In a thoughtful, focused paragraph of approximately 200 words, engage a specific passage or set of passages in the assigned reading for the day. Choose one of the following questions to answer:
1) How does the thesis of Sean Joe's piece relate to the idea of the the sociological imagination? Point to a specific excerpt from the text to support your argument.
2) How does the social construction of what is beautiful or "cute" affect the characters in The Bluest Eye? Point to a specific example from the text to support your argument, and include an analysis of Morrison's use of literary devices to convey this effect. (Use your Literary Terms sheet at the beginning of your reader.)
3) What is the connection between the Toni Morrison excerpts and the Sean Joe piece? What common theme do you see? Explain the connection using specific examples to support your point.
In the two pieces, The Bluest Eye, and the Sean Joe piece, there was a few connections and a common theme that I noticed was that they both mention black people. In a specific way, some of the issues of why suicide are happening are because of racism and poverty and in The Bluest Eyes, it clearly shows that a little black girl wanted to have the little white girls eyes. She wants them with an excruciating passion because she thinks that the little white girl is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe connection I saw was that in The Bluest Eye, the dominant trait was wanted by everyone who didn’t have it. Everyone thought that the only way to be beautiful was if they had blue eyes, light skinned and in the Sean Joe piece, It was only talking about African-Americans. They did not once spoke about a white male or female committing suicide and that, for me, is very important because there might be a connection and the question “why?” could finally be answered.
In The Bluest Eye, a quote really stood out for me. “We were lesser, nicer, brighter, but still lesser.” (75) This proves that they were always less. They could be the nicest person or the brightest, but compared to her, they were much less, and it was only because they weren’t light skinned or didn’t have the bluest eyes
In “The Bluest Eyes”, the piece clearly defines Maureen’s way of being “Cute” or “Beautiful.” Having blue eyes and light skinned was an absolute dominant trait that gave her the view of being beautiful and gave the little African-American little girl and the rest of the characters a desire to want what they don’t have. Her “cuteness” had an impact towards the rest of the characters in the in the piece that were similar to her. If she was seen “Cute” then the other characters were viewed as “Lesser”. “Nicer, brighter, but still lesser”, their dirty skin and dark eyes gave them the thought and view of being less advantaged. The thought of this situation demonstrates that Maureen has more advantage then the others for her beauty. According to this point of view, the “other characters” allusion towards Maureen’s “cuteness”, gave them a desire, yet didn’t quite change their opinions and minds. They still loved their appearances, “We felt comfortable in our skins, enjoyed the news that our senses released to us, admired our dirt, cultivated our scars, and could not comprehend this unworthiness.”(74) On the other hand, characters questioned the fact of being non-light skinned, what did they lack? Whether you had blue eyes or not, you’re still a human being and anyone perhaps can be beautiful for whom they are.
ReplyDeleteValeria:
ReplyDeleteIn The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the social construct of what is beautiful affects a few characters in the novel because their meaning of beautiful is blue eyes, blond hair, and white skin color and that is exactly what a little black girl yearns for. She gets this idea in her head that she is ugly because she doesn’t have the bluest eyes like a beautiful white girl does and the community sees her as ugly because they have classified beauty as white and blue eyes. This young black girl was eager to have blue eyes, “Jealousy we understood and thought natural- a desire to have what somebody else had; but envy was a strange new feeling for us. And all the time we knew that Maureen Peal was not the enemy and not worthy of such intense hatred. The thing to fear was the thing that made her beautiful and not us” (74). This young black girl was not angry with the fact that she wasn’t pretty, she was jealous that she wasn’t classified as beautiful. But in reality, she was the beautiful human being, she gives people beauty, “We were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness. Her simplicity decorated us, her guilt sanctified us, her pain made us glow with health, her awkwardness made us think we had a sense of humor. Her inarticulateness made us believe we were eloquent. Her poverty kept us generous. (p. 205). She is giving them their beauty, she is being used so they can feel beautiful about themselves. Are the white people with blue eyes really beautiful? Or is it because this black girl is ugly in the eyes of the white culture?
