Fragmentation of Individuality in The Bluest Eye Megan Redmond English Literature Thesis Defense November 18, 2014

“Dick and Jane” stories Lorain, OH 194os Dominant Culture Beauty Myth “Dick and Jane” stories Pecola Pauline Cholly

The Exploration of The Bluest Eye The American lifestyle with images from Hollywood and influences from the white culture is not presented as the ideal place for the Breedlove family to live out their hopes and aspirations; but a closer examination of their struggle with whiteness and internalized racism gives an answer to the ultimate question of why the characters fail in the end.

Pecola I want to be white! Shirley Temple Biological Determinism John Bishop and Hollywood Pecola

I want to be white! Pauline Provider White Influence Cholly’s charm Hollywood Provider No Nickname Pauline

I want to be white! Cholly Cannot live up to expectations of masculinity 3 Instances that push him further from achieving a sense of whiteness Aunt’s Death Sexual pleasure Loss of Reconciliation Cannot live up to this because Father, “never says a word about his job, is a breadwinner heading up the ladder of success, ready to do anything he can for his family”

Fighting the Internalized Racism Pecola Donald Gibson’s Take “reveals the role of education in both oppressing the victim-and more to the point-teaching the victim how to oppress her own black self by internalizing the values that dictate standards of beauty” Jesus Crucifix Maureen’s Influence Gibson-“reveals the role of education in both oppressing the victim-and more to the point-teaching the victim how to oppress her own black self by internalizing the values that dictate standards of beauty”

Fighting the Internalized Racism Power Religion Daughter Pecola White Family Removal Pauline

Fighting the Internalized Racism Cholly Donald Gibson’s Take Cholly’s struggle with his own internalized racism “stem[s] from the whole of his past experience, his experience as a poor, black youth, victimized by white and black oppression” Identity and masculine power “Mirror” image of his father

So you thought there was hope…

The Characters Fail in the End Cholly Pecola Pauline

Works Cited Bishop, John. “Morrison's The Bluest Eye.” Explicator 51.4 (1993): 252. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Aug. 2014. Daly, Brenda. “Taking Whiteness Personally: Learning to Teach Testimonial Reading and Writing in the College Literature Classroom.” Pedagogy 5.2 (2005): 213-246. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Aug. 2014. Gibson, Donald. “Text and Counter Text in The Bluest Eye.” Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Literary Series, 1993. 160-169. Print. Keen, Ernest. “Postmodern Psychology.” A History of Ideas in American Psychology. Westport: Praeger, 2001. Print. Kubitschek, Missy Dehn. “The Bluest Eye.” Toni Morrison a Critical Companion. Westport: Greenwood, 1998. 27-41. Print. Jones, Bessie. “Ironic Use of Fairy Tale Motifs in The Bluest Eye.” The World of Toni Morrison Explorations in Literary Criticism. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt, 1985. 28-29. Print. Lewontin, Richard C. “Biological Determinism.” Tanner Lectures on Human Values 4 (1983): 147-183. Malmgren, Carl D. “Texts, Primers, and Voices in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Critique 41.3 (Spring 2000): 251-260. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Tom Burns. Vol. 99. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. Marshall, Gordon. “Culture.” The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1994. 105. Print. Mobley, Marilyn Sanders. “Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination.” The Southern Review 29.3 (1993): 614+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 17 Aug. 2014. Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Alfred A. Knope, 1993. Print. Page, Philip. “The Break Was a Bad One: The Split World of The Bluest Eye.” Dangerous Freedom. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1995. 37-59. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 190. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2014. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. The Bluest Eye. n.d. Photograph. Google Images. The Bluest Eye Book Cover. n.d. Photograph. Google Images. Ward, Jervette R. “In Search of Diversity: Dick and Jane and Their Black Playmates.” Making Connections: Interdisciplinary Approaches To Cultural Diversity 13.2 (2012): 17-26. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Aug. 2014. Werrlein, Debra T. “Not So Fast, Dick and Jane: Reimagining Childhood and Nation in The Bluest Eye.” MELUS 30.4 (2005): 53+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Aug. 2014. Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1991. Print.

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