Awhitaker21

Race and Beauty:

Morrison begins the novel by saying "quiet as its kept" implying that a secret of some sort persist (citation). In the article Racism and Appearance in The Bluest Eye: A Template for an Ethical Emotive Criticism, Jerome Bump understands this secret to be the fear of ugliness (citation). Bump uses the concept of imagining an ugly Jesus and states that we cannot do this because the assumption made is that the outside of a person ultimately reflects the inside. Bump furthers his analysis by explaining how physical beauty is a virtue embedded in our societal cloth. (citation)

Literary critic Lynn Scott contends that the constant images of whiteness in The Bluest Eye serve to represent society's perception of beauty, but the idealization of white beauty standards ultimately proves to have destructive consequences which lead to Pecola's demise. Scott explains that superiority, power, and virtue are associated with beauty, 

which is inherent in whiteness in the novel. She further asserts that white beauty standards are perpetuated by visual images in the media as well as attitudes of the family. When Pauline first arrives in Lorain, she feels pressure to conform to white beauty standards and begins to develop a construct of femininity based on the actresses she watches in the movies. For example, she begins to model her hairstyle after Jean Harlow. Pecola is also surrounded by constant images of whiteness that perpetuate white beauty standards, including references to Shirley Temple and an image of Mary Jane that appears on her candy wrappers. Scott claims that Pecola, "...is the victim of a power that values and classifies bodies according to norms established and disseminated by visual images."[38] These images become a constant reminder of her inability to attain these white beauty standards.[39] Pecola attempts to seek the power associated with whiteness, and in her attempt to conform to these cultural ideals, she develops a destructive desire for blue eyes.[38] In addition to the white beauty standards promoted by the media, Harihar Kulkarni, an author of a book on African American feminist fiction literature,[40] recognizes that these ideals are often transferred generationally. Kulkarni asserts that Pecola's feelings of inferiority are linked to Pauline's own diminished sense of self-worth which she has acquired due to her obsession with white beauty standards. This acceptance of inferiority and ugliness, which has been passed on generationally, makes Pauline complicit in Pecola's descent into madness and the psychological damage she experiences. In contrast, Claudia has maintained her self-esteem due to Mrs. MacTeer's refusal to surrender her sense of identity to white cultural standards.[40]Ultimately, Pauline and Pecola develop a sense of shame and internalized self-hatred since they cannot achieve the beauty ideals that exist in society.[38] This shame is particularly damaging for Pecola, because as Pecola strives to attain these unobtainable white beauty standards, she is consumed by her own destructive self-hatred,[39] resulting in irreversible psychological damage.[41]

Abuse:

J. Brooks Bouson, English professor at Loyola University Chicago, claims that The Bluest Eye is a "shame drama and trauma narrative," that uses Pecola and its other characters to examine how people respond to shame.[45][46] Bouson argues that some characters, like Claudia, show how people can respond violently to shame: Claudia does this by rejecting the racist system she lives in and destroying the white dolls she is given. However, most characters in the novel pass on their shame to someone below them on the social and racial ladder.[45] For example, Soaphead Church comes from a family obsessed with lightening their skin tone, and passes on the shame of his African American heritage by molesting young girls. Bouson suggests that all of the African American characters in The Bluest Eye exhibit shame, and eventually much of this shame is passed onto Pecola, who is at the bottom of the racial and social ladder.[45]

Author Phillip Page focuses on the importance of duality in The Bluest Eye. He claims that Morrison prevents an "inverted world," entirely opposite from the Dick and Jane story that is at the beginning of the novel.[37] The idea of breaks and splitting is common, as seen in the context of the war occurring in the time period of the story, the split nature of Pecola's family, and the watermelon that Cholly observes break open during a flashback.[37] Page argues that breaks symbolize the challenges of African American life, as seen in the rip in the Breedloves' couch that symbolizes poverty, or the break in Pauline's tooth that ruins her marriage and family. He goes on to identify how each of the characters are broken personally, since Cholly's former and present life is described as chaotic and jumbled, and Pauline both is responsible for her biological family as well as the white family she works for. The epitome of this, Page argues, is seen in Pecola at the end of the novel. The events of her life, having broken parents in a broken family, have resulted in a totally fractured personality which drives Pecola into madness.[37]