Sean Joe says, “single theoretical approaches are not comprehensively adequate” to completely understand the problem of suicide within African Americans (Joe 326). Sean Joe attempts to examine all the possible issues causing the rise of suicide within African Americans, not singling one issue as the root cause of suicide within these people. Sean Joe believes that civil rights movements have, unfortunately, harmed the self esteem of African Americans, because it causes them to blame themselves when they cannot achieve something when in reality it may be the legacy of racism oppressing them. Joe looks to previous history to explain the current status quo, a skill only people with sociological imagination posses. The social construction of beauty inevitably takes its toll on the little black girl in “The Bluest Eyes.” The black girl helplessly yearns for blue eyes because she believes they will make her beautiful; she makes a “grotesquely futile effort to fly” (Morrison 249). Morrison uses figurative language, the word “fly,” to symbolize the girl’s effort to obtain blue eyes, a journey, which is completely unproductive. Morrison later says the girl was “beating the air, a winged but grounded bird” (Morrison 249). Morrison uses this metaphor to show that no matter how hard the girl may have tried to obtain blue eyes, beating the air, she would always be grounded by the reality that it is physically impossible for her to achieve this goal. Rather than continuing on with her life the social construction of beauty made the girl become obsessed with obtaining blue eyes because she knows people think they are beautiful. Both of these works include a underlying force which hurts the people involved without them being at fault. In “The Bluest Eyes” the girls incentive for obtaining blue eyes is the social construction of beauty. She knows people think they are beautiful and helplessly tries to obtain them. The social construction of beauty has caused her to feel inferior to girls with blue eyes, and therefore attempt to change her self. In Sean Joe’s piece the force is racism. Racism continues to oppress black people to this day. Instead of blaming the system, however, Blacks blame themselves for something completely out of their own control and therefore commit suicide.
ReplyDeleteIn the excerpt from "The Bluest Eye", the author, Toni Morrison indirectly summons social construction, affecting both the reader and the characters in the story. Simply put, the definition of social construction is what ideas society imposes as to what is beautiful in our case. The social construction of what beautiful means severely alters the feelings and ideas of the girls. The colored girls described jealousy and fear of a thing "The thing (they) feared was the thing that made her beautiful, and not us." (74) What the author described as the "thing" can be most closely defined as blue eyes. Something the colored girls did not possess and were jealous of. The girls described themselves as "nicer, brighter, but still lesser" (74), they described how although they were better, they however, could not silence the voices of their peers, family, and parents. Their parents although inapparent, utilizes social construction to define who is pretty; Maureen Peal. Also, it is noteworthy to point out that Morrison employs many metaphors to describe the colored girls, the most apparent being the comparison of the colored girls to birds, and how they have been used. Because of the social construction of what is beautiful, the author describes the white girls as having benefited because "all of our beauty, which was hers first and which she gave to us" (205) Finally, this excerpt will leave you with a burning question.... what is beauty?
ReplyDeleteIn Sean Joe's passage, he talks about the incline of African American suicides. He states that "despite the alarming statistics...very little is known about what has caused the rise in suicidal behavior itself among young African American males." He believes that If you look at the situation from a "historical, phenomenological, gendered and multitheoretical perspective" you will better understand why suicide rates have increased. He believes that the rates are high because as black people began to be more accepted in society, the younger generations "couldn't bear the strains the other generations could withstand." This connects to sociological imagination because in order to connect past events to events now you must have sociological imagination.
ReplyDeleteIn that time period, the dominant culture was the blue eyed, white, American with perfect skin and blonde hair. Even though the main character is nicer and brighter than some of the people who follow the dominant culture, she is still considered lesser. Throughout the story, she wonders “what was the secret? What did we lack? Why was it important? And so what?” This affected them because now she wanted to become something that society created not just herself. The author uses metaphors such as “The years folded up like pocket handkerchiefs” and symbolism to depict the struggles throughout the characters life.
