The Bluest Eye And Fun Home Essay - 2175 Words

Although Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home demonstrate pronounced differences in setting and design, both novels employ a reflective narration of the past to address common themes of trauma, unorthodox family relationships, and sexuality. Both stories utilize this retrospective narrative to expose masculinity’s stratified hegemony as a driving force of internalized shame, violence, and the death of self. As The Bluest Eye’s Cholly and Fun Home’s Bruce are examined in terms of hegemonic masculinity’s influence, the common themes in both works can be understood as a result of masculinity’s hierarchical ascendency. To understand either work’s take on hegemonic masculinity, it is important to identify masculinity as a gendered hegemony. In her definition of gender, Judith Halberstam notes that gender is socially systematized, performed, and reproduced in cultures, institutions, and individual identities (B urgett, Bruce, and Hendler, 116). In a like manner, in her article on gendered violence, Mimi Schippers notes R.W. Connell’s research on masculinity to expand this definition, implying that masculinity is central to gender relations. In short, Connell defined masculinity as â€Å"simultaneously a place in gender relations, the practices through which men and women engage†¦ in gender, and the effects of these practices on bodily experience, personality, and culture† (Schippers, 86). Here, masculinity is classified as a social position, the set and practiceShow MoreRelatedThe Bluest Eye And Alison Bechdel s Fun Home Essay2269 Words   |  10 PagesToni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home are both novels that employ a reflective narration of the past to address common themes of trauma, unorthodox family relationships, and sexuality. Although they demonstrate pronounced differences in setting and design, both stories utilize this ret rospective narrative to expose masculinity’s stratified hegemony as a driving force of internalized shame, violence, and the death of self. Furthermore, it becomes clear that these shared themesRead MoreAnalysis Of The Bluest Eye 818 Words   |  4 PagesIn The Bluest Eye, Pecola the protagonist is taken under the Macteer family’s wing much like â€Å"The African family is community-based and the nurturing quality is not contained within the nuclear family, but is rather the responsibility of the entire community† (Ranstrà ¶m). In traditional Africa each child has a place and is welcome in the community. The act of parenting another child was not odd because every adult that lived in each community believed that any child is welcome in anyone’s home. ThisRead MoreThe Bluest Eyes By Toni Morriss1592 Words   |  7 Pages Draft When I was 5 years old I wanted nothing then to be white. I wanted the blonde hair and blue eyes, I wanted nothing to be pretty like the girls on tv. I wanted to look like the girls in the movie that always got the boy at the end they were usually white. I was always angry because my skin was darker then most of my family that my skin was closer to white. My sister who I thought was blessed with her light skin called herself white. I didn t understand it at first and just thoughtRead MoreRacism in the Bluest Eye752 Words   |  4 PagesRacism in â€Å"The Bluest Eye† Several examples of racism are encompassed in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Characters who are members of the black community are forced to accept their status as the â€Å"others†, or â€Å"outsiders†, which has been imposed on them by the white community. In turn, blacks assign this status to other individuals within the lighter-skinned black community. In this novel, characters begin to internalize the racism presented by these people, and feel inferior. The stereotypeRead More Morrisons Bluest Eye Essay: Misdirected Anger Depicted1174 Words   |  5 PagesMisdirected Anger Depicted in The Bluest Eye In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison shows that anger is healthy and that it is not something to be feared; those who are not able to get angry are the ones who suffer the most.   She criticizes Cholly, Polly, Claudia, Soaphead Church, the Mobile Girls, and Pecola because these blacks in her story wrongly place their anger on themselves, their own race, their family, or even God, instead of being angry at those they should have been angry at: whites.Read MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1587 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"We were born to die and we die to live.† Toni Morrison correlates to Nelson’s quote in her Nobel Lecture of 1993, â€Å"We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.† In Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye, she uses language to examine the concepts of racism, lack of self-identity, gender roles, and socioeconomic hardships as they factor into a misinterpretation of the American Dream. Mo rrison illustrates problems that these issues provoke throughRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1198 Words   |  5 PagesThe Bluest Eye In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison brings to light the often unrecognized struggle that many people in the black community face. She exposes the â€Å"whitewashing† that has been prevalent in society for decades and the societal imposition of impossible beauty standards. Morrison uses the book to show us the psychological tolls on children and adults that stem from these unattainable goals. Children, like Pecola Breedlove, are so indoctrinated by society and the quest for superficial â€Å"perfection†Read MoreToni Morrison s Beloved And The Bluest Eye2300 Words   |  10 PagesPaper Toni Morrison s Beloved and The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison is known for her use of poetic language. In many of her writings Morrison captures the pursuit of African Americans identities(Parnell). Considering Morrison never experienced the horrific tragedies she writes about, she is a witness to many identities that were destroyed by society depiction of them. The themes that Toni Morrison illustrates in her works Beloved and The Bluest Eye demonstrates how Toni Morrison works show individualsRead More Childhood Presented in To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison3594 Words   |  15 PagesChildhood Presented in To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Childhood should be a time of great learning, curiosity, joy, playfulness and guiltlessness. The reality is that it can be a time of extreme vulnerability and dependency. The innocence and fragility of a child is easily manipulated and abused if not nurtured and developed. Family relationships are crucial in the flourishing of young minds, but other childhood associations are important too. TheseRead MoreEssay about Use of the Fences Metaphor in Describing Racial Injustice1674 Words   |  7 PagesInjustice in Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the Song Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, and August Wilsons Fences In todays world it is difficult for young people to get a good handle on the past. This is especially the case when talking about the history of African-Americans in the United States and the consequences of racial injustice which they faced. Toni Morrison shares her thoughts on this topic in her novel The Bluest Eye through the use of the metaphor