Culture:

Critic Allen Alexander argues that religion is an important symbol and theme in The Bluest Eye, especially in how the God of Morrison's works possesses a "fourth face" outside of the Christian Trinity, and this explains and represents "the existence of evil, the suffering of the innocent and just--that seem so inexplicable in the face of a religious tradition that preaches the omnipotence of a benevolent God."[44] Alexander claims that much of the tragedy of Pecola's character stems from her attempts to rationalize her misfortune with the notion of an all-loving, all-powerful God. He further argues that, for Pecola, much of the story is about "discovering the inadequacy of Western theological models for those who have been marginalized by the dominant white culture."[44] While this ideology has negative effects on Pecola's sense of self-worth, it also negatively impacts her mother Pauline, who fully accepts Christianity and in doing so spends most of her time away from her own family and caring for a white household. Alexander suggests that the image of a more human God, rather than a purely morally upstanding one, is a more traditional African view of deities and that this model is better suited to the lives of the African American characters in The Bluest Eye.[44]

Jane Kuenz, Professor of English at the University of Southern Maine, states that The Bluest Eye reveals the role of mass media in shaping society.[42] She argues that evidence of this is seen immediately, as the book opens with a story in the style of Dick and Jane, an example of a white family that is looked up to and aspired to be. Evidence of white-run culture is pervasive, especially "in the seemingly endless reproduction of images of feminine beauty in everyday objects and consumer goods," which Kuenz points out are representative of exclusively white beauty.[43]Kuenz shows that, as the novel progresses, Claudia becomes more and more similar to what white society expects of her, learning to "adore" Shirley Temple and other manifestations of whiteness, proving the power of mass media.[43] Kuenz argues that The Bluest Eye shows the effects of mass-produced images in a white-run society.[43]

Bibliography:

Bump, Jerome. “Racism and Appearance in The Bluest Eye: A Template for an Ethical Emotive Criticism.” College Literature, vol. 37, no. 2, 2010, pp. 147–170. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20749587.

Jess E. Jelsma (2017) Decay and Symbolic Impotence in Toni Morrison's THE BLUEST EYE, The Explicator, 75:3, 200-202, DOI: 10.1080/00144940.2017.1346580

The Bluest Eye

Hi there, thanks for your additions to The Bluest Eye, but I also need to ask you to please not remove to rename subject headers unless you have a good reason (which should be explained in the edit summary). I've restored the headers which were there before your edits, as they were useful descriptors of the content. Thanks. Jessicapierce (talk) 18:16, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

1st.)

In an effort to make the article more neutral and balanced I researched various analysis of the novel. My goal was to incorporate more perspectives into the page. For example, in “Racism and Appearance in The Bluest Eye: A Template for an Ethical Emotive Criticism” Jerome Bump provides insight into how society perceives ugliness and the display of beauty standards in the novel. I added Bumps analysis to the “Effects of white beauty standards” section to compliment Lynn Scott’s literary critique. Scott’s analysis discussed superiority, power and virtue in relation to beauty.

2nd.) -I incorporated the theme of race into the breakage and separation In the article “Probing Racial Dilemmas in the Bluest Eye with the Spyglass of Psychology”, Anna Zebialowicz and Marek Palasinski discuss the racial climate of the society set forth in the novel. Zebialowicz and Palasinski explain how Pecola struggles with her identity as a black female. “ethnic identity and gender dilemmas are still both anecdotally and empirically linked to a decrease in self-esteem, adaptiveness and well-being”. Pecola’s race and gender both work adversely against her to create a complex form of oppression. Morrison’s novel confronts self-hatred and destructive behaviors black women participate in to fit into the hegemonic image of beauty and whiteness. -I integrated complex forms of domestic violence into the shame section.

