Research Question:
“How colored girls are affected short-term and long-term by generational racism and systematic stigmas.”
Kuenz, Jane. “The Bluest Eye: Notes on History, Community, and Black Female Subjectivity.”
African American review 27.3 (1993): 421–431. Web.
Kuenz’s emphasis on the cultural setback in, “The Bluest Eye,” of young black girls through seclusion is her main objective in her article. She further discusses the result of these setbacks, and how it affects the girls as women. Lack of identity is what the author strongly rests on as a major affect to their personal lives, due to the segregation of cultures.
Rosenberg, Ruth. “Seeds in Hard Ground: Black Girlhood in The Bluest Eye.” Black American
literature forum 21.4 (1987): 435–445. Web.
Rosenberg writes about the self-image of black girls, especially in childhood, using Mahalia Jackson, Maya Angelou, and Bessie Smith as starting points for her examples. She writes of the experiences of black girls and women clinging to each other because they alone have only experienced the same. Rosenberg also mentions how Morrison’s black girlhood enlightened others to let them know they are not alone. She ends in a scary truth of, “The Bluest Eye,” and how dangerous a designated culture and way of life can be.
Roye, Susmita. “TONI MORRISON’S DISRUPTED GIRLS AND THEIR DISTURBED
GIRLHOODS: ‘The Bluest Eye’ and ‘A Mercy.’” Callaloo 35.1 (2012): 212–227. Web.
Roye’s article discusses Morrison’s focus on troubled girls in her writing. She compares the troubles from both, “The Bluest Eye,” and, “A Mercy.” The different stages and types of pity and sadness she gives her female characters through their identity, sexual identity, economic stages, desires, and family play a major role in Morrison’s plot line. The author insists that this is Morrison’s way of attesting to a largely unequal socio-economic and cultural system. Roye’s main objective is to elaborate on Morrison’s vision to expose these inequalities and create assimilation through struggle.
Vasquez, Sam. “In Her Own Image: Literary and Visual Representations of Girlhood in Toni
Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John.” Meridians 12.1 (2014): 58-87. Web.
This critical essay informs readers about the cultural and personal setbacks/experiences of young girls in, “The Bluest Eye”, and “Annie John.” Within the essay, Vasquez discusses: the theoretical and historical underpinnings of the writers and their personal experiences, visual culture and diverse socio-historical context, impact of western patriarchy, mixed racism, and literary context. The author goes into a deep dive of a black girl’s struggles between both books, and their grapple with Western cultural stigmas.
Zebialowicz, Palasinski. “Probing Racial Dilemmas in ‘the Bluest Eye’ with the Spyglass of
Psychology.” Journal of African American studies (New Brunswick, N.J.) 14.2 (2010): 220–233. Web.
This article takes a psychological look on Toni Morrison’s, “The Bluest Eye.” Zebialowicz sets out specific passages to analyze the effects of racism, identity crisis, beauty, white ethnocentrism, and more. She takes a deeper look into not only the feelings narrated but the buried shame, lack of power, and animosity holds within the characters. She tries to unload most of Morrison’s female racial issues and give insight through psychology.
My research process consisted of OneSearch on the hunter database site, and the keywords of: “The Bluest Eye” and stigmas, “” and racism, “” girlhood, “”and psychology. Many searches came up, but from reading through the different options I found these passages relating to my topic the most. These articles and essays hammer in on the type of research I’m looking for, giving me a wide variety of information from different sources and experiences.
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