The Distorted Black Soul Under The Influences Of White Culture

Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye, was written during 1960s when the Black is Beautiful movement worked to reclaim African-American beauty. In my opinion, The Bluest Eye is a novel against racial discrimination. However the racial oppression and racial conflict are not directly portrayed. In this novel, racism affects the black people's life in a subtle yet profound way—the standard of white beauty, which intends to destroy the black culture and distorts their soul. In essence, the black community's worship of white images demonstrates a complicated kind of self-hatred. The novel takes Pecola as protagonist, an 11-year-old black girl, separately portrays three different black families—the Breedloves, Geraldine family and the MacTeers. The Breedloves are very ugly and their life is hard and dark. The surname of Breedlove means "breeding love". But in reality, the family members are abandoned by each other and by the world around them. Pecola's father—Cholly is a typical image of "bad black". He is ugly, lack of basic responsibility. He indulges in drinking alcohol, finally rapes and impregnates his own daughter. But behind the image of "bad black" is a series of abandonment and humiliation. Pauline neglects her own children because she is brainwashed and totally gets lost in the white culture. Her maternity is completely distorted. With the rejection from the family and the black community, Pecola believes that the cruelty and evilness in her life will be replaced by affection and respect if she obsesses blue eyes. Finally, helpless Pecola goes insane, and she believes that she's got "the bluest eye" to which she talks. It is in the tragedy of the Breedloves that historical, environmental and personal loss come together. They reject not only their own history, but also culture. They live in a society dominated by racism and white culture. In addition, the black community, which has accepted the standard of white beauty, is not willing to show their sympathy to the ugly Breedloves. Geraldine family, Maureen and Church come from black middle-class family. They are taught to drill out their "funkiness" and despise their own ethnity. She teaches her son the differences between colored and black; "Color people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud" (Morrison). She scapegoats the poor black children and expresses hatred to her own family, through her coldness. Finally she causes her son's sadism. Geraldine's hatred of dirt and disorder represents Morrison's critique of a particular kind of internalized racism and a middle-class contempt for the poor.Both the Breedloves and Geraldine family cut off themselves from their culture root and worship the standard of white beauty. Their soul are distorted and finally they reach the dead end. Morrison's depiction of the MacTeers demonstrates that not all the black people adore or are in awe of white culture and not all the black people live in hatred and indifference. We see hope on them. Mr. MacTeer is a devoted father and husband. He works hard and is fiercely protective of his daughters. Mrs. MacTeer communicates with her daughters with song. Through her song, she tells her daughters "misery colored by the greens and blues in my mother's voice took all of the grief out of the words and left me with a conviction that pain was not only endurable, it was sweet" (Morrison 24). Mr. And Mrs. MacTeer help their daughters establish self-confidence and self-identity. In addition, the MacTeers remain the sense of responsibility for the black community. When Pecola is raped and impregnated, when her baby dies, when she becomes insane, only the MacTeers shed tears for her with sympathy. Morison's portrayal of the MacTeers tells us that the black people are possible to have a happy life. She stresses that an important method to racial emancipation is to remain their ethnic culture which nurtures their self-identity.