These two excerpts are alike in many ways. They both have a common theme of society; in The Bluest Eyes she is obsessed on becoming the typical person in the dominant society. And in Sean Joe’s excerpt, he believes that societies pressure on young black people are making them more prone to committing suicide
Joanna Dimas
ReplyDeleteIn Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eyes, society is portraying beauty as a woman with blue eyes, blonde hair, and white skin. These traits symbolize not only beauty, but also represents how a woman is seen in society. The women who are not white are considered inferior and “lesser. Nicer, brighter, but still lesser” (74). A woman alone is considered second class, but a woman of color in society is “worthless”. Similar to Sean Joe’s piece, black males are portrayed as men who will always be poor and are limited to options in their lives. By allowing young black males to feel limited in life they become depressed and blame themselves for the failure and can no longer cope with racism in society. “This mindset has been exchanged for a more internal orientation” (327). In both readings, black males and females will always be considered lower, and just have to accept the fact that they have to live in a racist society. A common them in both readings is institutionalized racism. The black society is discriminated from being able to rising in a higher power. They cannot be dominant in looks (beauty), class, or housing conditions. Institutions are purposely made racist so that people of color will never reach a dominant state in society. They may be smarter or nicer but because society has a perfect ideal image of what is superior, those considered less will not make it in life. That is why black men commit suicide, they can no longer bare the pain, and why women always try to portray themselves as white.
Women have a constant struggle when it comes to public image. The idea that beauty or the ideal image is only applied to the traits of which a white person may have. In an excerpt by Toni Morrison, she presents a story of how her life was. Constantly questioning what makes women beautiful and eventually coming to a conclusion that “beauty” was only a concept that was brought upon by dominant culture itself. Morrison specifically says that “The Things to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us” (Morrison 74).
ReplyDeleteIn the Sean Joe piece, it presents the issue of suicide amongst African American males and how the judgment of the dominant culture brings about these horrible tragedies. The dominant culture has always had its influence and control over the “other,” and it is especially effective because of the fact that the young African Americans do not have protection provided by “parents, the church, and other community institutions,” so they are left to deal with dominant culture on their own. The culture that surrounds the “other” deems everything that they are to be wrong and condemn them for it; evidently, causing high rates in suicide.
From the two passages, it is clear that they parallel one another; presenting an issue that many face in the hands of dominant culture. The “other,” which is seen as people of African descent, has problems running through their whole culture. There were rising percentages in suicide rates and women believing that they were not beautiful. In regarding “The Bluest Eye,” the “other” has been made to perceive beauty in the form of blue eyes, white skin, etc and in the passage written by Sean Joe, the “other” is severely discriminated by the dominant culture. Both exhibiting a similar theme of inferiority of the “other” within dominant culture.
"Th Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison and "Black Youth Self Destructive Instead of Suicide When Designing Preventive Interventions" by Sean Joe have a common theme of the dominant race4. In "The Bluest Eye," it is not enough to be "Nicer or brighter" because if you do not have blue eyes, blonde hair, and white skin you are "still lesser (Morrison 74)." In Sean Joe's excerpt it is seen that black male cannot live up to the high expectations. Many have seen that the dominant culture will be racist to them no matter what, and they have seen that the dominant culture do not want them to succeed. Sean Joe says, "There is a change in psychological armor,used by African Americans, particularly their normative understanding and interpretation of the impact of racism or discrimmination (Joe 327)." It is seen that even though it might not seem like it, racism and discrimitation can highly influence an individual. These two excerpts have similar themes concerning race and dominant culture. In the first excerpt the girl focuses in becoming something she is not. And throughout those years she wonders why she is not as beautiful as the other girls. In Sean Joe's excerpt, black males are committing suicide because they are being pushed away and being told they are not worth it. It is concluded that society has created an ideal image of the superior race. This is why black males commit suicide, they cannot bare what is going on and it is why women want to become something they are not.
