1. Melek BINERER Ezgi DEMIRTUNC Janbek OZDEMIR Beri PARDO
THE BLUEST EYE
Melek BINERER
Ezgi DEMIRTUNC
Janbek OZDEMIR
Beri PARDO

2. OUTLINE Political Commentary Cultural Commentary (Black) Feminism
Thesis Statement
Political Commentary
Racism in USA
Jim Crow Laws
Racism in The Bluest Eye
Cultural Commentary
(Black) Feminism
The Theft of Innocence
Retrieved on May 22th from

3. Thesis Statement
In “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, the writer subtly talks about black feminism and the theft of innocence by using political and cultural commentary.

4. RACISM IN USA Colonization Process Civil War (1876-1865)
Jim Crow Laws ( )

5. JIM CROW LAWS
- A black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a white male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a black male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a white woman, because he risked being accused of rape.
- Blacks and Whites were not supposed to eat together. If they did eat together, Whites were to be served first, and some sort of partition was to be placed between them.

6. - Whites did not use courtesy titles of respect when referring to Blacks, for example, Mr., Mrs., Miss., Sir, or Ma'am. Instead, Blacks were called by their first names. Blacks had to use courtesy titles when referring to Whites, and were not allowed to call them by their first names.
- If a black person rode in a car driven by a White person, the black person sat in the back seat, or the back of a truck.
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7. - Under no circumstance was a Black male to offer to light the cigarette of a White female -- that gesture implied intimacy.
- Blacks were not allowed to show public affection toward one another in public, especially kissing, because it offended Whites.
- Jim Crow etiquette prescribed that Blacks were introduced to Whites, never Whites to Blacks.

8. - All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races (Alabama).
- The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately (Florida).

9. RACISM IN THE BLUEST EYE
Morrison tries to show the hard life conditions of black people in social life and how they are treated by white people.
She also highlights the great differences between white and black people and how blacks are considered as second class citizens.

10. LORAIN, OHIO,

11. What is feminism?

12. Feminism “Social movement that seeks equal rights for women.” (EB)
“The belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way” (Cambridge)
“a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” (bh)
Women = Men
Pro-Feminism

13. Thus far.. Late 19th- early 20th century
The struggle and the “suffrage” to gain rights
Led by...
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979)

14. Black Feminism Emerged in 1970s
the Black Liberation Movement & the Women's Movement
Challenges...
What challenges, do you think?

15. In The Bluest Eye
"She said she would let me stay if I left him. I thought about that. But later on it didn't seem none too bright for a black woman to leave a black man for a white woman" (p. 120).
"...she told me I shouldn't let a man take advantage over me. That I should have more respect, and it was my husband's duty to pay the bills, and if he couldn't, I should leave and get alimony" (p. 120).

16. In The Bluest Eye Pauline beats her husband
Retrieved May 22 from

17. TONI MORRISON

18. MORRISON INFLUENCED BY
Mother side
grandfather, a Kentucky carpenter and farmer
because of the state's racism and poverty, he moved his family to Ohio
stories and tales about the horrors of black life during the Reconstruction era
"whatever I did was easy in comparison with what they had to go through."
Father Side
father, sharecropper
had similar reasons to escape racial oppression in Georgia and relocate in the North
he distrusted "every word and every gesture of every white man on earth."

19. LORAIN, OHIO a multicultural steel town
born in Lorain, Ohio, 1931
a multicultural steel town
consists of Czech, German, Irish, Greek, Italian, Serb, Mexican, and black suburbanites
religious environment
"We were taught that as individuals we had value, irrespective of what the future might hold for us."

20. had to contend with the racial prejudice
The women of the black community served as a tightly woven safety net
had to contend with the racial prejudice
educational system ignored the contributions of nonwhites

21. THEMES OF THE NOVEL discrimination based on skin colors
racism against blacks
discrimination based on skin colors
black society’s intolerence to the taboos of incest

22. Can you give an example of the view about blacks’ social life?

23. “Black e mo Black e mo Ya daddy sleeps nekked.
Stch ta ta scth ta ta
Stach ta ta ta ta ta”

24. HIERARCHICAL SOCIETY
whites
blacks
poor blacks

25. Can you give some examples from our novel which represent such classes?

26. What were the differences between the blacks’ and whites’ world in the novel?

27. DIFFERENCES OF TWO WORLDS
WORLD OF WHITES
WORLD OF BLACKS
blue sky
porcelain bath tub with silvery taps, hot&clear water, fluffy white towels
beauty, order, cleanliness and praise
a large white spacious kitchen in where there are odors of meat, vegetables
park for white children
wealth
blue eyes
orange-patched sky
zinc bath tub; buckets of stove-heated water; flaky,stiff, grayish towels
no beauty or style
no kitchen in Breedloves storefront they have just two rooms and they can't find easily something to eat
park is forbidden for black chilren
poverty
desire of blue eyes

28. THE THEFT OF INNOCENCE Cholly’s theft of Pecola’s innocence
What symbolizes Pecola’s innocence?
How does Cholly steal it?- “thief”
Do we see the theme of theft of innocence in the movie “Precious” too? Explain.

29. First sexual experiences Pecola’s innocence- Seeing their father naked
Sexual coming of age
First sexual experiences
Pecola’s innocence-
Seeing their father naked
Her first menstruation
Why do we call this event loss of “innocence”? Isn’t Pecola an innocent girl anymore? Explain your thoughts.

30. Some Quotes... “Am I going to die?” (pg.28)
“How do you get someone to love you?”(pg.32)
“ So when the child regained consciousness, she was lying on the kitchen floor under a heavy quilt, trying to connect the pain between her legs with the face of her mother looming over her.”(pg.163)
“The tenderness welled up in him, and he sank to his knees, his eyes on the foot of his daughter.” (pg.162)
“I never saw my daddy naked. Never.” (pg.72)

31. Cholly His traumatic sex experience Self- hatred “Lovelessness”
Having grown up without any parents
Abuses his wife
Endangers everybody around him

32. Pecola She is the one who is seen as guilty
She suffers and pays for this event
This event is not only her loss of innocence, but loss of her baby and her existance
How do Cholly and Frieda’s father play a role in their daughters’ first sexual experiences?
In what way these roles are exactly opposite?

33. The result-
Pecola is beaten up , goes mad, everybody hates her, her baby dies, her life gets ruined. She is excluded from the society.
Her mother --mad at Pecola.
Nothing changes for Cholly –goes on to his life. His traumatic sexual experience causes another traumatic experience for a little girl Racism

34. References
feminism. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:
Black feminism. Retrieved May 21, 2010, from
Morrison, T. (1970). The Bluest Eye. New York: Vintage Books.

35. Thank You for Listennig Us