Classism is a plague that affects every person alive, and The Bluest Eye is no stranger to it with one of its earlier character introductions. With the first chapter of Winter and the arrival of Winter itself comes a new character named Maureen Peal. She is a rich young girl, “as rich as the richest of the white girls, swaddled in comfort and care” (Morrison, 58). Her presence alone was daunting to Claudia, but her affect on the school was more than apparent. Maureen was shown to be extremely liked by both black and white children, never once having a conflict with any of the students. Simultaneously, it was as though people feared and adored her at the same time, likely due to her socioeconomic status as a rich white girl.

Up until this point, there were seemingly no issues, but the sheer fact that she was rich and had a powerful presence meant that Claudia and Frieda disliked her. Due to this, they silently hated her, and tried to come up with ways to demean Maureen even though she had not done anything directly to them. This is an almost textbook example of classism in the works, as the divide between poor and rich starts to come alive with the inclusion of Maureen.

However, as the story unfolds, the divide between rich and poor begins to close. Maureen’s presence is helpful enough to save a black girl named Pecola from being beaten by one of the other school boys, and Maureen consoles her while befriending her at the same time (Morrison, 64). Her generous act of buying ice cream and talk with Pecola strikes a chord with Claudia and Frieda. Both girls believed  that they were undeserving of her kindness; the same kindness she bestowed upon Pecola only moments before.

This begins a realization for the two girls. They had no exact reason to distrust or dislike Maureen other than her rich status. However, knowing that this novel takes place at the end of the Great Depression, it is understandable why Claudia would harbor intense feelings for a rich girl that she hardly knew in the beginning of Winter. For all they know, she is just a girl like the rest of them, innocent of the realities that the adults face. However, these small but significant interactions between Maureen and Claudia indicate a much larger problem that isn’t outright addressed. This behavior is toxic to say the least, but it is not necessarily Maureen’s nor Claudia’s fault. Rather, it is a larger issue that stems from a history of classism and problems with money.

Long overdue post about Cole Sprouse’s instagram account @camera_duels, in which he photographs people he catches taking photos of him. He then disses the subjects of his photos in the captions, reclaiming the power to tell his own narrative of them as they capture him. Reminiscent of Blair’s article, in which she points out that Ellison also often posed in his photos with camera in hand, blurring the line between photographer and photographed. Ellison also proved that he had a gaze too; the photography was reciprocal.

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Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Nature” is essentially about him realizing a few of the major flaws in society. Some of these were that no one was thinking for themselves anymore and that not many people were really in touch with nature, as the title of the piece gives away. Emerson starts off the very beginning of his piece with an introduction explaining how everything that anyone does nowadays is simply based off of what has already been thought or discovered. He states that “OUR age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers. It writes biographies, histories, and criticism … Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs? … There are new lands, new men, new thoughts. Let us demand our own works and laws and worship.” Here he is making a critique of how there is so much left to discover and think up yet as the world progresses, free thinking has come to a halt. Later on in his introduction, Emerson further discusses how he believes that the people have become out of touch because there is not much new, original thinking going on or ideas being generated. Being the “poet”, as he goes on to defend as the only true owners of the land, Emerson seems to think of himself quite highly in the sense that he feels that he is above the rest who do not connect with nature or create and try to think for themselves like he strives to.

Emerson also begins to focus on the idea of your soul being the only thing that is truly you. He states that “I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God”. By comparing himself to a transparent eyeball he is saying that he has become one with nature and is truly at a point of connection to it that he sees no separation between him and his surroundings. He sees all things transparently for what they are and can look past any mundane focuses in order to bask in the greatness of the natural world, something that many individuals in his time had forgotten how to do. This capability and privilege he has to do so and to be able to separate his mind from his body are two things he seems to blindly suggest everyone try to achieve. That is, without taking into account that not everyone at the time, whether it be due to race, class, gender, or any other difference they have to remain aware of, is in a position to be able to separate their body and soul like Emerson can, being a white man in the mid 1800s. Although well meaning, that is a major factor that has to be taken into account in order to better understand why many people are, in his opinion, so detached from nature and not developing new concepts or ideas.