In the book “Treatment of Violence: A Study of Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Beloved.” Kochar, Shubhanku argues there is a lack of discussion regarding the theme of violence in the Bluest Eye. Kochar states “psychological violence is directed on the black by the dominant culture in the novel”, rendering this form of violence a social issue between competing cultures and races. “The psychoanalytical studies are devoted to the internal damage done by racial stereotypes”. The Marxist frame focuses on class relations while the feminist lens focuses on violence perpetrated on women. Kochar argues that to comprehend the complex instances of violence inflicted upon Pecola you must analyze the novel through the Marxist and Feminist lens in addition to the psychoanalytical lens. “In other words, a single lens cannot not deal with the theme of violence in totality with its various nuances and consequences in depth.”

-I added analysis concerning cultural bearing in the media and culture section.

() In the essay “‘Disconnections from the Motherline: Gender Hegemonies and the Loss of the Ancient Properties; The Bluest Eye, Sula, Tar Baby’ and ‘Maternal Interventions: Resistance and Power; The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, Beloved, Paradise.’” Andrea O’Reilly proclaims African American women pass on cultural knowledge to successive generations through the process of culture bearing or motherline. “mothers pass on what I have called the motherline: the ancestral memory and ancient properties of traditional black culture.”. The article states that cultural bearing is necessary for the empowerment of black children. O’Reilly claims Morrison displays women in the novel becoming compromised by the desire to subscribe to normative gender ideologies and the need to motherline.

3rd.) I edited the character explanations for Frieda and Claudia

Claudia Breedlove is the polar opposite of Pecola. In the first chapter she destroys her white dolls out of internalized hatred of white people. Contrastingly, Pecola consistently acts on her desire to achieve white beauty standards. Claudia is raised in a stable home. She is assured of her self-worth and surrounded by a strong network of family.

(second sentence) Frieda is more enlightened to the world in comparison to her younger sister and Pecola. Frieda is courageous and unwavering.

4th.) I edited the lead section and lead sentence to align with Wikipedia’s guide

Characters, citation, lead paragraph,

Changing Themes → analysis Add some more themes, for ex. Race, abuse, etc Break down “effect of white beauty standards” into “White beauty standards” and “Internalized racism” Adding background/switch out author’s intentions? Make plot summary into actual plot?

Critical Reception and Sales: The novel only received a modest amount of attention when first published, often reviewed in popular literary magazines.[6] Morrison was praised for her handling of difficult themes. Critic Haskel Frankel said, "Given a scene that demands a writer's best, Morrison responds with control and talent."[6] The first major signal that the book would sell was an extremely positive review in The New York Times in November, 1970.[6] Morrison was also positively reviewed for her break from the status quo of usual novels from the time period, writing to a wider audience and focusing on black subculture in the 1940s, rather than the military culture of the time. African-American critic Ruby Dee wrote, "Toni Morrison has not written a story really, but a series of painfully accurate impressions."[8] Morrison was additionally praised for her wide coverage of emotion in the novel, extending from Pecola Breedlove's quiet descent into madness, to Cholly Breedlove's skewed mindsets.[8] → needs to say specifically how much it earned, how many copies its sold, the formats its published in, and number of sales it has on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

-> Find reviews by other people of the book and add to the page, both positive and negative ones.

Girlhood

Morrison’s writing of the book began because she was “interested in talking about black girlhood.” Dr. Jan Furman, professor of English at the University of Michigan, notes that the book allows us the analyze the “imprinting” factors that shape the identity of the self during the process of maturing in young black girls. She references parts in the book where the main characters are taught to feel less than human, specifically when the shopkeeper avoids touching Peacola’s hand when giving her the candy.

White Beauty and Lifestyle Standards

As John Bishop suggests, throughout the book, famous white women resembling the female archetype of a Shirley Temple shape the black community’s idea of beauty in the novel. [cite Bishop, John. "Morrison's the Bluest Eye." Explicator 51 (1993): 252-5. Literature Resource Center; Gale. Web.]

