Portrait of a Victim in Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye :: Bluest Eye Essays

Portrait of a Victim Toni Morrisons The Bluest kernel The Bluest Eye (1970) is the novel that launched Toni Morrison into the spotlight as a talented African-American writer and affectionate critic. Morrison herself says It would be a mistake to assume that writers are disconnected from social issues (Leflore). Because Morrison is more willing than most authors to discuss meaning in her books, a genetic approach is very relevant. To be truly effective, though, the genetic approach mustiness be combined with a formal approach. The formal approach allows the unpacking of the rich language, imagery, and metaphors of Morrisons writing, and the genetic places it in the larger context of her social consciousness. In The Bluest Eye, Morrisons uses her critical eye to reveal to the reader the evil that is caused by a society that is indoctrinated by the inherent goodness and beauty of whiteness and the ugliness of blackness. In an interview with Milwaukee Journal staff writer Fan nie Leflore, Morrison said that she confronted and critiqued the devastation of racial images in The Bluest Eye. The narrative structure of The Bluest Eye is important in revealing mediocre how pervasive and destructive the racialization (Morrisons term for the racism that is a part of every mortals socialization) is (Leflore). Morrison is particularly concerned about the yarn in her novels. She says, People crave narration . . . Thats the way they learn things (Bakerman 58). Narration in The Bluest Eye comes from several sources. Much of the narration comes from Claudia MacTeer as a social club year old child, but Morrison also gives the reader the benefit of Claudia reflecting on the story as an adult, some first person narration from Pecolas mother, and narration by Morrison herself as an omniscient narrator. Morrison says, First I wrote it the section in The Bluest Eye about Pecolas mother out as an I story, but it didnt work . . . Then I wrote it out as a she story, and t hat didnt work . . . It was me, the author, sort of omnipotent, talking (Bakerman 59). Morrison intentionally kept Pecola from any first person narration of the story. Morrison wanted to try to show a little girl as a total and complete victim of whatever was around her, and she ask the distance and innocence of Claudias narration to do that (Stepto 479).