Blak Subjugation by Whites in The Bluest Eye
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Toni Morrison in her novel The Bluest Eye addresses an issue that was raised by Malcolm X in his autobiography and by other black writers examining their place in American society, and that issue is the degree to which blacks have been subjugated by whites not only in economic and social terms but in terms of ideas about beauty. Malcolm X noted the relationship between black acceptance of the prevailing white idea of beauty and blacks' low self-esteem, and he himself was subject to this when he was a young man as he admired "high-yellow" women rather than dark black women and used extraordinary means to straighten his hair. Pecola Breedlove, Morrison's main character, has a similar reaction to her physical characteristics--she would change them if she could and does change those she can in order to reflect the idea of beauty held by white society. In so doing, she denies her blackness, her heritage, her reality and descends into madness. Her story is presented in terms of family breakdown, self-destruction, and the fusion of sex and racism which Morrison sees as characteristic of American society. The opening of the novel is especially interesting and especially telling as it depicts the themes of the book by means of a direct linguistic representation of family disintegration. The first paragraph is repeated three times, but each time it has a different characteristic and a different symbolic meaning. The first paragraph is written as if by a child with simple descrip
. . .
ld take a long, long time (Morrison 40).
The color blue is a motif running through the book and evoking an image of beauty and specialness sought by Pecola, and the one connection she makes with blue is through her blue-eyed black cat.
The story of pecola is a story of color and color clashes. the children in her school make fun of the color of her skin. Pecola falls short of the American ideal of beauty and is uncertain of herself as a result. She is everything that white society despises and views as undesirable--she is black, dark black, with dark eyes and dark hair. Maureen is her "high yellow" friend from school. Maureen has green eyes and is more acceptable than is Pecola, and she also has a greater impact because of her looks:
This disrupter of seasons was a new girl in school named Maureen Peal. A high-yellow dream child with long brown hair braided into two lynch ropes that hung down her back. . . There was a hint of spring in her sloe green eyes, something summery in her complexion, and a rich autumn ripeness in her walk (Morrison 52-53).
This contrasts sharply with Pecola, who is merely dark, an evocation of night rather than day. Maureen is not made fun of by her classmates but is rather sought out by boy and
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1606
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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