ReplyDeleteWhat society presents what is beautiful or “cute” affects the characters in “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison in several ways that makes them happy or unhappy with their personal appearances. In the second paragraph of page seventy-four, Toni describes a character, Maureen, as beautiful. The protagonists, the people gazing upon the woman, bring their self-esteem down and think negative comments whenever they encounter Maureen. “We were lesser. Nicer, brighter, but still lesser… What was the secret? What did we lack?... The Thing to fear was the Thing that mad her beautiful, and not us” (Morrison 74). The self-conscious characters based their looks and felt ashamed of their appearances when they met with Maureen. They had jealously for her good looks that made them feel unattractive. They are bright but they still feel “lesser” because they do not feel “cute” (Morrison 74). Fortunately, their perspective of being less appealing change after Maureen becomes unattractive.
ReplyDeleteAs years passed by, they viewed themselves differently. As of now, they see themselves as more appealing. “All of our waste which we dumped on her and which she absorbed. And all of our beauty, which was hers first and which she gave to us… We were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness” (Morrison 205). Morrison points out common perspectives humans make to one other. She shows that because the people saw an attractive woman with high standards, they felt ugly. Though, when they face someone of a lower status, they feel superior. Morrison shows a paradox of statements that are self-contradictory and not true. Calling oneself ugly or beautiful is an example of contradictory opinions towards oneself; they do not know if they attract others. It is never true for them to understand their own appearances if the antagonist changes her own appearances. Therefore, the people base their looks on others as a way to determine their own appearance.
In these two pages of The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison, the social construct of what is beautiful and cute affect the main characters greatly. For instance, in The Bluest Eyes, one of the main characters states “If she was cute—and if anything could be believed, she was—than we were not,” this quote is an example of how huge a social construct of what is beautiful and cute can affect a person. In this quote, the main characters are showing that they are being degraded by the social construct, which leads them to ending the quote “than we were not.”This quote also shows that social construction can have a bigger voice than the people even though it is created by the people.
ReplyDeleteAnother example that shows the impact of social construct is when the main character states that Maureen is not a person to fear but “The Thing to fear was the Things that made her beautiful and not us.” In this quote the main characters are referring the social construct as “the thing,” and the reason it truly should be feared is because it can succeed into a bigger voice than other people. For instance, social construct should be a thing to fear because it can have a major affect on a person’s self esteem. Social construct plays such a major role in our society that it can tell everyone how to think. In conclusion, social construct can play a major role in everyday life in a positive and negative way, social construct affects the way people think and there self esteem.
The social construction of what is beautiful or "cute," affect the characters in The Bluest Eye because, black people thought blue eyes, white skin are supposed to be the description of beautiful, and they didn’t think they were admirable enough. They were just people with black pigmentation with brown eyes. The little girl says, “And all the time we knew that Maureen Peal was not the Enemy and not worthy of such intense hatred. The Thing to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us”, (74). Basically, the little black girl feels insecure affecting her confidence because she is not the girl with white skin, blue eyes, and blond hair; she is actually just the black girl with brown hair, and brown eyes. She felt you had to be the characteristics of Maureen Peal to be beautiful. The author says, “A little black girl years for the blue eyes of a little white girl, and the horror at the heart of her yearning is exceed only by evil of fulfillment”, (204). This quote proves the social construction of what is “beautiful or cute," affect the characters in this excerpt because they feel as if they are the other compared to the dominant culture. She wants the blue eyes from the little girl, they want to feel and be the dominant culture and not the other... do you think you actually need blue eyes to be beautiful?
