On Body Narratives In Toni Morirson’s The Bluest Eye

When the American political system and the white cultural hegemony were consistentlyconsidered as the root of black people’s tragedy, some black female writers, including ToniMorrison, began to explore the internal reasons within the black groups. In The Bluest Eye, thebody is endowed with deep and complicated meanings. Body narratives show Morrison’s fiercecriticisms on the white dominant culture which has disciplined and alienated the body of theblacks and made them get lost. Besides, as for the writer’s narrative strategy, the novel beginswith an eye and ends with the eye, with the whole novel full of narratives of the body (skin, eye,hair); to some extent, the body becomes the core of the narrative and can be seen as the clue forthe development of the narrative, or rather, the driving force to narrate. This thesis chooses thevery typical body narratives with the help of Foucault’s and Nietzsche’s body theories todemonstrate Morrison’s unique narrative skill and her attempt at the exploration of theredemption of the black tragedy based on the body; at the same time; her emphasis on fictionfunction “as both bearing witness and effecting change, enlightening and strengthening” is alsodisplayed. Previous criticisms on the black body mainly base on Foucault’s body theories andfocus on its passivity, while the author of the thesis emphasizes the positive instincts inside thebody in helping the blacks realize their self-redemption.The thesis discusses The Bluest Eye from three aspects on the basis of Foucault’s andNietzsche’s body theories: the impact of the white dominant culture on the black body, therebellious bodies motivated by vague body consciousness and the strategy of body narratives.In the first aspect, based on Foucault’s body theories, the author tries to figure out how themechanism of body aesthetic discipline works in the white-dominant society. It begins with themanifestation of how the black bodies become docile bodies under the discipline of the whitestandard of beauty. Then it explores how education and media as the main power techniqueswork, especially how education works in training and shaping docile children; how media worksin strengthening the white standard of beauty.In the second aspect, based on Nietzsche’s body theories, the author of the thesis mainlydisplays three kinds of typical rebellious bodies, including Claudia, Claudia’s parents, and thethree prostitutes who respectively are on behalf of black children, black parents and the blackcommunity to study how their final fates are related to the body and how Morrison’s attempt ofbodily redemption is achieved.In the third aspect, the author generalizes how Toni Morrison uses body narrative as a unique narrative strategy.On the basis of the above study, the thesis comes to a conclusion that by the detailednarratives of those disciplined and alienated bodies, Morrison vividly represents the bodilytrauma and arouses the memory of the modern blacks who have similar experiences, thusstriking a responsive chord with readers, achieving emotional resonance and realizing her callingfor fiction functioning as “bearing witness”, which at the same time is a steppingstone to thefollowing plots. Similarly, Morrison also gives detailed narratives on those rebellious bodies butwith better ending which leads to a striking contrast with that of those disciplined bodies. Sucharrangement is seemingly accidental, yet it is actually intentional. On the one hand, it reflectsMorrison’s personal and intentional narrative tendency to inspire the readers to consciouslyreflect on what is the root that causes such difference by giving readers a strong visual andpsychological shock. On the other hand, it shows Morrison’s affirmation of the positive elementsinside the body, and her aim to revive the primitive instincts which are of great help to rescuehuman body from alienation and discipline and rebuild its vitality. With this, her calling forfiction functioning as “effecting change and enlightening” is fulfilled. Finally, through theanalysis of the narrative strategies, body is always found to be the core of Morrison’s narrativeand its changes as the driving force to develop the plot, which thoroughly demonstratesMorrison’s emphasis on the body, and her calling for fiction functioning as “bearingstrengthening” is fulfilled. In a word, the above analysis gives more complete materials to proveToni Morrison a master of narrative.