Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye Lecture 2

Lecture Outline The narrative frame: The Dick and Jane primer ‘Autumn’ - Claudia’s prolepsis: loss of innocence, a community in turmoil 3. Cultural images of whiteness Dick and Jane Shirley temple The Hollywood ‘screen sirens’ 4. Claudia’s rejection of white values and norms

The narrative frame (p.1-2)

Dick and Jane reading primers From the 1930s-1970s, millions of American school children learnt to read with Dick and Jane. The opening lines of The Bluest Eye reproduce the typical Dick and Jane narrative.

Claudia’s prolepsis (p.3)

The ‘universal love’ of Shirley Temple (p.12-13)

Shirley Temple and Bill ‘Bo Jangles’ Robinson appeared together in a number of mainstream Hollywood films in the 1930s

The Hollywood ‘Screen Sirens’ Jean Harlow and Greta Garbo were among Hollywood’s glamorous ‘leading ladies’ of the 1930s.

Claudia’s rejection of white values and norms (p.13-16)