A Feminist Analysis Of The Plight Of Black Women In The Bluest Eye

The winner of the Noble Prize in literature,Toni Morrison is considered to be the spokesperson of black people for her devotion to the writing career for African Americans.In her works,Morrison focuses on American black women's living condition and reveals the physical and mental damages the African Americans suffer from racism and gender discrimination.The Bluest Eye presents us the self-hatred of their identities,violence and discrimination of black females under the dominant white culture.It indicates that if the blacks want to survive in the white society,the important thing they should do is to preserve their identities and get rid of their twisted mentality.The special significance of the novel makes it still worth researching.The thesis tries to analyze the plight of black women from the feminist perspective.In this novel,Morrison presents a tragic girl Pecola who is eager to get the blue eyes and expects parental love and affection but gets rude treatment even by her own parents because of her ugly appearance.Her parents are deeply influenced by the white standards of beauty.Pecola is educated with hatred and suspects from her birth her own identity as a girl as well as a black.Three chapters are arranged in this thesis.Chapter One gives the details of the plight of the self-hatred black females' sufferings under the white cultural hegemony.Then it discusses the possible reasons which have caused this plight--the permeation of the white culture,the influence of community and the lack of mentors.White ideology is transferred by their educational institution and mass media.Both irresponsible parents and the indifferent community members cause Pecola to become insane.It points out that the only way for black female to find their identities is rooting in their own culture.Chapter Two explores violence that black people experience.It includes children's violence,adult's violence and cold violence from the black community.It presents Claudia's violence to the white doll.There is also emotional violence between mother and daughter,husband and wife.In addition,the sexual violence between father and daughter pushes the novel into a climax.Besides,cold violence also exists in the black community.So maintaining their sense of family and community responsibility is the way to resist the violence from others and keeps their true self.Chapter Three states the discrimination African American women receive from both black community and white community.The blacks should concentrate on their precious traditional cultural heritage of the African Americans,such as preserving the Black's Blues and keeping the traditional rituals.Conclusion gives a summary of the thesis.Black women who lose their identities under the dominant white society should respect themselves and be rooted in their own traditional culture,for only in this way can they maintain the subjectivity in the white supremacist society.