When Peacola introduces herself to the new girl in school, Maureen Peal, Maureen Peal asks if she was named after a character in the film Imitation of Life. She then goes on to talk about a Mulatto character named

[use a solid critic towards the beginning] Throughout the book we see an affirmation of what the “right” way to live is. In the beginning of each chapter are passages repeated over and over again from lines of a Dick and Jane book [hyperlink]. The Dick and Jane characters were used as a representative for white culture in the 40’s. Throughout the books that are published about them, we see that they live in a two family home with a housekeeper, a white pickett fence, and a lovely two story house. They establish the norm in terms of socioeconomic class. In terms of beauty, they are also illustrated to promote a certain ideal image. Both have fair skin and wear colors typically associated with their gender. Jane has the curly, Shirley Temple locks, which as seen throughout the book, is what the girls aspire to have. Most importantly, they have blue eyes, which is what Peacola especially aspires to have because she sees that as the beauty standard. The Dick and Jane family archetype drastically differs with the reality of these families. Peacola comes from a household in which she is sexually abused and has an alcoholic father, which provides a very contrasting juxtaposition to the family image that Dick and Jane promote.

^^ make sure these (ALL) ideas are suggested by others. Not supposed to be any original research.

Internalized Racism

Dr. Jan Furman, English professor at the University of Michigan, writes about the self learned self hatred that is cultivated from the influences of society. Again, referencing the incident with the shopkeeper and Peacola, Furman argues that the lack of human recognition and open assaults to the identity have caused the girls to have self contempt. As their peers taunt insults

When Pauline first arrives in Lorain, she feels pressure to conform to white beauty standards and begins to develop a construct of femininity based on the actresses she watches in the movies. For example, she begins to model her hairstyle after Jean Harlow. Pecola is also surrounded by constant images of whiteness that perpetuate white beauty standards, including references to Shirley Temple and an image of Mary Jane that appears on her candy wrappers. Scott claims that Pecola, "...is the victim of a power that values and classifies bodies according to norms established and disseminated by visual images."[1] These images become a constant reminder of her inability to attain these white beauty standards.[2] Pecola attempts to seek the power associated with whiteness, and in her attempt to conform to these cultural ideals, she develops a destructive desire for blue eyes.[1] In addition to the white beauty standards promoted by the media, Harihar Kulkarni, an author of a book on African American feminist fiction literature,[3] recognizes that these ideals are often transferred generationally. Kulkarni asserts that Pecola's feelings of inferiority are linked to Pauline's own diminished sense of self-worth which she has acquired due to her obsession with white beauty standards. This acceptance of inferiority and ugliness, which has been passed on generationally, makes Pauline complicit in Pecola's descent into madness and the psychological damage she experiences. In contrast, Claudia has maintained her self-esteem due to Mrs. MacTeer's refusal to surrender her sense of identity to white cultural standards.[3] Ultimately, Pauline and Pecola develop a sense of shame and internalized self-hatred since they cannot achieve the beauty ideals that exist in society.[1] This shame is particularly damaging for Pecola, because as Pecola strives to attain these unobtainable white beauty standards, she is consumed by her own destructive self-hatred,[2] resulting in irreversible psychological damage.[4]

^ introduce scholar Lynn Scott

Bibliography:

J. Brooks Bouson. "“‘The Devastation That Even Casual Racial Contempt Can Cause’: Chronic Shame, Traumatic Abuse, and Racial Self-Loathing in The Bluest Eye”." Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 363, Gale, 2014. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1100118096/LitRC?u=wash43584&sid=LitRC&xid=13760aef. Accessed 10 Apr. 2018.

Rosenberg, Ruth. "Seeds in Hard Ground: Black Girlhood in The Bluest Eye." Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Janet Witalec, vol. 173, Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1100049805/LitRC?u=wash43584&sid=LitRC&xid=d73afdfc. Accessed 10 Apr. 2018. Originally published in MELUS, vol. 21, no. 4, Winter 1987, pp. 435-445.

