The Bluest Eye

There are times when a book appears that makes the reader look not only at his own views but also at the society of which he is a part. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye may be considered one of them. Told in splintered perspectives of multiple characters, the book delves into taboo subjects such as menstruation, prostitution, incest, and racism.
Set in Lorain, Ohio in 1941, the story tells of the perils of (among others) three little girls. Pecola, the displaced daughter of an abusive alcoholic father and Frieda and Claudia, two sisters whose family takes Pecola in. Pecola and her mother are enamored with white beauty, Pecola with Shirley Temple and her mother with older screen actresses. While Frieda and Pecola share a mutual admiration for Temple, Claudia loathes her, citing jealousy: “…I hated Shirley. Not because she was cute, but because she danced with Bojangles, who was my friend, my uncle, my daddy, and who ought to have been soft-shoeing it and chuckling with me. Instead he was enjoying, sharing…with…white girls whose socks never slid down under their heels.”
Additionally, she hated white baby dolls and would rip them apart to look for the reason why they were pretty. She disliked the fact that everyone assumed without asking her that a baby doll is what she wanted for Christmas.
A disparity is drawn between the Breedloves (Pecola’s family) and the MacTeers (Claudia and Frieda’s family) by setting the former in an old storefront that had furniture that had no personal memories on the part of the owners and the latter in a clean, well-kept house. Also, the Breedloves did not provide a good atmosphere for children to grow up in, while the MacTeers, while strict, tried to.
One particularly jarring aspect of the book was the Breedlove’s self-induced “cloak of ugliness.” They believed they were ugly and inferior, hence their infatuation with white movie stars and other celebrities. Morrison describes them in the opening part of the novel using adjectives that are not necessarily considered ugly when used in a different context. The idea that people can place a “cloak of ugliness” upon themselves is alien to many.
Also, the book dealt with incest and other sexual taboos. Mensruation (“ministratin’”) is discussed in one of the book’s earlier segments. Pecola experiences menstruation and the girls try to hide it from their mother, resulting in alerting a neightbor girl, who in turn tells on them.
One chapter, headed by a Dick and Jane mantra that characterizes the book’s chapter titles, involves the history of Cholly (Charlie) Breedlove and the subsequent rape of Pecola. Both the history and the description of the rape bring up strong feelings about sexuality, incest, and child abuse. A similar episode occurs with the MacTeer’s houseguest, Mr. Henry. In fact, throughout the book sexual incidents are depicted in lucid detail, a subject some are not comfortable reading about.
Morrison’s work is not, however, about comfort. She does her best to make the reader feel empathy for the main characters specifically and the effects of racism in general. Reading her work may well open the reader’s eyes about a number of subjects.

Documentaries

Documentaries are an important part of our modern media. From an expose to an educational film, documentaries have existed as a way for the general public to gain insight into a specific area, be it societal, political, or racial.

Wikipedia.com defines a documentary as “a creative work of non-fiction, including: documentary film, radio documentary, [and] documentary photography.” While this is a standard “textbook” definition, much more goes into the production of such a work. A documentary should be as objective as possible, refraining from having a bias towards any particular side, other than the education of the populace. Many films include political views to help sway the audience to a certain ideology. While it is difficult to eliminate bias in certain circumstances, documentaries should try to present a clear and educational viewpoint as opposed to a sensationalist or politically charged one.

Stereotypes

I must admit that I came down with bronchitis just around the time that this assignment was given and am just now starting to play catch up. If this post isn’t what it should be, I apologize.

Lippman defines a stereotype as an “ordered, more or less consistent picture of the world, to which our habits, our tastes, our capacities, our comforts and our hopes have adjusted themselves.”A stereotype as defined by Dictionary.com is “a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.” As we learned in class, the original working definition was actually a copy of an archetype for printing. It is easy to see how today’s interpretation of the word evolved.

Stereotypes exist primarily (I believe) as an easy way to classify people or things quickly. When you hear the word “Florida” what springs to mind? Oranges, beaches, old people, hanging chads, and for history buffs, Andrew Jackson. Of course, there is more to the state than just these things, but if we were to describe it to someone who didn’t know, we may start off by using these ideas. In another vein, stereotypes can be very negative, such as when categorizing ethnicities or nationalities. Every race and creed has a stereotype, resulting in a simplified and under-educated view of that race or creed, which can lead to hostility and discrimination.

In regards to what we have learned in class, stereotypes represent the “pictures in our heads,” or what our pre-conceived notions tell us. They can be used by those in power to implement their will (think antebellum Southern US) or to merely maintain the status quo.