Stereotypes

"They were everywhere. They slept six in a bed, all their pee mixing together in the night as they wet their beds each in his own candy-and-potato-chip..." (92).

Geraldine's analysis of Pecola quickly shifts from an overview of the young girl's physical appearance to a deeper analysis of what Geraldine believes Pecola represents. The transition from shallow observance to stereotypes reveal how deep Geraldine's distate, even disgust, for girls of Pecola's background. The above quote is just a snippet of a larger though in which her opinion of Pecola (though it's no longer about Pecola but this larger "they") that progressively becomes worse, ending with her ultimately comparing them to flies.

Perhaps one of the largest ironies, however, is that the beginning of this chapter begins describing what Geraldine's life in the same general terms and stereotypes. Pages 81 through 86 uses the word "they" instead of mentioning any particular female subject. In this way, Morrison establishes Pecola's foil as Geraldine, as opposed to Maureen and Rosemary, the white girls, because one could have easily had the other's life, had the circumstances been slightly different.

The Bluest Eye - Pg. 74

Pg. 74:

"We were lesser. Nicer, brighter, but still lesser. The Thing to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us."

This section particularly stood out to me. The main reason being that it shows, yet again, a prevailing theme of the book: ideals of beauty. Throughout the novel, Claudia makes observations that she is percieved as inferior and/or ugly because of the color of her skin. Although this is indeed the reason for her mistreatment, it's hard for her young and ignorant mind to comprehend why it matters. One of the most frustrating feelings we can experience is lack of knowledge and understanding, and it seems as though the girls in the novel are constantly plagued with this feeeling. It's easy to see why the girls are continously yearning to be what society has convinced them is "beautiful", such as the wish for blue eyes by Pecola. I feel like the section I chose summed up a few of the most common emotions in the novel: disappointment, confusion, anger, and jealousy.

Claudia seems to have the strongest will power to remain secure in who she is, which surprises me for her age. How long could you uphold your self confidence and self worth if you were constantly being led to believe that you are ugly, worthless, and "lesser"?

The Bluest Eye- Winter page 88

Page 88 “…he saw a very black girl taking a shortcut through the playground. She kept her head down as he walked. He had seen her many times before, standing alone, always alone, at recess. Nobody ever played with her. Probably, he thought, because she was ugly.”
 
This passage really highlights Pecola’s situation that Morrison presents in this novel, which is “a unique situation, not a representative one” (Morrison xi). Pecola’s race and gender vulnerabilities are presented. Junior doesn’t just say that Pecola is black, but very black. This distinguishes his blackness from Pecola’s in a degrading manner. Pecola’s weakness as a female is also highlighted in this passage. Junior, a sadist, loves torturing girls particularly and Pecola is his current victim.
 
Previously in the novel, Pecola was never actually seen alone. Her non-existent sense of self had been presented, but not actually being alone. She was either with Claudia, Frieda, or even Maureen Peal. It is here that her isolation in the world is concrete. Once again, the reason that she is alone is just because she is “ugly.”
 
Ugly is a recurring motif. When the Breedloves were first introduced in the novel, Morrison stated that they were all ugly and then went into further detail. Claudia and Frieda also do not have beauty as seen on page 74 when Claudia realizes why Maureen Peal was not the Enemy but “the Thing to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us.” It seems like there might be more to “ugliness” than just “blackness.” Geraldine is black, yet described as very pretty. Junior is black, yet not ugly. Claudia and Frieda are also ugly, yet Pecola seems to be the ugliest. What exactly defines ugly? Or is it that the point that it cannot be clearly defined?

The thing to fear

"The Thing to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us." p. 74

The girls have realized that their hatred toward Maureen peals isn't directed at Maureen herself but the way others treat her and the widely accepted ideal of what is acceptable. Claudia's ideals have already conflicted with societies' a number of times and I think it's here when she comes to terms with it. When Claudia realizes she doesn't need to hate Maureen but the publicly held opinion of what is perfect, she understands that it is the idea of what is perfect and desirable that needs to be addressed. Not Maureen's conformation with this idea.

Will Claudia succumb to this ideal and wish she was white or continue hold her own personal beliefs?

Welcome to the Class Blog!

This blog will allow you to write responses to the readings for a given day that you want to share with the class as a whole. This blog will be publicly viewable as well, so bear in mind that you are sharing your posts with two "publics": our class and the blogging world that may find this blog in a random search. Only the members of our class will be allowed to post to this blog, but what we post will be available for anyone to see, both in the class and out of it, to see.

On this blog, everyone in the class will post responses to the readings and questions that the readings have raised for us. These responses will become part of our class discussion. Although everyone may post comments on other people's posts if they wish, during the course of this semester each class member must create at least 6 unique posts of their own. 

Our first group of posts will follow a general format: you should find one "moment" in the reading that is due for your posting day--a passage, a group of lines, a word, even a mark of punctuation--that seems particularly important to you.  You will then re-type that passage at the beginning of a post with the page number in parentheses after it.  Below that, you should explain why you found the passage significant: what about that "moment" strikes you as worth pointing out?  How does this moment help you to understand the entire reading's theme or central idea (as you are coming to understand it)?

Following your analysis of the passage that you have found, you should also write a question that the reading in general (not necessarily the moment you have chosen) is leading you to ask.  What about this day's reading is puzzling to you?  What would you like the rest of the class to help you answer?

This assignment may change over time: check our course schedule to see if I have put in specific new instructions for a posting day that you have signed up for.  But for now: let's get posting!