The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 9780452287068 Books
Download As PDF : The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 9780452287068 Books
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 9780452287068 Books
This book is really difficult to read if you're sensitive to themes of child sexual abuse, general child abuse, racism, and some animal abuse. Honestly, if you've been abused I wouldn't recommend it unless you have to read it for a class because it takes the perspective of the rapist during the rape scene which was really difficult for me to read personally.HOWEVER, if you haven't experienced abuse, this is a really important book. It gives you an important and vastly underrepresented perspective on the ways systems built on racism and neglect fail children of color and allow for horrific things to happen to them, and the narration of the book is actually beautiful and very compelling. It is hard to read, it is difficult subject material, but push through it. It's a good and worthwhile book.
Tags : The Bluest Eye [Toni Morrison] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove, an African-American girl in an America whose love for blonde, blue-eyed children can devastate all others,Toni Morrison,The Bluest Eye,Plume,0452287065,African Americans;Ohio;Fiction.,Girls;Ohio;Fiction.,Ohio;Fiction.,African American Novel And Short Story,African Americans,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Literary,Girls,Literary,Morrison, Toni - Prose & Criticism,Ohio
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 9780452287068 Books Reviews
I recently reread this book. I had read it several years before. I was amazed at how much I had forgotten. Practically all of it. I want to make this review about the book and not about me, but I kept asking myself over and over how I could not have remembered this brilliant novel. I'm a middle-aged white man, so maybe it wasn't relevant enough to me or my lifestyle. Or; maybe my brain rejected the disturbing elements, which our sometimes nine-year-old chronicler Claudia MacTeer treats like they are just a normal part of life. I was much younger the first time I read this book, and since that time, having some close friends who are African-American relate to me over a beer some of their stories, I want to know. I want to know how this oppression of the soul still exists to this very day. How can the average white person even begin to understand events like Ferguson? Sadly, not very many try to. Books like this one, Richard Wright's "Native Son", Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and so much other great literature of this genre are must reads, in my opinion, for every American. Pecola Breedlove's desire to have blue eyes like the little blonde-haired girl at the house her mother is employed as housekeeper, is heartbreaking on so many levels, especially after her own personal tragedy.
One day, i was working on contract in Northern CA, many years ago. I was walking into a Starbucks to have my Saturday morning tea before heading over to the gym. I am athletically built, but will not "flaunt" my physique in public. Thus, i always wore over-sized sweats which were comfortable.
A tall skinny black guy was heading toward the same Starbucks door on foot, like myself. He looked at me. He had with him his prize possession. A half-dressed, skinny asian female with him. She was cylindrically built, flat chested, no butt - but half naked. A far cry from the physique of a professional athlete. But they didn't see that. All they both saw was a black chick - probably overweight- in baggy sweats. *ugh*.
Upon seeing me, his lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes went flat with absolute hatred. I've seen that look my whole life from young black men. Then suddenly, he grinned. He knew we were going into the same Starbucks, so he grabbed his lady-friend's hand and started walking quickly. So quickly that he opened the door for her, then swiftly turned around, smiled in my face - and SLAMMED THE DOOR before i could grab the handle.
Everyone in Starbucks saw this action. I held my head up, walked into that Starbucks and stood in line right beside that couple. He gave me a belligerent stare wondering if i was going to do something to his "property". Though i was furious? I did not show it. Though i was ashamed. I did not show it. I ordered my tea when it was time, sat down and drank it. People were still staring even after that couple left. No one knew what to say. Regardless i did not sink that child's level. I held my head high, and sipped my tea.
This bought back so many humiliations in the past of how black people treat each other. I saw it within my family, school, my jobs, everywhere.
And believe it or not, i once wished for blue or green eyes as well. Anything but my liquid deep brown, big, round eyes. Having blue eyes would have stunned so many that i thought were my enemies into silence. I would have been treated better by not only my own counter-parts - but by white people as well.
Actually, that turned out not to be the case. Blue eyes don't mean anything if you don't love yourself. Just like that black guy who had attained what he considers a "prize" asian female. If you hate everything about yourself, nothing is going to change that. He was projecting everything he hated about himself - onto me. If it wasn't me? It would have been someone else of his culture.
Toni Morrison shows us, in this novel what the consequences are, if we seek "physical attributes/objects" to overpower the mental insufficiencies. I, and so many others could have gone the route of Pecola. In Toni Morrison's novel. A very valuable lesson is taught. Regardless of how blue your eyes are, if you're insecure? They will never be blue enough.
After rereading this book for the second time, it's amazing to me how relevant this work still is. Pecola Breedlove, One of two children born to Cholly and Pauline Breedlove, lives a very depressing life. Her Father is alcoholic who is incapable of showing anything but hatred towards women, and her Mother Pauline.....with so many dreams deferred, only finds solace when she is at work as a housekeeper. There she can pretend that the beautiful home and everything in it, including the white child of her dreams is hers. Pecola and her brother Sam know nothing of love and comfort. To top all of this off, they are considered ugly and outcast among their community. For the breedlove children, coming in at the bottom of the totem pole from school to home is normal. Pecola thinks that blue eyes will make all of her hardships and lack of beauty disappear. So she sets out on a journey to get the Bluest eyes she can find. This book chronicles so many issues....and it's definitely not for the faint of heart. It's not my favorite book by Toni Morrison but it is a must read nonetheless.
This is a MUST read. This book is dark and powerful, poetic and real. All at once feeling like you want to run into the main character's vulnerable pain but wanting to look away at the same time. Morrison's command of writing is perfection. Absolute perfection. The forward is also very helpful to read to give context to when she wrote it, her approach and what she may have wanted to change. Wonderful to read an artist's self-reflection. If you're a white woman looking to learn more about black women and men's experiences of internalized and institutionalized racism and dismantle your privilege, this book is for you. Be prepared to cry and think hard.
This book is really difficult to read if you're sensitive to themes of child sexual abuse, general child abuse, racism, and some animal abuse. Honestly, if you've been abused I wouldn't recommend it unless you have to read it for a class because it takes the perspective of the rapist during the rape scene which was really difficult for me to read personally.
HOWEVER, if you haven't experienced abuse, this is a really important book. It gives you an important and vastly underrepresented perspective on the ways systems built on racism and neglect fail children of color and allow for horrific things to happen to them, and the narration of the book is actually beautiful and very compelling. It is hard to read, it is difficult subject material, but push through it. It's a good and worthwhile book.
0 Response to "∎ Read Gratis The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 9780452287068 Books"
Post a Comment