As two of the premiere African American Writers of their clip period Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison have had a profound consequence on African American civilization. Both confront the trouble of specifying an individuality under the load of different, dominant and racist white civilization. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison describes several characters who accept the norms offered by that civilization, with tragic consequences. Her characters show the obvious effects of white racialist premises about the beauty and character, but possibly more tragically, besides reveals what happens within African American civilization when people apply these norms themselves. Ellison takes a different attack. His unseeable adult male shows the reader that following imposed individualities, while possibly a safe and easy way to success in the dominant white civilization, is however both ineffectual and self-defeating, and moreover, fails to offer any hope for alteration. Therefore, both writers criticize and reject common cultural header schemes. Morrison show that accepting white definitions of beauty and virtuousness consequence in the tragic desolation of households and persons. Ellison recognizes that presuming the traits that the dominant civilization expects leads merely to invisibleness and non true person or cultural definition.
In Toni Morrison ‘s The Bluest Eye, beauty is defined merely as blond hair, just tegument, and bluish eyes and whatever the white civilization views a beautiful. The Bluest Eye presents Pecola whose one desire is to hold bluish eyes. Pecola is a immature miss who is displaced from her place and placed in the detention of the county because her male parent Cholly Breedlove burned down their house. She ends up traveling in with the MacTeer household neighbouring black household. Pecola represents black civilization. Her character in itself is a calamity because her aspirations were so guiltless but nevertheless lead to her death. Pecola is a symbol for ego hatred and self debasement, a characteristic common in The Bluest Eye.Her beliefs were non her ain. She alternatively accepts the belief that society had imposed on her immature and guiltless head. Beauty is everything that she ‘s non and everything she ne’er will be. At the beginning of the book Pecola struggles with the construct of beauty. “ Dandelions. Why do people name them weeds? I think they ‘re reasonably. Cipher loves the caput of a blowball ” ( Morrison 35 ) . “ They are ugly. They are weeds ” ( Morrison 38 ) . Pecola compares herself to the blowballs. She is ugly and undeserving to be loved because she is made to experience like a weed. Pecola is raised with no sense of self-esteem or self-appreciation. She is an ugly black miss with nil traveling for her in footings of expressions. In the eyes of society Pecola ‘s dark black hair and her dark brown eyes do n’t suit the definition of beauty. Although the dominant white civilization may hold defined beauty, it ‘s the black civilization that retained their positions and made them their ain.
Throughout the fresh Pecola hopes for blues eyes as if they will supply her felicity. Blue eyes are the mark of beauty and felicity. “ Adults, older misss, stores, magazines, newspapers, window marks – all the universe had agreed that a fair-haired, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every miss kid treasured. “ A ( 20 ) At this point in the novel Pecola has been convinced by society that she can ne’er be beautiful. She lives a life of convulsion and ugliness. One of Pecola ‘s header schemes is to set herself in the places of another individual she refers to as Jane, an fanciful character from a kids ‘s reading book. By the terminal of the book she convinces herself she is Jane “ Look, expression. Here comes a friend. The friend will play with Jane. They will play a good game. Play, Jane, drama ” ( Morrison 152 ) . Pecola believes at this point that she has her bluish eyes. She looks into the mirror and finds non herself but a friend as her contemplation. Pecola is now viewed as loony. Through her changeless pursuit for bluish eyes she has reached a point of insanity. Her male parent dies in the workhouse as her babe dies in the uterus lending to her turning mental unwellness. Her female parent continues to function the white household as she continues to pretermit Pecola. Her lone brother decides to go forth town go forthing Pecola all entirely with her surrogate ego gazing at their contemplation recognizing that the blues eyes that she tried so difficult to secure has non brought her felicity but unhappiness in the range of society. This quotation mark reinforces the “ gumshoe and Jane “ mention that starts off the novel. Society has painted gumshoe and Jane as a theoretical account to people. “ The maestro had said you are ugly people ” . ( 39 ) Maestro in the quotation mark represents White society with intensions to slavery.
