The Bluest Eye Response (#4) -- A Curse or a Crutch

One common theme that arises in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is the role of society in determining one’s own beliefs.  In the novel, the very first page of the prologue reiterates the story of Dick and Jane repeatedly three times.  Seen today, many look at that piece as one prominent source of gender stereotyping.  In 1970, when Morrison’s book was first published, it may have had a different meaning (but that is for another day).  The key is that this novel introduces stereotypes and forms of judging others right upon the dawn of its first page.  Moments thereafter appear with a similar pattern—cause and effect.  At first, society’s love for the white race puts Claudia, a poor black girl, in a position lacking fortune.  The beloved standard for a little girl has been set and Claudia is not among them.  Cause.  She goes on to receive dolls for Christmas and her birthday.  Instead of treasuring them, she dismantles them tearing their arms in horrid directions and creating a figure found in horror films.  The once cute, white, blue eyed dolls became unsalvageable.  Effect.  Later, Cholly Breedlove falls victim to alcohol and unemployment.  Dating from his misfortunes his family plummets deeper into the hole of poverty they have been entrenched in ever since their migration north.  Cholly put his whole family, especially his daughter Pecola, in a vulnerable position in society.  His sleeping naked and his abuse of his family gives the fangs of society a chance to bite.  Cause.  His son, Sammy, runs away.  His wife, once a hard-nosed, self-respecting woman, turns to becoming a house maid for a source of income; she becomes the servant for a white family, among them a young toddler girl.  Pecola becomes ostracized within school.  She is constantly made fun of and bullied.  Effect.  Soaphead Church marries the love of his life, only to be divorced and heartbroken.  Cause.  He results to child molestation and becomes a sociopath.  Effect.  The point of these scenarios is that society builds a commonality, a stereotype of who you should be.  Claudia, the Breedloves, and Soaphead Church challenge these stereotypes and become separated from society, distanced from the rest of the world.  The human body, its mind and its actions, define how you as a person are viewed by the group.  One commonality among all these examples is that the view, as readers, we display is either sympathy, disgust, or both. We created these perceptions and, in Pecola and Claudia’s cases, the character has no choice but to make do with the situation they adopted upon birth. The opportunity then arises to either abide by society’s beliefs (as Pecola did during a majority of the novel) or ignore them for one’s own sake (as seen through Soaphead Church).  Overall, the novel displays the idea that the body is either a curse or a crutch based off the iron fist of society.  Cause.  The mind, however, is beautiful, because it enables us to be happy despite the scenario we adopted upon birth or misfortune.  Effect.