This research paper tends to cover several issues that concern the black race in the light of The Bluest Eye. It consists of two parts. Each part includes two chapters. The first chapter of the first part is about the racialization of beauty. In other words, it shows how the notion of beauty is culturally constructed. The white dominant culture creates standards of beauty, which do not allow African Americans to consider themselves as beautiful because of their dark of skin.
The second chapter further explains how some of the characters in The Bluest Eye long for whiteness because it stands for beauty, purity as well as cleanliness. It also tries to uncover the veil on the issue of whiteness in various fields including the cinema, the American literary canon as well as the Christian creed.
The first chapter of the second part explores the abusive interactions between black and white characters and shows how a small variation in the color of skin can strike some people of their human nature. It also examines the role of capitalism in giving rise to racism and classism. The second and the last chapter examines the issue of internalized racism. That is to say, to what extent all the issues that were mentioned in the previous chapters can affect the psyche of the main characters throughout the novel.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Racialized Beauty
2. Whiteness
3. Everyday Racism
4. Internalized Racism
5. Conclusion:
Research Objectives and Themes
This research paper analyzes the systemic impact of racial ideologies on the African American community as depicted in Toni Morrison's novel "The Bluest Eye," focusing on how dominant cultural standards of beauty and whiteness contribute to psychological harm and internalized racism.
- The cultural construction of beauty and its racialization
- The symbolic and ideological weight of whiteness in society
- The socio-economic intersections of racism and classism
- The mechanisms of internalized racism and self-hatred
- The psychological consequences of systemic marginalization
Excerpt from the Book
2. Whiteness
Throughout the world of the novel, numerous characters have a predilection for whiteness including Pecola Breedlove, Geraldine, as well as Pauline Breedlove. Their obsession with whiteness explains that the white color as opposed to black stands for purity, cleanliness, and beauty. Morrison exposes this tendency to whiteness from the very beginning of The Bluest Eye. Morrison uses and abuses the postmodern technique of intertexuality to dismantle the problematic of whiteness.
Julia Kristiva coined the term Interxtuality in order to indicate that a text is not self-contained and autonomous but rather it is a product of other texts. She claims that there is a network relationship between texts. In this way, the meaning of a particular text depends on other previous texts. The Bulgarian literary theorist and psychoanalyst Julia Kristiva came into appearance in Paris as the interpreter of the Russian Formalist, Mikhail Bakhtin. In his collected essays The Dialogic Imagination, Bakhtin refers to the novel as dialogic because it contains a multiplicity of voices, Heteroglossia. In this way, a novel is not fixed as other forms of literature but rather it is subjected to change because it possess parodies, travesties, and reaccentuates (Edgar and Sedgwick. p. 14). Barthes develops the term of Interxtuality in his famous essay The Death of the Author. Influenced by Kristeva’s work on Bakhtin, Barthes develops the idea of the text as a non-unified authorial consciousness and a form of plurality of quotations of other words, other utterances and other previous texts. As Roland Barthes puts it himself, a text is a “tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centers of culture.” (Barthes, 146). Morrison starts her first novel by the following intertext taken from an American curriculum:
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of race as a recurring theme in African American literature and introduces the research scope regarding Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye."
1. Racialized Beauty: This section examines how the white dominant culture constructs oppressive standards of beauty that alienate African American characters from their own identity.
2. Whiteness: This chapter analyzes the obsession with whiteness as a symbol of purity and beauty, exploring its influence through media, cinema, and religious iconography.
3. Everyday Racism: This section explores the daily dehumanization and racial abuse faced by characters, highlighting how racism and classism operate within an exploitative economic system.
4. Internalized Racism: This chapter investigates the psychological depth of self-hatred and "double consciousness," illustrating how characters internalize negative stereotypes imposed by the dominant culture.
5. Conclusion: This chapter synthesizes the findings, confirming that the novel highlights the devastating impact of racial oppression on the psyche of the African American community.
Keywords
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, African American literature, Racialized Beauty, Whiteness, Internalized Racism, Everyday Racism, Double Consciousness, Classism, Capitalist Exploitation, Identity, Marginalization, Cultural Constructs, Self-hatred, Societal Standards
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research?
The paper focuses on the systemic racial issues portrayed in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye," specifically how white-dominated standards of beauty and power affect the black community.
What are the central themes discussed in the work?
The core themes include the racialization of beauty, the ideological weight of whiteness, the presence of everyday racism, and the resulting phenomenon of internalized racism.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to explore how societal racial constructs influence the psyche of characters and the wider African American society in the context of the novel.
Which methodology is applied?
The author uses a literary analysis approach, drawing on critical theory, cultural studies, and intertextuality to examine the novel's themes.
What topics are covered in the main body?
The main body covers the construction of beauty standards, the influence of Hollywood and cinema, religious representations of race, and the economic roots of oppression.
Which keywords define this study?
Key terms include Racialized Beauty, Whiteness, Internalized Racism, Double Consciousness, and Systemic Oppression.
How does the author view the "Dick and Jane" epigraph?
The author considers it a vital tool that Morrison uses to juxtapose idealized white family structures with the reality of marginalized black characters.
What role does cinema play in the characters' lives?
Cinema is presented as a destructive force that disseminates ideals of whiteness, leading characters like Pauline Breedlove to compare their lives to white movie stars.
How does the text link racism to capitalism?
The research argues that capitalism functions as an exploitative system, creating a divide between the 'master' and 'slave' classes, which sustains racist ideologies.
- Quote paper
- Issam El Masmodi (Author), 2018, The Concept of Race in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/505657