White society has condemned the black adult male to self hatred. “ They had looked about themselves and saw nil to belie the statement ; proverb, in fact, support for it tilting at them from every hoarding, every film every glimpse. “ ( 39 ) Even if black civilization did n’t desire to encompass white beliefs of beauty it would be really hard because it was branded to their heads by advertizements and media. At one point in the book black male childs who went to Pecola ‘ School made merriment of Pecola for everything that they were. The disgust for being black bubbled to the surface and was harvested to be thrown at Pecola like stickers. Social belief that white is beautiful has torn at the flesh of the black race. Their ain mercantile establishment is each other or those who have been beaten by themselves and the universe outside to a point of non revenge. “ It was their disdain for their ain inkiness that gave the first abuse its dentitions. They seemed to hold taken all of their smoothly cultivated ignorance, their finely learned self-hatred, their intricately designed hopelessness and sucked it all up into a ardent cone of contempt that had burned for ages in the hollows of their heads – cooled – and spilled over lips of indignation, devouring whatever was in its way. ” ( Ellison 65 ) The eternal circle of hatred in present.Blacks continues this barbarous rhythm because of the absence of ego love and social credence. “ In comparing physical beauty with virtuousness, she stripped her head, bound it, and collected self-contempt by the pile… .She was ne’er able, after her instruction in the films, to look at a face and non delegate it some class in the graduated table of absolute beauty, and the graduated table was one she absorbed in full from the Ag screen. ” ( 122 Morrison ) Mrs. Breedlove tries to mensurate beauty with what she has seen at the films. Recognizing her ego hatred she tries to detect the existent kernel of beauty and felicity while seeking to throw away her sorrow. Her compulsion furthers her loss of ego and is shown in this quotation mark about the cleanliness of her floor.In this scene Mrs.Breedlove is making laundry while Pecola and “ Crazy foolaˆ¦my floor, messaˆ¦.look what you aˆ¦workaˆ¦get on outaˆ¦now thataˆ¦crazyaˆ¦my floor, myflooraˆ¦my floor. “ ( 109 ) The importance if her kitchen floor was great. It sparkled white and so did her contemplation in the porcelain floor. It was the lone topographic point where she could happen beauty.
“ Long hours she satA looking in the mirror, seeking to detect the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her neglected or despised at school, by instructors and schoolmates likewise. “ ( 45 ) Pecola at this point
Color is a important subject in the book. The colour of Pecola ‘s eyes show despairing desire to hold bluish eyes while the colour of tegument to show the segregation between the black and the white and division between light inkinesss and dark inkinesss. Morrison ‘s usage of colour shows black civilization identifies felicity with light colourss. For case, internally black civilization struggles well within its ego because lighter tegument implies higher position. This paved the manner for the outgrowth of historical black nines like Jack and Jill who discriminated against other inkinesss and within black civilization because of the elation or darkness of the tegument. Like “ Dick and Jane ” Jack and Jill is another representation of black kids indentifying with white kids as a templet for felicity. Since Dick and Jane are white they automatically entitled to happiness. This political orientation has been instilled in the heads of black people. In The Bluest Eye the elation of one ‘s tegument makes one prettier than others and smarter excessively. “ White childs ; his female parent did non like him to play with niggas. She had explained to him the difference between colored people and niggas. They were easy identifiable. Colored people were orderly and quiet ; niggas were soiled and loud. “ ( 87 ) Geraldine is a igniter skinned black adult female who tries to divide her and her boy from the universe of the black adult male. This reinforces the subject that the lighter the colour of your skin the prettier you are, and emphasizes the common motive that appears in many novels of light versus dark. Darkness is normally associated with immorality and uncleanness. White is normally linked with being pure and clean without wickedness. Mrs.Breedlove is obsessed with the cleanliness of the houses she cleans, because it is a place of a white individual when in contrast her ain place at which she should care about is left in shambles. The difference with the houses is another representation of black civilization accepting to much about those who society pigments as of import and forgets what ‘s of import to them. In contrast Geraldine, the in-between category black adult females, is obsessed with cleanliness of her house and because of it she thinks that she is stripped of her inkiness and forgets who and what she truly is. She views other black people as below her and non worthy of conversation. This is evident when Geraldine catches her boy Junior playing with Pecola Breedlove. When she realizes that her cat was murdered she automatically assumes that Pecola is the culprit when, in fact, it was her pretentious boy. “ This opens the reader ‘s oculus to the many different degrees of racism. After the obvious white/black separation, we discover that there is even ill will from some inkinesss toward other blacks.A JuniorA wants to be able to hold merriment with the black male childs, but his female parent wo n’t let him to. Due to his female parent, Geraldine ‘s harsh limitations, Junior resorts to mortifying others and strong-arming misss, viz. Pecola.A ” How he laughed when they fell down and their pantss showed. When they got up, their faces ruddy and crinkled, it made him experience good. “ ( 87 ) ”