04/19/18

Alyssa

Race and Beauty:

Morrison begins the novel by saying "quiet as its kept" implying that a secret of some sort persist. In the article, “Racism and Appearance in The Bluest Eye: A Template for an Ethical Emotive Criticism” , Jerome Bump understands this secret to be the fear of ugliness (citation). Bump uses the concept of imagining an ugly Jesus and states that we cannot do this because the assumption made is that the outside of a person ultimately reflects the inside. Bump furthers his analysis by explaining how physical beauty is a virtue embedded in our societal cloth. (citation)

(effects of white beauty standards) Literary critic Lynn Scott contends that the constant images of whiteness in The Bluest Eye serve to represent society's perception of beauty, but the idealization of white beauty standards ultimately proves to have destructive consequences which lead to Pecola's demise. Scott explains that superiority, power, and virtue are associated with beauty, which is inherent in whiteness in the novel. She further asserts that white beauty standards are perpetuated by visual images in the media as well as attitudes of the family. When Pauline first arrives in Lorain, she feels pressure to conform to white beauty standards and begins to develop a construct of femininity based on the actresses she watches in the movies. For example, she begins to model her hairstyle after Jean Harlow. Pecola is also surrounded by constant images of whiteness that perpetuate white beauty standards, including references to Shirley Temple and an image of Mary Jane that appears on her candy wrappers. Scott claims that Pecola, "...is the victim of a power that values and classifies bodies according to norms established and disseminated by visual images."[38] These images become a constant reminder of her inability to attain these white beauty standards.[39] Pecola attempts to seek the power associated with whiteness, and in her attempt to conform to these cultural ideals, she develops a destructive desire for blue eyes.[38] In addition to the white beauty standards promoted by the media, Harihar Kulkarni, an author of a book on African American feminist fiction literature,[40] recognizes that these ideals are often transferred generationally. Kulkarni asserts that Pecola's feelings of inferiority are linked to Pauline's own diminished sense of self-worth which she has acquired due to her obsession with white beauty standards. This acceptance of inferiority and ugliness, which has been passed on generationally, makes Pauline complicit in Pecola's descent into madness and the psychological damage she experiences. In contrast, Claudia has maintained her self-esteem due to Mrs. MacTeer's refusal to surrender her sense of identity to white cultural standards.[40]Ultimately, Pauline and Pecola develop a sense of shame and internalized self-hatred since they cannot achieve the beauty ideals that exist in society.[38] This shame is particularly damaging for Pecola, because as Pecola strives to attain these unobtainable white beauty standards, she is consumed by her own destructive self-hatred,[39] resulting in irreversible psychological damage.[41]

Abuse:

(shame) J. Brooks Bouson, English professor at Loyola University Chicago, claims that The Bluest Eye is a "shame drama and trauma narrative," that uses Pecola and its other characters to examine how people respond to shame.[45][46] Bouson argues that some characters, like Claudia, show how people can respond violently to shame: Claudia does this by rejecting the racist system she lives in and destroying the white dolls she is given. However, most characters in the novel pass on their shame to someone below them on the social and racial ladder.[45] For example, Soaphead Church comes from a family obsessed with lightening their skin tone, and passes on the shame of his African American heritage by molesting young girls. Bouson suggests that all of the African American characters in The Bluest Eye exhibit shame, and eventually much of this shame is passed onto Pecola, who is at the bottom of the racial and social ladder.[45]

(breakage and separation) Author Phillip Page focuses on the importance of duality in The Bluest Eye. He claims that Morrison prevents an "inverted world," entirely opposite from the Dick and Jane story that is at the beginning of the novel.[37] The idea of breaks and splitting is common, as seen in the context of the war occurring in the time period of the story, the split nature of Pecola's family, and the watermelon that Cholly observes break open during a flashback.[37] Page argues that breaks symbolize the challenges of African American life, as seen in the rip in the Breedloves' couch that symbolizes poverty, or the break in Pauline's tooth that ruins her marriage and family. He goes on to identify how each of the characters are broken personally, since Cholly's former and present life is described as chaotic and jumbled, and Pauline both is responsible for her biological family as well as the white family she works for. The epitome of this, Page argues, is seen in Pecola at the end of the novel. The events of her life, having broken parents in a broken family, have resulted in a totally fractured personality which drives Pecola into madness.[37]

