Preview

The Theme Of Banning Books In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
687 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Theme Of Banning Books In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye- Toni Morrison
Is banning a book breaching a student’s first amendment right? Or perhaps is it protecting them from topics which may be considered vulgar? Some critics wish to ban books from schools because of the book’s content. However, other critics believe that no books should be banned, and that instead they should be read at the reader’s discretion. The topics in the books that critics wish to ban range from violence, sexual acts, racism, and many others. One such book that has been challenged in schools is Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye. Although Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye has been challenged in schools by those who wish to ban it because of its obscenities, some critics believe the book has meritorious morals.
The Bluest Eye has been challenged several times in the United States, since the novel was first published in 1970. The most recent banning occurred in 2014, at Legacy High School, because the novel was deemed a “badbook” (“Banned”). Educators often use their personal opinions to justify their
…show more content…
One reason critics praise Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye is because of the way the novel accurately portrays the way society views itself and others (Hoffman). She precisely shows in her work, that mankind is flawed in this aspect. Similar to that, Toni Morrison asks the novel’s readers “to think about perspectives of all types” (Hoffman). With the book’s inclusion of racism and self loathing the author wants the readers to connect with the protagonist, on an emotional basis, and try to first-hand understand Pecola’s perspective. Perhaps the most significant reason critics cite in favor of the novel not being banned is the story’s potential to incite analyzations about self-esteem and body image (Lalami). Readers and educators alike could read the book in detail, and have discussions about the author’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    values abolished the poor Breedlove parents who fail to shelter their children, Pecola and Sammy,…

    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Censorship a Personal View,” Judy Blume connects the consequences academic censorship has on young adults with her own experiences. She recalled how censoring had increased dramatically, causing activists to protest in multiple education centers. Blume believes banning books from classrooms can decrease learning in real life situations. She recounted an experience with her own book being banned from children because it contained “explicit content”. Blume adds, she will continue to write to give students the right to books she was denied due to censorship.…

    • 152 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The theme of the story, “The Bluest Eye” written by Toni Morrison, demonstrates the connection between the self-esteem of African-American people (beauty and ugliness), racism and hate. The reason why this theme is discussed was because, we can go back to the origins of African-Americans, it relates to the African diaspora, Jim Crow era, and how people negatively look at blacks today in society, and white supremacy destroyed black imaginary. But before this goes on furthermore, the audience needs to understand the importance of the dominant society which strongly removed the identity of African-American. Claudia and Maureen play perfect roles during the story. They show…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin, "The Bluest Eye" is Toni Morrison's first novel. This novel tells a story of an African American girl's desire for the bluest eyes, which is the symbol for her of what it means to feel beautiful and accepted in society (American). In the novel, women suffer from the racial oppression, but they also suffer from violation and harsh actions brought to them by men (LitCharts). Male oppression is told all throughout the story, but the theme of women and feminity with the actions of male oppression over the women reaches its horrible climax when one…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    shall not be taught in their schools. I oppose their decision to ban the novel. The novel exhibits lessons and teachings that are essential for one to learn in his lifetime. The novel displays concepts such as, young love, limitations of the law, and how an individual death affects a community. Additionally, themes in the novel expose messages including grief is both necessary and debilitating a painful reality, loss is inevitable, and justice is worth striving for even if one thinks he will never achieve it. This novel will help one to understand why people become deviants and murderers as well as acknowledging the importance of paying attention to the living…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A three-hundred-year history of slavery in America led to a psychological oppression of black people in America, which still exists today. Toni Morrison decides not to delineate how white dominance has affected African-Americans culturally yet she challenges American standards of white beauty and how that beauty is socially constructed within our culture. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison uses society’s image of beauty to demonstrate how the value of black beauty is diminished by racial prejudices and dilemmas through the lives of Pecola Breedlove, Claudia and Freida MacTeer, whose young minds were affected by this internalized idea that the color of your skin determined how perfect or worthy you were seen, not to yourself and on the inside, but…

