Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Claudia and Race

From the beginning of The Bluest Eye, I became very interested Claudia’s conflict with race. Her disinterest with the white baby dolls and hatred for Shirley Temple struck me as way to display her discomfort with her own race. I also found it interesting how the adults urged Claudia to play with the white dolls because they assumed that it “represented what they thought was [her] fondest wish” (Morrison 20). when in reality Claudia would only tear the dolls to pieces Later Claudia remarks that when adults see a white child, they treat them much more gently than they treat a black child. Claudia asks, “What made people look at them and say ‘Awwwww,’ but not for me?” (Morrison 22). It is very evident that Claudia’s hatred towards the white dolls and the white girls originates from jealousy of how the white girls are treated. Claudia also stated that her feelings towards the dolls converted from “pristine sadism to fabricated hatred, to fraudulent love” (Morrison 23) so I am interested to see how the race relations will play out for the rest of the novel.

Claudia

In the beginning of The Bluest Eye, I am so intrigued by the personality of the character Claudia. She is very observant and down to earth. Even though she is a child, I feel as if I can relate to her especially because of the relationship she finds between adults and kids: "Adults do not talk to us - they give us directions" (Morrison 10). While she seems immature because of certain things such as hating Shirley Temple for dancing with Bojangles, it is also apparent that she is compassionate even for being so young. When she and her sister Frieda stopped fighting trying to keep Pecola from "feeling outdoors," (Morrison 19) her maturity is shown. The whole understanding of the "outdoors" amazes me. Claudia comprehends the reality of these situations even at such a young age. To add onto my interest, there is also her fascination with destroying dolls. On a deeper level however, she says "But I did know that nobody ever asked me what I wanted for Christmas" (Morrison 21). From this comment I, as a reader, am able to infer again that she does have many more feelings inside that allow her to see the world more wisely than she is expected to.

Child and Adult Behavior

Continuing on the topic of the children being more of an adult than the actual adults, a particular scene demonstrated this aspect to me. The relationship between Frieda and Pecola is interesting to me because it is as if she is her mother-figure or mentor. For example, when Pecola reaches her time going into womanhood, Frieda immediately responds. Although she refers to the cycle as "ministratin'," she knows what to do to help. Pecola asks if she is going to die and Frieda says, "Noooo. You won't die. It just means you can have a baby!" (Morrison 28). With this answer, it is evident that Frieda reacted as an adult in trying to help Pecola. It is ironic, however, how Mama reacted. An observer, Rosemary, told Mama that the girls were playing nasty and Mama quickly beats Frieda. It is child-like how Mama immediately blames her daughter and does not even fully examine the scene before she whips her. It is as if Frieda is being punished by her intelligence and maturity. It will be interesting to see if Pecola continues to look to Frieda for guidance, knowing that she is advisable.

Claudia and Pecola's Perceptions

So far in reading this, I've noticed similarities and differences in the way Claudia and Pecola perceive and respond to the world, especially society's standards. Both girls' views are marked by false conceptions and a degree of naivete. For example, Claudia, accustomed to hearing her mother's songs of hard times, forms "a conviction that pain was not only endurable, it was sweet." She associates the singing with happiness, as it is a break from the fussing and accusing, and therefore does not get a realistic conception of "hard times, bad times, and somebody-done-gone-and-left-me times" (Morrison 25).
Pecola naively believes that having blue eyes would be some miracle-- a remedy to all of the problems in her life. Her conviction is that is she had beautiful eyes, she would be beautiful and experience beautiful, happy things rather than scarring, depressing things that are her reality. Furthermore, if she had beautiful eyes, people would act differently towards her: "Why, look at pretty-eyed Pecola. We mustn't do bad things in front of those pretty eyes" (Morrison 46). I find interesting that, although her logic seems absurd and childish, it presents a hint of truth. If she had blue eyes (and was white rather than black) then, realistically, she would experience better sights and people would probably notice her-- and with adoration rather than the mild distaste she is accustomed to.
The girls react similarly to society's standards of beauty. They both fail to completely understand it, yet respond with frustration and anger, that turns into shame and is ultimately covered up by longing and adoration. What I mean by this is, for example, Claudia's hate for the baby doll she receives. It's appeal is lost on her; she fails to see its beauty, and destroys it in order to find something lovable. She comes to hate the doll. Yet, her hatred for the doll, which translates into a hatred for actually living white girls, gives way to a shame: "my shame floundered about for refuge. The best hiding place was love. Thus the conversion from pristine sadism to fabricated hatred, to fraudulent love" (Morrison 23).
Pecola's reaction to this ideal is less angry (in general, she seems to be less fiery than Claudia, who often expresses violent urges). She comes to see her color as an ugliness, which she uses as a veil to hide behind. Her conception of ugliness is closely linked with her longing for beautiful eyes. She feels that her eyes are ugly because she has seen so much ugly, so much that is horrifying and upsetting. So she tries to see the beauty in inanimate objects, such as the cracks in the sidewalk and the dandelions that everyone hates: "They were the codes and touchstones of the world, capable of translation and possession" (Morrison 47). Yet, this is not enough to change her reality. Still, she is completely ignored by the man who is working at the candy shop. Their interaction, (on his part) is marked by "The total absence of human recognition-- the glazed seperateness" (Morrison 48). This reinforces her negative feeling; she believes he ignores her, with distaste, because of her blackness and ugliness. Pecola is angered by this, but the anger quickly becomes shame.

