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
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Coming of Age in Mississippi is an eye-opening testimony to the racism that exemplified what it was like to be an African American living in the south before and after the civil rights movements in the 50’s and 60’s. African Americans had been given voting and citizen rights‚ but did not and to a certain degree‚ still can not enjoy these rights. The southern economy that Anne Moody was born into in the 40’s was one that was governed and ruled by a bunch of whites‚ many of which who very prejudice
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The Bluest Eye tells the story of a young black girl growing up in the United States during the late 1930’s and early 40’s. Toni Morrison does an outstanding job of painting a realistic depiction of what life would have been like for a black person back then with almost no original named white characters. Instead‚ she creates a gradient of shades of black characters and shows how racism was internalized among black people. There are different ways is how she shows this‚ whether by age of the character
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York: Library of Congress‚ 1994. Pages 3-9<br><li>Harris‚ Trudier. Fiction and Folklore: The Novels of Toni Morrison Knoxville: The university of Tennessee press‚ 1991<br><li>Morrison‚ Toni. Sula. New York: Plume‚ 1973<br><li>Morrison‚ Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Plume‚ 1970<br><li>Stepto‚ Robert. "Conversations with Toni Morrison" Intimate Things in Place: A conversation with Toni Morrison. Massachusetts Review. New York: Library of Congress‚ 1991. Pages 10- 29.
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RACIAL SELF LOATHING IN THE BLUEST EYE In "The Bluest Eye"‚ author Toni Morrison builds a story around the concept of racial self-hatred and how it comes to exist in the mind of a young child. "The Bluest Eye" deals directly with the individual psychology of the main character‚ Pecola Breedlove. So intense are Pecola’s feelings of self-loathing and inferiority that she would do anything to soothe them. In her young mind‚ she needs a miracle; she needs the bluest eyes. All of the tragedies in this
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create a schism between who a person is in reality and what they try to be‚ often leading that person to question whether they feel justified in their conformity. Ultimately though‚ guilt coming from a questioning of conformity is easier to live with than the admittance of unchangeable insecurities. In The Bluest Eye‚ Pecola Breedlove shows that when stripped of any ability to achieve outward conformity‚ the pointlessness of self-hatred forcibly endured will result in extreme methods of escape‚ in her
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subjectivity towards racism‚ Toni Morrison paved the way for an entire generation of African American women. With her two famous books “The Bluest Eye” and “Sula‚” she gave a voice to their worthiness and beauty. As soon as Toni Morrison was born‚ her parents moved to the North‚ to escape the problems of southern racism. Morrison’s father‚ George Wofford‚ from an early age discussed
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Helpless In “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and “From Songs of Experience: The Chimney-Sweeper” by William Blake‚ the main characters are highly disadvantaged children. Morrison’s characters are experiencing the effects of the great depression‚ while Blake’s speaker is a victim of child labour during the industrial revolution in London. Blake’s speaker describes the child workers as experiencing “misery” (141). According to the Oxford English Dictionary‚ misery can be interpreted as “distress caused
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truly fulfilling life. Morrison‚ the author of The Bluest Eye and McCarthy‚ the author of All the Pretty Horses‚ created stories about characters that try to rise above themselves‚ yet are unable to do so. Through Cholly trying to escape the events of his childhood‚ Pecola trying to change her physical features‚ and John trying to prevent the dying Western culture‚ these characters will be unable to do so and rise above themselves. In The Bluest Eye‚ Cholly Breedlove is a character whose childhood
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The Destructive Force in Beauty Beauty is dangerous‚ especially when you lack it. In the book "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison‚ we witness the effects that beauty brings. Specifically the collapse of Pecola Breedlove‚ due to her belief that she did not hold beauty. The media in the 1940 ’s as well as today imposes standards in which beauty is measured up to; but in reality beauty dwells within us all whether it ’s visible or not there ’s beauty in all; that beauty is unworthy if society brands
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