. The people of middle class white culture think that they have to separate themselves from lower class blacks, or what they called “black e mos,” who they thought were lazy criminals. Race is a very important determinate in The Bluest Eye. Because Cholly is a black guy, the white guys humiliate him when he is forced to have sex with the girl for their amusement. After that happened, Cholly developed a hatred towards women, leading to alcoholism, and in turn, him raping Pecola. Similarly, Soaphead Church was raised in a type of family that would marry light skinned black people to make their family’s features whiter. He starts an obsession for purity in everything, but mostly racial purity, which was being