Elements of The Archetypal Journey in The Bluest Eye

As I started reading the novel, I recognized that this novel would be a story that exhibits elements of The Archetypal Journey. On page 1 I was struck by the phrase," We stare at here, wanting her bread, but no more than that wanting to poke the arrogance out of here yes and smash the pride of ownership that curls her chewing mouth." (Morrison 9). This creates a threshold for Claudia as she must face the struggle of being forced to witness Rosemary enjoying her bread, but fails to cross the threshold. As a reader, I was able to determine that the sight of Rosemary eating her bread, reveals Claudia's jealously, and desire to posses the pride exhibited in Rosemary's eyes. However, Claudia overcoming her struggle of starvation will provide her with the strength and power to break through the barriers of poverty, and gain a new sense of overwhelming prosperity, by crossing the threshold.

Nicole Battafarano

Of all the characters in The bluest Eye I find the character, Mr. Henry to be the most interesting so far. Mr. Henry seems to have an heir of mystery about him. According to the gossips he is sensible and a good, quiet worker (Morrison, 14). Yet the fact that he is nice to Claudia and her sister, acknowledging their presence and even playing a game with them, distinguishes him from the other adults in Claudia's life. His presence in the house relieves a burden for Claudia's family and it is obvious he is a welcome guest yet a comment made on page sixteen makes the reader question the true nature of his character which states: "We loved him. Even after what came later, there was no bitterness in our memory of him." (Morrison 16). This comment is a possible element of foreshadowing in the novel, leading the reader to believe that, though Mr. Henry seems pleasant and well-respected by those around him, there may be something dark waiting to be revealed. I am engaged by the mystery that surrounds this character and look forward to seeing how his presence will affect the plot of this novel.
I found that the beginning pages served to remind us of the way that children think and react to the actions of adults. Claudia was a young child and took her mother's every statement and gesture towards her very seriously, as most young children do. When Claudia was sick, she felt that her mother's frustration was caused by Claudia getting sick, when in reality it was caused by being busy keeping house and having a sick child. Claudia took a little while to warm up to Pecola, stating that: "When we discovered that she clearly did not want to dominate us, we liked her." This childish reaction to a new person in a situation is understandable for Claudia who felt that adults were distant beings that only communicated to children by demands. Even at a young age, Claudia displays a remarkable resentment for white people. Claudia dislikes many white ideals of beauty such as Shirley Temple, baby dolls, and even little white girls. It is apparent that Claudia may not fully understand why she hates these things.

Adults and Children in the Novel

The major divide between the adults and the children in the story shocked me, expecially between Claudia and Frieda and their mother. From the beginning of the book their seems to be no hint of understanding between the children and adults : " Adults do not talk to us-they give us directions. They issue orders without providing information. When we trip and fall down they glance at us; if we cut or bruise ourselves, they ask us are we crazy" ( Morrison 10). As seen from Claudia's point of view in the story , children do not have any clear understanding of what the adult world really is. I thought the comparison of an adult coversation to a dance was very intersting. Claudia states that Frieda and herself never understand the actual context of the adult's conversation but look for other cues : " Sometimes their words move in lofty spirals; other times they take strident leaps, and all of it is punctuated with warm-pulsed laughter... The edge, the curl, the thrust of their emotions is always clear"(Morrison 15).