ReplyDeleteIn both The bluest eyes and "Black Youth Self Destructive .." there is a means to show the importance of special attention and the idea of feeling important. Beauty is something that helps a girl feel special and important. It helps her stick out and gets her positive attention from her peers. However, the black girls in the community don't experience that attention because they are “lesser. Nicer, brighter, but still lesser” (74). Suicide is a similar concept. Suicide is usually an indication for attention or hopelessness. One has to be feel completely worthless in order to end theie life. In the first exerpt we read about the infirority that colored women feel and their craving to feel importsnt. In sean Joe's exerpt we see the effect of these feelings and what a silent killer it has become. Although they may seem entirely different the two exerpts have a lot in common. The "Bluest Eye" is simply a microscoped version of the "Black youth..." One shows a daily inferioriity that a Black girl might experience in her regular life while the other shows the problem on a much larger scale and the effects that can lead up to this "daily inferiority". Despite being accepted in a society one can still see the idea of an ideal image hasn't changed(blue eyes, blond hair) but become more supressed, thus causing a large cry out for attention and hopelessness in the increase in suicide rates.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Bluest Eye," Morrison tells the story of how society's perception of beauty negatively affected her life and those around her. Because society pinned beauty and cuteness on having blue eyes, the black girls of "The Bluest Eye" feel as if they are unable to achieve beauty themselves. This leads to them comparing themselves to a girl named Maureen, who has the features that are deemed cute in the dominant culture. Because the other girls are part of the "other," they are led to think that "If she was cute...then we were not" (Morrison 74). Thus, they start to believe that they are "lesser" than those who belong to the dominant culture. Personality seems to have no factor, and they were "nicer, brighter, but still lesser" (Morrison 74). The dominant culture makes those who do not belong to it believe that they are not "beautiful" or "cute," and gives them a sense that they are in some way or fashion worse than those who reside within the "blue eyes and blond hair" category. However, it is not the people whom possess these traits that are at fault. Rather, it is society's idea and perception of beauty that destroys countless people's self-confidence. "The Thing to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us" (Morrison 74). Morrison uses metaphors and similes to demonstrate the affects that this idea has on her and the others. She compares Pecola Breedlove to a bird, saying how she "flailed her arms like a bird in an eternal, grotesquely futile effort to fly" (Morrison 204). She hopelessly beat at the air with her wings, trying to reach the "blue void," but never achieving it. The thought always stayed with her, though, and it "filled the valleys of [her] mind" (Morrison 204). Years later she is still "picking and plucking" among "all the waste and beauty of the world - which is what she herself was" (Morrison 204). She herself is beautiful as an other, but she fails to realize it because the dominant culture does not believe in the same thing.
ReplyDeleteEven today, people are constantly struggling with what is beautiful and what is not. Dominant culture has portrayed beauty as white, blue eyed, blonde, and weighing close to nothing. Both men and women that belong to the "other" (which is a good 90 percent of the population) are led to believe that they are not up to par with those who are shown on TV, movies, and magazines. I admit that I myself have been affected by the dominant culture in my life, and I know that I will never achieve what society has constructed to be "handsome." But I also now know that neither will 9 out of 10 people achieve these looks. I know that, cheesy as it sounds, I and everyone else has beauty in a unique form that no one else can duplicate, and we don't need the "dominant culture" and its bullshit to help us realize that.
Maureen's cuteness in "The Bluest Eye" does its job of separating the other characters in the story from their white counterpart. The narrator was told that Maureen was cuter than her for reasons she didn't understand. She felt that there was a secret to it that she lacked what was essential and important in being cute. Social construct determines that those with blue eyes and light skin are more beautiful than those without, out-casting the narrator and her friend from this beauty because while Maureen is white, they are not. She considered herself to be unworthy. While her confusion did last, her pride triumphed as she didn't care who was thought to be more "cute" and was more comfortable in her own appearance. Because while we may be told in our lives that we are less than someone, we came to the world with dark, distinctive features that no one can take away. The narrator describes herself as "comfortable" in the way she looks and ironically finds a new understanding in her difference at the end of the reading. Years after their youth they find an ugly Maureen. As they've grown they found that her ugliness contributed to her lack of success, while the narrator turned out rather successful. This teaches us that even if one is isolated because of a reason as juvenile as race or color, their ability isn't limited by that discrimination. -Yoel
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