As soon as I picked up The Bluest Eye I had a very strong feeling just by the title, that racialized beauty would be a predominant theme throughout the text (I thought, “Wow, that MUST be foreshadowing of some sort). In Autumn, the first chapter in The Bluest Eye, this is seen in various scenes. I first noticed this on pg. 19, Claudia states, “I had not yet arrived at the turning point in the development of my psyche which would allow me to love her. What I felt at that time was unsullied hatred. But before that I had felt a stranger, more frightening thing for hatred for all the Shirley Temples of the world.” This sentence reinforced this negative idea of white supremacy that is engraved and a part of Black history and culture. Toni Morrison revealed how noticing differences in advantages (white privilege) and cultural perceptions all occur at a young age.
On pg. 19, Claudia goes on describing her Christmas experience. Her gift was a big, blue-eyed Baby Doll. “Here, this is beautiful, and if you are on this day ‘worthy’ you may have it.” With this doll, Claudia felt like she was supposed to learn, to find the beauty, a desirability in a sense. She describes how she felt like she was the only one that seemed to not find the beauty of this blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll. Claudia dismembers the doll, in an attempt to dissect it and really see and understand what makes it so “beautiful”. Cleverly, Morrison examines how beauty is a socially-constructed concept through this relaying of Claudia's childhood experience.
I admire how through an examination of racialized beauty, Morrison (so far) is effectively portraying the damages that this socially constructed concept has had on Black culture. The black female characters are displaying to the audience how society portrays (portrayed?) the physical features of white people to be beautiful and the struggles of black females trying (who tried?) or wishing (who wished?) to attain that beauty. I look forward to seeing how the views of society during this time (1940s) will inevitably mold the characters of The Bluest Eye.
I mentioned that The Bluest Eye is set in the 1940s. Do you believe this racialized beauty still exist in today’s society? If you do believe so, how prevalent would you say it is?
I believe racialized beauty still exists in our society. Our construction of beauty still privileges some, while simultaneously damaging the vast majority of others. It is hard for me measure just how prevalent racialized beauty standards are because I would need to distance myself from society first in order to do so. I think that the passing of time helps in gauging the prevalence of racialized beauty. Morrison wrote this novel in the '70s and I imagine that the 30 year difference allowed her to see the repercussions of these beauty standards and the changing of them, as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michelle that racialized beauty still exists within our society. Look around at beauty saloons and magazines. There are still ones that focus primarily on the hair for white people and a different one for the African American. However,each saloon seems to focus on common pieces that makes them "beautiful"; straight, colored (blonde), perfect hair.
ReplyDeleteBut referring to your comments about Claudia's Christmas present, I totally agree with what you said. I think she dismembers the perfect baby doll to try to really dig into what makes people think that it is so beautiful. I think it symbolizes what she mentally does to herself but with her "ugliness". She deconstructs herself to find out what really makes her ugly to the world and especially to the white people that barely even give her a glance as she walks down the street. I think that Toni Morrison, as you pointed out, is also trying to show that our societies roots for our social constructs is more than just a general label. When you break it down, you see that their are many levels that construct something we may have thought was so simple, like blue eyes.
Racialized beauty is a concept definitely still prevalent today! I think it comes from a Westernized transmition of beauty standards. For example, I've read articles discussing Indian actress Aishwarya Rai; she is famous for her beauty but I remember reading an article a while back that suggested that one of the reasons she has such international praise for her beauty is because she has light colored eyes (something that is relatively rare in regards to Indian women). So even though different cultures like India's and the African American one have their own unique beauty standards, Western-European characteristics still manage to slip in.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your following statement, "I admire how through an examination of racialized beauty, Morrison (so far) is effectively portraying the damages that this socially constructed concept has had on Black culture". Digging a little further into the "damages", I think it is important to notice all of the female characters react and take different approaches to the imposition of racialized beauty. Morrison shows a variety of responses, and consciously she never refutes the victimization of black women by empowering black as beautiful. What does it mean that Morrison chooses not to construct black a beautiful in her book?
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