However the power that Geraldine holds over the black race is given to her by the black race. Mrs. Breedlove for case instills in the head of her ain kid that being light skinned alterations how reasonably you are to the outside universe. This is clear when Maureen Peal, a affluent visible radiation skinned new miss, comes to town and Tells Pecola how pretty she is. Immediately Pecola believes that colour plays a function in felicity and safety. Maureen besides buys into this philosophy because she goes on to state “ I am cunning! And you ugly! Black and ugly black emos! “ ( 73 ) Maureen forgets what she is: a black individual non merely to white people to black people besides. Mrs.Breedlove ‘s strong disfavor for her ain girl is clear when a little a white miss ambles into their house inquiring for Polly ( Mrs.Breedlove ) . When Mrs.Breedlove sees that Pecola by chance spilled a pan of pie on the floor she rushes to the floor without sing the safety of her ain girl who has merely been burnt by the blistering hot berry juice. After she cleans the floor she moves to the white miss who has been splashed with a small spot of the blueberry pie. Mrs.Breedlove tends to the white miss and soothes her with a “ honey ” like voice at which is foreign to Pecola bolstering her beliefs that the bluish eyes inspire felicity and make love and attending.
Pecola ‘s compulsion with holding blues eyes shows the motive that is common throughout the book. Eyess symbolize what society sees and wants. She thinks that holding blues eyes will in consequence get her parents to love her and name her beautiful. She believes there are different “ images ” to be seen. “ It had occurred to Pecola some clip ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the images, and knew the sights-if those eyes of hers were different, that is to state, beautiful, she herself would be different. “ ( 46 ) Pecola ‘s innocently nescient ego abhoring leads her to an unfortunate and unhealthy province. Eyess have ever been a window to the psyche and what Pecola does n’t recognize is that beauty comes from what she believes is beautiful. Like the old proverb beauty comes from within and non from position of others. The storyteller of the narrative has a tough clip understanding why beauty is associated with holding blues eyes. Finally the storyteller succumbs to society and calls blowballs weeds and non flowers. Pecola ‘s belief that blues eyes make life better and happier dramas into black civilizations belief that being white leads to success. They are missing two critical traits that are of import to 1s felicity: beauty and love.
In the Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison negotiations about how social stereotypes give the storyteller and unwanted individuality. Due to this storyteller tries to specify himself by accepting the stereotypes but shortly realizes that he ca n’t give to the outlooks of others merely those of himself. In the prologue the unseeable adult male defines himself as seeable but unseeable to society. “ I am a adult male of substance, of flesh and bone, fibre and liquids-and I might even be said to possess head. I am unseeable ; understand, merely because people refuse to see me. ” ( 3 ) The unseeable adult male is non seeable because he wishes non to be seen but because society does n’t acknowledge what he is. The storyteller in the Invisible Man tries to conform to the white stereotypes and tantrum into the classs that the white work forces place on him. “ Our white is so white you can paint a chunka coal and you ‘d hold to check it unfastened with a sleigh cock to turn out it was n’t white clear through. “ ( 250 ) This quotation mark is presented as a metaphor for the white power over the inkinesss. The lone manner that white society would accept the black adult male is if he assimilates to white cultural beliefs. Ocular white is the pigment company that the unseeable adult male works for. The white pigment company fails to admit its dependance on the black pigment company who mixes the pigment. This is besides illustration of how white civilization attempts to repress black civilization and do inkinesss conceal their true individuality in order for society to take them in. even though the storyteller himself tries to conform to white society he still remains non to be seen. The job that is posed to the unseeable adult male is that of definition. Specifying what he is or what he should be. In the Invisible Man Ralph Ellison shows two sides of the black community ; one of conformance and the other of rebellion. There are black consequences for both parties. Dr. Bledsoe a instructor at a college believes in order to acquire by in the universe and remain seeable one must conform and delight the demands of the white folks. “ I ‘s large and black and I say ‘Yes, suh ‘ every bit aloud as any burrhead when it ‘s convenient, but I ‘m still the king down here. . . . The lone 1s I even pretend to delight are large white common people, and even those I control more than they control me. . . . That ‘s my life, stating white common people how to believe about the things I know about. . . . It ‘s a awful trade and I do n’t ever like it myself. . . . But I ‘ve made my topographic point in it and I ‘ll hold every Negro in the state hanging on tree limbs by forenoon if it means remaining where I am. “ ( 160 ) Dr.bledsoe is a black adult male plays a fearful game with white society. Alternatively of speaking in a manner that white people my perceive as smart he talks in like and uneducated good for nil nigga. In order to assist his white foremans feel a sense of security and high quality. To cognize that the black adult male has remained in its topographic point and is doing no paces frontward comforts them. His racist remark at the terminal of his quotation mark is merely used to set up that no affair what it takes he will do himself seeable to white adult male even if it ‘s at the cost of his ain ego pride. The storyteller realizes that Dr.Bledsoe has taken many stairss rearward In holding society acknowledge him alternatively of taking big paces frontward. The physician in forepart of his name is meaningless because the white adult male has found a manner of commanding him and maintaining his ideas at bay.
