Yancy, George. “A Foucauldian (Genealogical) Reading of Whiteness.” Radical Philosophy Review, vol. 4, no. 1, 2001, pp. 1–29., doi:10.5840/radphilrev200141/217.

This piece touches on the deformities that the characters in the novel The Bluest Eye develop when brought up with the idea of “whiteness” and what it means to be white. The author brings up the idea that whiteness in fact has evolved into the universal code of beauty especially in America, which I believe will be extremely useful in my paper as I delve into how the color of our skin affects who a person is while rewriting history at the same time.

Burcar, Lilijana. “Imploding the Racialized and Patriarchal Beauty Myth through the Critical Lens of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Vestnik Za Tuje Jezike 9.1 (2017): 139-158. Web.

This second article illuminates Americas unconvential beauty standard and how from a young age these little girls begin to internally hate their bodies and themselves due to not being able to achieve these impossible standards. This article made me realize how for my paper I need to incorporate both The Bluest Eye and The Invisible Man in order to really follow through with a substantial analysis.

Booth, W. James. “The Color of Memory: Reading Race with Ralph Ellison.” Political Theory, vol. 36, no. 5, 1 Oct. 2008, pp. 683–707.

This journal discusses the idea of race as a color as well as an identity which is rather evident because at times our society makes it to be that race is all that can define us. This article makes a note on the fact that memory and social justice also tie a factor into the larger color of whiteness as well as it masquerades the wrongs it has achieved.

Bump, Jerome. “Racism and Appearance in The Bluest Eye: A Template for an Ethical Emotive Criticism.” College Literature, vol. 37, no. 2, 2010, pp. 147–170., doi:10.1353/lit.0.0108.

This article discusses the use of racism in this novel and how it evokes a sense of anger and emotion into the main characters and readers, as well as how the age is a major factor of how the characters can react to how they are cheated as it is even mention how Pecola is aware she is being wronged at times but cannot comprehend the extent of it.

Booth, W. James. “The Color of Memory.” Political Theory, vol. 36, no. 5, 2008, pp. 683–707., doi:10.1177/0090591708321034.

This one I found going directly to JSTOR (Which at first I was weary of due to the time frame limitations), and searching key words along with it such as “color” in quotations.

Bowser, Rachel A. “Visibility, Interiority, and Temporality in The Invisible Man.” Studies in the Novel, vol. 45, no. 1, 2013, pp. 20–36., doi:10.1353/sdn.2013.0003.

This one was found using the technique the librarian gave us, by using the Hunter College database, going under the subject of English, then utilizing the “Gale” database.

Hardin, Michael. “Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man : Invisibility, Race, and Homoeroticism from Frederick Douglass to E. Lynn Harris.” The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 37, no. 1, 2004, pp. 96–120., doi:10.1353/slj.2005.0007.

This one as well was under the Gale database but instead, I specified the search criteria in order to create different results.

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This one was found using google scholar.

What is the importance of the symbolism in the color white and the items that contain it such as the milk in the Bluest eye, and the optic white paint, in the Invisible Man?

This is a question that may change as I research more and find more articles.

Claudia Rankine begins her novel, Citizen: An American Lyric, utilizing the unique form of second person narrative, which is not only a very distinct way to commence her novel, but it also a quite difficult narrative to follow through with. Second person narrative employs the use of the word “You” which brings into the essence a sense of personalism, that makes the reader almost feel as if this novel is a note for just them. Not only is Rankines writing unique in that sense, but she also deploys images through the novel juxtaposed next to certain chapters. Within the first couple of pages a picture of a normal street is placed, that looks like a normal middle class neighborhood followed behind white colored houses, with a street sign labeled as Jim Crow in the front and center of this photo. Many readers might see this and think nothing of the sort, just a simple normal neighborhood. However under an analytical scope it becomes quite clear that the name of this street sign serves a deeper purpose that can be compared to one that depicted in the Invisible Man, during the scene where optic white paint is introduced. The author mentions that this paint is so vivid and opaque, you could paint a piece of coal black, and you would be unable to know if it was even coal unless you would break it in half. This can be used as an analogy for contemporary America, where the upbringing of the mistreatment of People of color is usually white washed by America’s use of deep systemic nationalism and white washing. The picture depicted appears to be as normal and mundane as ever, which almost causes the reader to forget that the street sign itself is there to serve as a reminder to the vicious Jim Crow laws that were once set in place, and ruined the lives for millions of people of color living in America at the time. The subtle placement of this picture is a current reminder that we continue to forget of the hardships they have went through as it is buried deep into our society, hoping that the masses one day forget.

 To shallow thoughts, pop culture is simply there to entertain, and bring a smile to our faces. However under an analytical lense, we are able to decipher how detrimental the media is to our ego and how it fuels our insecurities, especially on young impressionable minds. In the Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, she utilizes the cultural icon of the time for children, Shirley Temple, and how the way America put her on a pedestal, distorted the lives and minds of young girls, especially those of color. In the novel, Claudia becomes obsessed with the doll of Shirley Temple, and feels the need to rip the doll apart, searching for something inside of it that in her mind should be the answer to all of her questions. Why don’t I look like that? How can I look like that? If I look like her will I finally be loved properly? What is the secret/answer to any of this? Claudia is at the age where she is unable to distinguish that beauty is nothing more than “cultural norms” being forced against young women, so it leaves her in a state of confusion as to why she does not look like the girls presented on television or in advertisements. The major part of this thirst to look a different way lays deep into the color of her skin, with an envy as to why she must be dark, when there are other girls her age who are bright and beautiful, so therefore more desirable. This feeling of envy and confusion quickly translate into hatred for girls who are white, and how the black community basically worships anything that is white and quickly associates images of cleanliness with those that are white. She is able to distinguish that this form of hatred is in itself a form of self-hatred, as the hatred of white people, stems from the yearning of her and everyone else in the black community to be apart of a race that considers themselves superior while they are left in the dark.

  Pecola however approaches her inner battle with race in a different matter, when approached with the beauty standards that America has forced upon her at such a young age, she does not feel hatred, yet feels an immense love that translates into jealousy, as she desperately wishes she was able to have an appearances such as Shirley Temple. Due to being young and innocent in her way of thinking, she expresses this by drinking an absurd amount of milk, which can be compared to the voyage Claudia went through searching for an answer in the inside of the doll. Pecola believes that if she drinks enough milk, she may be able to become white from the inside out. This unhealthy obsession she has to be like this white child star is a result of white supremacist America, forcing girls of all ages, that you will never experience true happiness like the so called “happy” movie stars have on television, unless you are white, and beautiful, and pure like they are.