    • 125 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Banning the books that address ideas that parents’ do not agree with does not solve or hid the problems away. Comparing to the parents in the book how they at first did not acknowledge the protagonists problems she could have been saved earlier. What parents and school administrators need to realize that banning the books does not solve the problem. The issues that the book covers surround the kids from every other aspect of their lives, they will still be able to witness others using drugs or be involved themselves…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oppression is a prevalent and reoccurring theme in black literature. African-American novelists in the early 20th century offered a predominantly white audience an insight into black culture and vocalized the injustice had by their hands. Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye both incorporate controversial female protagonists facing the challenge of mental oppression by both personal and societal belief, and physical abuse at the hands of their aggressors. Whilst each arguably feminist bildungsroman faces criticism for misrepresenting relationships and stereotyping behaviour in black society, it is widely accepted that both authors explore and bring attention to the oppression and abuse of women in a modern context.…

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    I added more ways of which this book would harm individuals in high school who read it, because this is the main focus of my paper in regards to the prompt. I also included more in-text citations from The Bluest Eye to support my claim and my evidence that support it. I included another counter argument that others might use against banning the book from high schools, which is always good strategy in an argumentative paper. I incorporated that France may have taken Morrison’s intentions out of context, but still that it doesn't affect the way that it comes across to students who read it generally.…

    • 1990 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Banning Books

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Each year, hundreds of individuals attempt to take books off the shelves of school libraries. Banning books takes away our privilege, as American citizens, to read what we want (Source 1). If people are offended by a book, depriving the entire state of their ability to read that certain book is not the solution. There are various other ways to ensure that parents who do not want their children to read particular books without abolishing them from the entire school. Banning books from schools restrains students from their first amendment rights by taking away their freedom of press and in some cases, religion (Source 1).…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Bluest Eye

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Finding good qualities in any of the men of The Bluest Eye are hard to come by. There are many factors that come into play that have shaped the personalities of all of these males. The female characters in the novel endured a lot in coping with the males. Toni Morrison does an exceptional job of painting a vivid picture of the social climate of America in the 1960’s and society’s affects on the people of The Bluest Eye. In a variety of ways, the males of The Bluest Eye have many issues in their past that cause them to act very callous, immoral and bring a lot of anguish to those around them.…

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first amendment: freedom of speech is violated with censorship. In the ALA Library Bill of Rights, parents, and only parents, have the right to prohibit or control what their children read. Freedom of expression and of opinion is for everyone, not just for the people that the majority thinks are right. In 1953, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas said, “Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could easily defeat us,”(Quotations: First Amendment, Censorship…). This shows that even the government can see the harmful effects of book banning. Furthermore, “the school alone has the final say in what books are appropriate for the children under its care to read,…

    • 357 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Banned Books

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Bible, The Diary of Anne Frank, Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter. These classic books have changed lives of many people, but for what? Witchcraft, Religion, racism? These books have been in are education program for educational purposes. Just because one person gets a little bit hurt because a book of all things said something that could corrupt there child’s learning is not right. First children have a right to read whatever they choose, Citizens should have access to what they want and should not be controlled by the government, Adults should monitor what their children read but not have an influence on other children. The government and people of the U.S should not have control on what we read.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Multiple regularly challenged books have a tremendous educational value that can’t be expressed as profoundly through clean-cut novels. Many challenged novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby are taught as a part of the literary curriculum in schools (ALA). For example, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has been challenged countlessly for profanity and it’s controversial racial themes, but the extended metaphor of the children’s relationship with Boo Radley throughout the novel is a literary staple that has inspired many books to come. All throughout the book Scout and Jem, the two main children, are scared of Boo Radley, the local “ghost.” They give into a million rumors and are terrified and curious about this mystical being.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Bluest Eye

    • 1681 Words
    • 7 Pages

    “ A little black girl yearns for the blue eyes of a little white girl, and the horror at the heart of her yearning is exceeded only by the evil of fulfillment.” This quote from The Bluest Eye is the meaning of the story in a sentence. Toni Morrison is the author of this very powerful and emotional novel and through her use of symbolism, Morrison tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, an African American girl, and her struggle to achieve the acceptance and love she desires from her family and friends.…

    • 1681 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays