Bluest Eye Research Articles

Topdogging Quadrille: an analysis on the portraying of gender roles in The Bluest Eye and Topdog/Underdog

This paper highlighted and problematized the portraying of gender roles in Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) and Parks’s Topdog/Underdog (2001). With a comparative approach, the debate on the matter of father and motherhood associated with the assigned roles of men and women was enlightening to raise awareness to the impact these representative figures have on the characters under examination. Also, the analysis of the synonymic relations that are established in the discourse of characters of the pieces lead to the conclusion that “beauty” in The Bluest Eye means “whiteness” and, in Topdog/Underdog, it means “richness”. Finally, a parallel was set amid “topdogging” and “Quadrille” (ANDRADE, 2013), considering the “topdogging” act in the stories forms a chain of events and consequences in which one move/person is connected to and interferes with the next.

Challenging the Dichotomy of Self and Other: A Critical Study of Colorism in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and its Societal Implications

Challenging the Dichotomy of Self and Other: A Critical Study of Colorism in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and its Societal Implications

Morrison’s Blue-Eyed Golem

This article deals with Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, as a possible interweaving of Aristotle’s Third Man Argument into both societal and psychological aspects of the contemporary world. Rooted in this philosophical background, it follows the decline of Pecola Breedlove’s mental stability throughout three segments that mimic the argument’s structure. The degradation of archetypes and the character’s conception of beauty articulate our thesis as it attempts to present the novel as a reenactment of the philosophical theory resorting to Borges’ poem “El golem” to strengthen the connection between Morrison’s take on Afro-American realities and Aristotle’s position regarding the degradation of the ideal.

Who Caused the Trauma of Emily and Pecola? Childhood Abuse in Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” and Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Who Caused the Trauma of Emily and Pecola? Childhood Abuse in Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” and Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Portrayal of Race and Gender in the Selected Novels of Toni Morrison: A Critical Reading

With deep insight into the racial problems that have been confronted by Blacks since their existence, Toni Morrison has boldly projected the prejudices and racism faced by African American Women and explicitly exposes the long struggle that Blacks have had against the exploitative tendencies of the Whites. In my paper, I will analyze the selected novels of Toni Morrison, namely, The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Beloved. My thrust area in these novels of Toni Morrison will be on the theme of race and gender, which is persistent and is rendered as an entirely different perspective in each of her novels.

Abjection of Coloured Women and their Tragic Journey of Trifold Oppression in Toni Morrison's Beloved and The Bluest Eye

The world is gifted with various distinguished creatures irrespective of colour, creed, energy, work and so on. "Black" as a race is socially constructed by human being and this stereotype crosses the line when the so called white people imposed tortures quoting the skin colour and treating them as untouchables. The word "black" representing people itself is a falsified racist classification based on their skin colour for their dark complexion. Based on the trifold oppression they face, her writings states how people are denied from equality and subjugated as slaves in their own place. Morrison has won many prizes and awards and she is also a renowned speaker at major literary gatherings. She has a great concern on coloured people in general and so she reflects the trifold oppression and effortlessly she bring out the richness of black culture and it's ethnicity by reconstructing black images through her writing. Toni Morrison writes the novel having coloured people as the central characters especially women. Only with Morrison, there was a turning point in the history of Black women's literature. This paper attempts to investigate the brutal state of coloured women who have experienced trauma in various forms. This study also broods over the trifold oppression in the form of race, gender and class which leads them to slavery throughout their lifetime.

The Impact of Systemic Racism and Trauma on Individuals, Families, and Communities in Toni Morrison’s Novels “Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye”

This abstract provides an overview of a research paper that delves into the themes of systemic racism and trauma as depicted in Toni Morrison’s novels ‘Beloved’ and ‘The Bluest Eye’. The paper aims to explore how these societal issues impact individuals, families, and communities within the narratives. It outlines the analysis of characters’ experiences to understand the influence of historical injustices and societal pressures on their identities, relationships, and overall lives. Moreover, it highlights the themes of race, identity, memory, and community as central to understanding the enduring effects of trauma and the resilience displayed by the characters.

Interpreting African Americans Misery under Epigenetics - Based on The Bluest Eye

Epigenetics show that previous experiences and environment not only exert chronic impacts on one s psychological and psychiatric health but also development of future generations. From this perspective, this study takes Tony Morrison s The Bluest Eye as an example, aiming to look for the source of African Americans misery.

Unveiling the Layers of Societal Oppression: A Critical Analysis of Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”

Toni Morrison's novel "The Bluest Eye" intricately delves into the intersections of race, gender, identity, and beauty within the African American community. By following characters such as Pecola Breedlove, Pauline Breedlove, and Cholly Breedlove, Morrison skillfully navigates the intricate web of societal norms and their profound influence on individual psyche and community dynamics. This research article offers a thorough analysis of Morrison's examination of internalized racism, sexism, and the pursuit of self-definition amid oppressive societal standards

Oppressed Become the Oppressor: Psychoanalytical Intersections of Trauma in Toni Morrison’s the Bluest Eye

This paper explores the intricate interplay of racism, trauma, and identity in Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye. It delves into the challenges faced by African Americans within a predominantly white society by utilizing current trauma theory and Black feminist concepts. The theoretical framework includes cultural trauma theories, including the contributions from scholar Evelyn J. Schreiber, and insights from feminist thinkers like Bell Hooks and Patricia Hill Collins. Moreover, through an intersectional analysis, the study scrutinizes how gender, racial, class, and generational trauma intertwine to mold individuals’ experiences and self-perception. Therefore, by amalgamating trauma theories with feminist perspectives, the research provides valuable insights into the struggles of the characters and the societal dynamics portrayed in Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye.

Sociolinguistic Exploration of Language and Society in 'The Bluest Eye'

The present study aims to investigate the sociolinguistic features surrounding “The Bluest Eyes”, a novel by Toni Morrison. In general, "The Bluest Eye" explores how cultural variables, particularly those about race, physical beauty, and identity, can affect the way people see themselves and the world. It is a compelling examination of the terrible and deeply personal effects that systematic racism and cultural beauty standards may have on individuals within a community. In an attempt to examine how societal dynamics are presented within a single-speech community, sociolinguistic literature has been reviewed. A thorough discourse analysis of the selected conversations of the fictional narrative is done using Hymes’ S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model. The samples are taken from the primary text – ‘The Bluest Eyes’ as the major corpus. The findings indicate that social variables like cultural norms, age, gender, race, class, etc. are very much prevalent in the language of the characters and influence the communication competence of the characters in the social milieu presented by Toni Morrison. To prove the viability of Hymes’ proposition of the S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model, the study may help teachers as well as learners to gain a better perception and understanding of any literary text. Moreover, it would be a useful guide to the analysis of the dimensions of communication.

Site(s), Sight(s), and Memory: The Anxiety of Morrison’s Influence on bell hooks

Abstract: This article considers bell hooks’ thought both in terms of sites of memory and sights of memory, respectively interested in the past and the future, or in antecedence and in posterity, and the extent that both impose meaning on and meaningfulness to black womanhood. What influences hooks’ approach to these sites of memory, as well as these sights of memory, is how she conceptualizes black womanhood, which is initiated by and sustained in the anxiety of Toni Morrison’s influences on hooks, through hooks’ earliest childhood encounters with reading Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Sula .

Exploring Feminine Sensuality: A Comparative Analysis Of Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' And 'Sula' With Alice Walker's 'Meridian'

Exploring Feminine Sensuality: A Comparative Analysis Of Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' And 'Sula' With Alice Walker's 'Meridian'

Exploring Feminine Sensuality: A Comparative Analysis of Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Sula' with Alice Walker's 'Meridian'

Exploring Feminine Sensuality: A Comparative Analysis of Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Sula' with Alice Walker's 'Meridian'

Oppressed becomes the oppressor: Psychoanalytical intersections of trauma in Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

This paper explores the intricate interplay of racism, trauma, and identity in Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye. It delves into the challenges faced by African Americans within a predominantly white society by utilizing current trauma theory and black feminist concepts. The theoretical framework includes cultural trauma theories, including the contributions from Schreiber and insights from feminist thinkers like Bell Hooks and Patricia Hill Collins. Moreover, through an intersectional analysis, this study scrutinizes how gender, racial, class, and generational trauma intertwine to mold individuals' experiences and self-perception. Therefore, by amalgamating trauma theories with feminist perspectives, this paper provides valuable insights into the struggles of the characters and the societal dynamics portrayed in Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye.

Racialized Identity, Then and Now: Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, the Rise of Donald Trump, and the Role of Academia

Abstract: This paper explores the formation of racialized and gendered identities in Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye. To this end, the intervention aims at analysing how these identities are constructed along the colour line and also reconnoitred in the novel by putting W. E. B. Du Boas’ seminal term “double consciousness” into operation. The study also zeroes in on the sea change taking place in the United States in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election and beyond to demonstrate how various racial constructions are still at work in assorted forms and practices and reinforced under the guise of Donald Trump’s slogan of “make America great again”. It, further, tries to show how we can address these issues by drawing on the course Critical Race and Ethnic Studies taught in the American academia that can eventually, to certain extents, help us to identify several critical tools and paradigms to deal with the politics of the “personal and spiritual” with a view to envisioning a future in relation to emancipation and equity.

Domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The crisis of Subjectivity

Black women are born and bred to be courageous, bold, and without pain. However, the strength they have had to portray is the abuse they endure in silence. In their fiction, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison portray black female protagonists who suffered domestic abuse and sexual violence. In this study, Julia Kristeva’s theory of subjectivity is assigned to reflect how females regain their authentic and natural place in the culture and political language through active participation. Not only do they free themselves from oppression, but they also save the male subject from emptiness, instability, and immobility. However, the sheer honesty portrayed within the pages of The Color Purple and The Bluest Eye was not warmly welcomed by the black community mainly because they stray from the norm and portray the struggles of black women at the hands of fellow black men. For Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, silence is not the way to go, suggesting Kristeva’s solutions to the problem of female subjectivity due to the edifice of participation. Hence, this study highlights domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison through the depiction of the lost subjectivity. Walker, Morrison, and feminist critics highlight the analogies between black-feminist authors who do not compete with other females or their mothers—but cause substantial competition at the academic level—and this is an ingenuous sense of human nature. Regardless of the economic difficulties of modern life, racial terrors, and the cultural background of African-Americans, they observe how the American society mirrors the untold truths of blacks who speak to the world about their sufferings. Being a global and well-known figure for Walker and Morrison leads to voicing African-American society’s concerns and reflecting its culture and identity.

Exploring Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Select Novels of Toni Morrison

Violence against African American females, young and old, is an irresistible concern in the novels of Toni Morrison. Her best fictional pieces, ‘The Bluest Eye’, ‘Beloved’, and ‘God Help the Child’ are the vibrant spotlight of domestic violence and child abuse in variegated natures. Toni Morrison has dealt profusely with all sorts of child maltreatment in her oeuvre. In many of her narratives, Morrison weaves a tangled web of childhood trauma stories, in which all the characters have suffered some kind of abuse like racial discrimination, neglect, witnessing domestic violence, emotional and psychological abuse, molestation, sexual exploitation, verbal abuse, etc. She shows how the child’s exposure to traumatic experiences has far-reaching negative effects on adulthood, such as psychological, emotional, behavioral, and social. Morrison explores the curse of the past, the legacy of slavery and its aftermath, and its hold on the present, through the sociocultural phenomenon. Racism and intra-racial discrimination based on skin color result in childhood trauma. The sexual abuse of Pecola, the girl desiring the bluest eye by her drunken father has been very vividly picturized in the backdrop of racial conflict in ‘The Bluest Eye’. Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ fictionized the gruesome murder of an infant with a jigsaw by her mother, Sethe only to avoid escaping a slave. God Help the Child chronicled the ramifications of child abuse and neglect through the tale of Bride, a black girl with dark skin being born to light-skinned parents. Moreover, magic realism, socio-political aspects, and Toni Morrison’s lucid narratives provide ultra energy promoting her vivid message.

Sexual Abuse and Double Marginalization in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Sexual Abuse and Double Marginalization in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Resistance Against Oppression: African American Women’s Opposition to Gaze in The Bluest Eye

Resistance Against Oppression: African American Women’s Opposition to Gaze in The Bluest Eye