Racism in the novel is the obstructor to which the unseeable adult male has a tough clip in happening his individuality. When he comes in contact with the coin back at Mary ‘s he understands that in order to be acknowledged, the black adult male must steal to the lowest of degrees. He must encompass the stereotypes of a coon. The coin bank is broad mouth black adult male with thick ruddy lips and image really common in the Reconstruction epoch of America. “ aˆ¦the cast-iron figure of a really black, red-lipped and wide-mouthed Negro. . . stared up at me from the floor, his face an tremendous smile, his individual big black manus held thenar up before his thorax. It was a bank, a piece of early Americana, the sort of bank which, if a coin is placed in the manus and a lever pressed upon the dorsum, will raise its arm and toss the coin into the smile oral cavity. The storyteller despises these stereotypes and attempts urgently to be free from them. He may be a freed slave but he certainly as snake pit non a freed adult male. The whole point of this despicable creative activity is to supply amusement for white society. This is the lone format in which the unseeable adult male becomes seeable. Thus him stating: “ It is sometimes advantageous to be unobserved, although it is most frequently instead have oning on the nervousnesss. ” ( 3 ) Racism is besides found in the mill autonomy pigments when the unseeable adult male gets in a fist battle because he and his white opposite number do n’t see oculus to oculus. When the boiler explodes and the storyteller is rendered unconscious the physicians perform experiments on the unseeable adult male to assist sort storyteller. they do n’t even see him as homo. “ to delight a white adult male is to state him a prevarication ” ( Ellison 130 ) This quotation mark allows us to see that the storyteller realizes that his exclusive being is for the white adult male ‘s pleasance and amusement. Almost like a caged monkey would be to kids.
Unlike in Morrison, Ellison character finds a beam of hope at the terminals of the novel. “ All my life I had been looking for something, and everyplace I turned person tried to state me what it was. I accepted their replies excessively, though they were frequently in contradiction and even paradoxical. I was naA?ve. I was looking for myself and inquiring everyone except myself inquiries which I, and merely I, could reply. It took me a long clip and much painful boomeranging of my outlooks to accomplish a realisation that everyone else appears to hold been born with: That I am cipher but myself. ” ( 15 ) The storyteller realizes that merely he himself can put his outlooks and ends. “ And my job was that I ever tried to travel in everyone ‘s manner but my ain. I have besides been called one thing and so another while no 1 truly wished to hear what I called myself. So after old ages of seeking to follow the sentiments of others I eventually rebelled. I am an unseeable adult male. ” The storyteller ‘s exceptance of being unseeable because black or white society can specify who he is. He is who he wants to be. He defines what his black means no 1 else. The unseeable adult male is seeable to some but most significantly he is seeable to himself. Unfortately in Morrison visibleness was missing. By the terminal of Bluest Eye Pecola shrank into a province of merely self consciousness. The outside universe disappeared with her saneness. Pecola ‘s character stand foring black civilization is the supporter and antagonist all at the same clip. She strives to be better but in making so her head becomes twisted in warped. Her Strong desire to acquire bluish eyes or in theory become white shows the calamity and the ultimate death of black civilization. Malcolm X said it best “ Who made you Hate yourself? ”
