The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison

TOPIC:
In her “Forward,” Toni Morrison claims, “Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do” (xi). With The Bluest Eye, Morrison aims, in part, to uncover not only the ways in which beauty has been created but also the ways that beauty has been withheld and denied from an entire race and how such aesthetic demonization works to promote racial self-loathing and contempt. Considering Morrison’s goal, discuss the connection between cultural notions of beauty and racial self-loathing in the novel via an analysis of one or two characters. How does racial self-hatred corrode the lives of Pecola and her parents (Cholly and Pauline Breedlove)? How does it manifest itself in characters like Maureen Peal, Geraldine, and Soaphead Church?

Ideally, your essay should include a detailed analysis of particular elements in the selected text(s)—its language, its characters, its symbols, its setting, its style, its subtext, its context, and/or its imagery. Your analysis of selected details should address a larger problem or theme at work in the text(s) as a whole. The essay’s argument will come out of your understanding of the particular fit between textual details and the overall argument as you see it. I strongly encourage you to write on a topic that speaks to you in some way. Be specific in your responses, quote directly from the text where appropriate, and remember to cite accurately all sources in your paper using MLA format. Most importantly, make sure that your essay is carefully organized, has a clear and focused argumentative thesis, adheres to the rules of grammar, and closely analyzes textual evidence.