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

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

3. 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.

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

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

6. 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”

7. 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”

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

9. 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

10. So you thought there was hope…

11. The Characters Fail in the End
Cholly
Pecola
Pauline

12. Works Cited
Bishop, John. “Morrison's The Bluest Eye.” Explicator 51.4 (1993): 252. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Aug
Daly, Brenda. “Taking Whiteness Personally: Learning to Teach Testimonial Reading and Writing in the College Literature Classroom.” Pedagogy 5.2 (2005): Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Aug
Gibson, Donald. “Text and Counter Text in The Bluest Eye.” Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Literary Series, Print.
Keen, Ernest. “Postmodern Psychology.” A History of Ideas in American Psychology. Westport: Praeger, Print.
Kubitschek, Missy Dehn. “The Bluest Eye.” Toni Morrison a Critical Companion. Westport: Greenwood, 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, Print.
Lewontin, Richard C. “Biological Determinism.” Tanner Lectures on Human Values 4 (1983):
Malmgren, Carl D. “Texts, Primers, and Voices in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Critique 41.3 (Spring 2000): Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Tom Burns. Vol. 99. Detroit: Gale, Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 30 Aug
Marshall, Gordon. “Culture.” The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. Oxford: Oxford UP, Print.
Mobley, Marilyn Sanders. “Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination.” The Southern Review 29.3 (1993): Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 17 Aug
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Alfred A. Knope, Print.
Page, Philip. “The Break Was a Bad One: The Split World of The Bluest Eye.” Dangerous Freedom. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 30 Aug
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): Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Aug
Werrlein, Debra T. “Not So Fast, Dick and Jane: Reimagining Childhood and Nation in The Bluest Eye.” MELUS 30.4 (2005): Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Aug
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. New York: William Morrow and Company, Print.

13. Questions???