Beauty and Whiteness - Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye - Essay Example

BEAUTY AND WHITENESS (your teacher’s Introduction “Here… this is beautiful, and if you are on this day ‘worthy’ you may have it.” (Morrison, T., 1970, p. 21) Racism has been a very painful yet memorable part of America’s history. The social issue has been the subject of many literary pieces and seems ever more poignant when illustrated in literature. African American author and Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison has highlighted racism so unmistakably in her novel, The Bluest Eye, in an effort to make black people realize that they too are beautiful and should not hate their color. The white doll There are three instances in her novel where Morrison obviously makes reference to the practice of people believing white as that which is beautiful. The first is when the grown-up Claudia shares her insights on how the adults used to give her “the big, the special, the loving gift.” (Morrison, 1970, p. 20) Claudia did not like the dolls and used to wonder why the adults thought she should be happy when she got one. Claudia did not share the adults’ enthusiasm for white beauty. She thought the adults did not make sense because the dolls made her sleep uncomfortably. This particular event showed how society in the 1940’s attributed beauty to being fair-skinned as represented by the blue-eyed baby doll. “This is beautiful.” (Morrison, 1970, p. 21) The writer, through Claudia, described how society preferred this type of beauty. She mentions common things which contains or appreciates advertisements of this particular kind – that of white fem. “Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs – all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured.” (Morrison, 1970, p.20) In an article about Morrison, Malin LaVon Walther (1990, p. 775) explains that the multi-awarded author “explores the visual system upon which definitions of beauty are based.” In Morrison’s writings, one of the central themes would be beauty. Morrison believes that it is not only being white or being orderly and presentable outside that makes a person beautiful. The blue eye The second depiction of how black people saw themselves is from the eyes of the protagonist, Pecola Breedlove. During one of her parents’ fights, she stays in bed, listening and wanting her body to disappear because she thought of herself as ugly. (Morrison, 1970 p.45) She prays to God to give her blue eyes, even if she knew this would be impossible. Pecola wants blue eyes because she believes these will make her beautiful and, if so, all the bad things in her life would stop. The blue eyes may be in reference to the beloved doll Claudia had received and had talked about earlier in the story. This penchant for blue eyes is like a salvation for Pecola. Her life as a poor and abused child is wanting of love. Looking beautiful meant having blue eyes and this was what Pecola wanted. Her teachers and classmates do not treat her nicely (Morrion, p. 46) and Pecola seems to think that her being dark was the reason for the humiliation at school. When she is raped by her own father, Pecola believes she has finally been loved. Unfortunately, Pecola becomes insane by the latter part of the story. Her child does not survive and dies. In a book about Toni Morrison and her take on beauty, Katherine Stern (2000) writes that Morrison believed beauty is an activity that can be seen and done as well. (p. 79) Stern writes that Morrison’s writing has contributed to how black women are now more conscious of the way they look. The women enhance their looks with cosmetics. Morrison had gotten the inspiration to write The Bluest Eye from an experience with a childhood friend who wanted blue eyes. (Morrison, 1970, page x) Unlike when the novel was written, it would be easy now for an African American to have blue eyes. All they need are contact lenses. Nevertheless, Morrison was a firm believer of inner beauty. Those ways to improve one’s appearance is an attempt to enhance one’s physical attributes and not change these in order to have a totally different person. The better black female The third instance can be observed in Geraldine’s story. She is also African American but does not want to be associated with poor black people. She called them “niggers” and told her son not to play with them. (Morrison, 1970, p. 87) According to Geraldine, she and her family were colored people who were quiet and orderly and the opposite of the niggers. She does not like Pecola and believes her son when he blames Pecola for killing Geraldine’s precious cat. (Morrison, 1970, p. 91) Geraldine’s attitude of not wanting to be associated with poor colored people is another issue Morrison tackled in the novel. Morrison wanted to get rid of the notion other colored people had of being better off than other black individuals. Through the author’s description of Geraldine’s assessment of Pecola (Morrison, 1970 p. 93), Morrison showed readers how the colored people could look down on the other black people who were not as well-off as them. They try to live as the white people do and detest any reminder of how their life as a black person could be otherwise. Self-loathing is evident in the story through several characters with Geraldine as one of them. She does not want to be thought of as black and thus try to keep her home as different as possible from the typical “nigger” home she knows. Morrison wrote about self-hatred which can be experienced by any person from a different culture. (Friedman, J., 2010) Morrison aims to show that racial self-hatred is not healthy for the people around the individual. There should be acceptance of one’s cultural difference. Conclusion Toni Morrison wrote The Bluest Eye when racial discrimination was still practiced in America. In the then patriarchal society, all the good usually came from the whites while the bad came from the blacks. Together with this, some black people hate their race and if they have a better life feel more superior over those who are still struggling. As a result, the colored people felt unwanted and not appreciated. References: Friedman, J. (2010, August 21) Race and Community in Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” [Web log]. Retrieved from http://joefriedman.hubpages.com/hub/Race-and-Community-in-Toni-Morrisons-The-Bluest-Eye Morrison, T. (1970) The Bluest Eye. New York, NY: Vintage International Stern, K. (2000). Toni Morrison’s Beauty Formula. In M. C. Conner’s (Ed.) The Aesthetics of Toni Morrison: Speaking the Unspeakable. (77-91). Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi Walther, M. L. (1990). Out of Sight: Toni Morrison’s Revision of Beauty. Black American Literature Forum, 24 (4). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3041802?uid=3738824&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101952783897 Read More