Baby Doll

As I was reading the scene with the baby doll I found Frieda's reaction hysterical. She did not want the baby doll. In the beginnig scences the idea of childhood is essintially ignored. Frieda is not expected to act as child she is expected to act as a small adult. She is expected to have control over her illness when she is obviously too young to have that control. Frieda wants to live up to the expectations of the adults, as that is what they seem to want her to do. However, she then gets forced to learn how to act with a baby doll. She learns to act as if she is mothering it. This is again an action that makes Frieda expected to be a small adult not a child.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Adults versus Children

I agree with Tierra in that in the beginning passages we begin to understand how the minds of children are affected by their surroundings and what the adults around them have to say. There is a sense of fear that seems to be provoked by the adults in Claudia's life in that she only wants to please them and will do anything in her power to do so, even if it means convincing herself that she can never again be sick: "By and by I will not get sick; I will refuse to." (12 Morrison) The strong aggression that the mother has toward Claudia is seen when she is angered at her for vomiting on the bedspread, something that a child cannot prevent. There is a sense that the adults in this society speak to children without ever really communicating with them in that " adults do not talk to us- they give us directions. they issue orders without providing information" (10 Morrison) The lack of consideration and high expectations of the adults evoke fear within the children that they must be in control of their every action, even their illnesses.

Comments on the Prologue

I must say that this is certainly one of the most interesting and unique prologues I have ever read. The first section, written in the style of an old elementary school primer, introduces the idea of social conventions and stereotypes. The repetition of the same words with decreasing punctuation and spacing shows how the words are just that: words, and nothing more. They have no meaning or substance in real life. However, the repetition also seems to imply that the words are memorized and given false meaning by the narrator. I get the impression that the ideas of stereotypes and social norms will be prevalent throughout the novel, and that the narrator might have taken the words from the primer and set them as a kind of ideal or standard against which all things are measured.
The prologue then continues, shifting to the voice of someone looking back upon her life, trying to make sense of the events that occurred and give them meaning and significance. A metaphor of marigolds and seeds is introduced along with what will most likely prove an important aspect of the novel: Pecola has been impregnated by her father. I appreciated the blunt and simple speaking style of the narrator. The sentence found at the end of the prologue was especially interesting: "There is really nothing more to say--except why. But since the why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how." I believe that this statement establishes the novel as a contemplative journey of discovery for both the reader and the narrator; as the narrator explains the story, both she and we will be searching for the meaning behind the events. Hopefully, by the end of the novel the why shall become clear to us and the narrator herself.
I was struck by the extended metaphor found in the first pages of the novel. The speaker comments that no marigolds grew in the fall of 1941. This theme of a lack of blooming is extended to people and their accomplishments. The speaker compares the marigold seeds to the potential that she and her sister had. However, they eventually "...admitted to ourselves that no green was going to spring from our seeds." The speaker goes on to discuss how at the time, she did not realize that this might not have been her fault; perhaps she was not given the tools she needed to be successful and "...the earth itself might have been unyielding." I was drawn to this image of growth and blossoming and will be interested to see if the theme is carried throughout the novel.

Prologue

To add to what Tierra said about the introduction to this novel, I feel that the way the sentences are written reflects that of a child. The sentences are very simple and it seems to be written for a child or from the perspective of a child. The passage becomes less and less significant as the paragraph is repeated because all of the words begin to run together. The words are connected, but lack meaning. The prologue continues with an overview of a few events that have already occurred. I believe that this section reflects an isolated feeling that was presented in the previous story. The narrator reflects that she was unable to connect the events that were taking place, such as the reason the plants were not growing in the fall of 1941. However, this section contrasts with the story about Jane because it includes beautiful imagery, depth, and meaning.

The Introduction of the Bluest Eye

To me, the way in which Toni Morrison begins the story of "The Bluest Eye" is crucial to understanding the purpose of the novel. “Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty. Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane live in the green-and-white house. They are very happy…” (Morrison, 3). This passage is repeated three times: once with perfect punctuation and spacing; once more with no punctuation, but correct spacing; and lastly with no punctuation or spacing. This repetitive technique creates the effect of “brainwashing” the reader. Through this, we begin to understand how societal beliefs on how the family unit should be fashioned, what role an individual must fulfill, and especially what criteria must be fulfilled to be considered beautiful by others, affect the minds of those who are most vulnerable to these messages, young children. This introduction is mocking but also strongly admonishing.

Friday, March 12, 2010

The Bluest Eye explores the effects of racism on the most vulnerable members of society, children. On pages 19-20 Morrison writes: "It [Claudia's hatred for all the Shirley Temples of the world] had begun with Christmas and the gift of dolls. The big, the special, the loving gift was always a big, blue-eyed Baby Doll....I had only one desire to dismember it. To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me."
I think Claudia's desire to dismember the blue-eyed Baby Doll represents in miniature Toni Morrison's intention to deconstruct the mystique of white models of beauty--beauty that Morrison regards as destructive. The whole novel invites readers to understand how seemingly harmless ideas and objects (like beauty and the Baby Doll) have a tremendous effect on young minds.