Culture:

(religion) Critic Allen Alexander argues that religion is an important symbol and theme in The Bluest Eye, especially in how the God of Morrison's works possesses a "fourth face" outside of the Christian Trinity, and this explains and represents "the existence of evil, the suffering of the innocent and just--that seem so inexplicable in the face of a religious tradition that preaches the omnipotence of a benevolent God."[44] Alexander claims that much of the tragedy of Pecola's character stems from her attempts to rationalize her misfortune with the notion of an all-loving, all-powerful God. He further argues that, for Pecola, much of the story is about "discovering the inadequacy of Western theological models for those who have been marginalized by the dominant white culture."[44] While this ideology has negative effects on Pecola's sense of self-worth, it also negatively impacts her mother Pauline, who fully accepts Christianity and in doing so spends most of her time away from her own family and caring for a white household. Alexander suggests that the image of a more human God, rather than a purely morally upstanding one, is a more traditional African view of deities and that this model is better suited to the lives of the African American characters in The Bluest Eye.[44]

(media and culture) Jane Kuenz, Professor of English at the University of Southern Maine, states that The Bluest Eye reveals the role of mass media in shaping society.[42] She argues that evidence of this is seen immediately, as the book opens with a story in the style of Dick and Jane, an example of a white family that is looked up to and aspired to be. Evidence of white-run culture is pervasive, especially "in the seemingly endless reproduction of images of feminine beauty in everyday objects and consumer goods," which Kuenz points out are representative of exclusively white beauty.[43]Kuenz shows that, as the novel progresses, Claudia becomes more and more similar to what white society expects of her, learning to "adore" Shirley Temple and other manifestations of whiteness, proving the power of mass media.[43] Kuenz argues that The Bluest Eye shows the effects of mass-produced images in a white-run society.[43]

Bibliography:

Bump, Jerome. “Racism and Appearance in The Bluest Eye: A Template for an Ethical Emotive Criticism.” College Literature, vol. 37, no. 2, 2010, pp. 147–170. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20749587.

Jess E. Jelsma (2017) Decay and Symbolic Impotence in Toni Morrison's THE BLUEST EYE, The Explicator, 75:3, 200-202, DOI: 10.1080/00144940.2017.1346580

Morrison begins the novel with the line "quiet as it’s kept", implying that a secret of some sort persists. In the article, “Racism and Appearance in The Bluest Eye: A Template for an Ethical Emotive Criticism”, Jerome Bump understands this secret to be the fear of ugliness [1]. Bump poses the reader to imagine an ugly Jesus and emphasizes the discomfort of doing so. We assume the outside of a person ultimately reflects the inside and their character. Thus we could never imagine Jesus as ugly. Bump furthers his argument by explaining how physical beauty is a virtue embedded in our societal cloth. Upon creating significance within this particular element of human character, our judgement is compromised and we act on internal bias [1]. These biases are displayed throughout the novel and mistreatment of Pecola by family, friends and community

More sources:

O’Reilly, Andrea. "“‘Disconnections from the Motherline: Gender Hegemonies and the Loss of the Ancient Properties; The Bluest Eye, Sula, Tar Baby’ and ‘Maternal Interventions: Resistance and Power; The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, Beloved, Paradise.’”." Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 363, Gale, 2014. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1100118097/LitRC?u=wash43584&sid=LitRC&xid=b54c07b7. Accessed 4 May 2018

Mohanlal, Sam, B. A. Sharada, A. R. Fatihi, Lakhan Gusain, Jennifer Marie Bayer, S. M. Ravichandran, G. Baskaran, L. Ramamoorthy, and Swarna Thirumalai. "Treatment of Violence: A Study of Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved."

Zebialowicz, Anna, and Marek Palasinski. “Probing Racial Dilemmas in ‘the Bluest Eye’ with the Spyglass of Psychology.” Journal of African American Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, 2010, pp. 220–233. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41819247.

Condense controversy section