The situation of African American people in the USA has been a disputable issue since the abolition of slavery. The treatment of African American people, who were excluded from the rights and rules of the mainstream society, began the fight for equality within the African American society. One of the most remarkable African American authors is Toni Morrison.
Toni Morrisons novels represent the issues of class distinction among African American people and their individual characters represent different life-styles, personalities and destinies. They also focus on the issues of the underclass of women in the male-dominated African American society. The usage of the terms "white society", "black people" or "colored people" is an integral part of his novels.
The main character in Morrison's The Bluest Eye is Pecola Breedlove, a black girl from a poor family, who is raped by her father. Pecola wishes to have blue eyes because she believes that the blue eyes would change her destiny and the perception of her by other African Americans. This character embodies the issue of male-dominated African American society as well as the concept of beauty as a means of "making it" in the African American society. The class distinction concept is the issue inscribed in many other characters in The Bluest Eye.
It explores the fact that African American people's identities are shaped by different factors such as ancestry, wealth, education or darkness of their skin. The novel presents several different African American families that expose prejudices to their fellow African Americans and clearly display their special social status. The class distinction among African American characters in The Bluest Eye can be followed from the upper class, represented by the family of the MacTeers, to the poorest family of the Breedloves.
An example of displaying a high social status is presented when Junior invites Pecola to his house to see kittens. She is amazed by the interior of the house and considers herself very lucky to have got there. Junior was brought up to feel superiority to other African American children by his parents: "his mother did not like him to play with niggers. She had explained to him the difference between colored people and niggers Colored people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud. Junior throws his mother's beloved cat on Pecola in order to scare the girl and continues with a cruel game with the poor animal. Accidentally, when Pecola tries to save the cat, the boy tosses the cat against the window. At that moment Juniors mother comes home and finds her beloved cat with no sign of life. She at once started accusing Pecola without knowing the truth.
Another example of an African American character regarding himself superior is Soaphead Church. An entire chapter is dedicated to his background and his family history with a special emphasis on a "decaying British nobleman, who chose to disintegrate under a sun more easeful than England's, [and who] had introduced the white strain into the family". Soaphead's sense of superiority is based on the "white" stream of blood which is not so evident on his skin but rather only in his mind. His uncertain and unstable identity, his inability to decide about his own life and consequently his homosexuality and paedophilia occupy him more than thoughts about how to implement his "superiority", although he misuses Pecola when he persuades her to kill a dog he does not like.
The most touching hard luck story concerns the Breedloves who are not only poor, but also considered very ugly. This makes them the most oppressed and traumatized family in The Bluest Eye: "The Breedlove family suffers from trauma caused by single, startling events, but also in the form of daily, grinding oppression, whereby the parents pass their suffering on to their children". The stigma makes them avoid society. Pauline Breedlove is a part-handicapped woman who, from her early youth, has waited for a stranger to take her from her family and to love her. Unexpectedly, he came out of nowhere in the person of Cholly Breedlove, who she had two children with Pecola and Sammy. These children never experience parental care and affection of their own family, are overlooked at school, have hardly any friends, and the girl attributes all the misfortunes and traumas to her appearance. She believes that if she had blue eyes, she would be loved in the same way as the white blue-eyed baby dolls are. She already knows the huge difference between being white or black:
Pecola's desire for blue eyes reflects a community absorbed by white ideas of what is beautiful. References to idols of white female beauty ... and to the child icon of beauty, Shirley Temple, bespeak an obsession with a standard of white female beauty that, in turn, renders black women and girls invisible. (Pereira)
The novel describes African American women as inferior to African American men: the women have to serve their husbands, although they are not treated properly, are often beaten or insulted. Nevertheless, the more the women are suppressed, the more they wish for a better life. Pecola is one such girl. Though she is only a child, she is raped by her father and her family is very poor. Pecola is living on the margins of society, because she was born into a "wrong" family. The more she is ignored, the more she believes the blue eyes would make the world accept her. In Morrison's novels, the concept of beauty understood among African American women as the ideal of a the white woman with straight blonde hair and light-colored eyes, is to be considered a redemption from the harsh conditions in which many African American women lived. The African American women have suffered from "double-oppression" since they were not oppressed only by the mainstream society, but as women also in the male-dominated African American society. Although Morrison's novels present their characters rather in relationships to other African Americans than to the mainstream people, the position of African American women among the mainstream society is underclass as well:
As far back as slavery, white people established a social hierarchy based on race and sex that ranked white men first, white women second, though sometimes equal to black men, who are ranked third, and black women last. What this means in terms of the sexual politics of rape is that if one white woman is raped by a black man, it is seen as more important, more significant than if thousands of black women are raped by one white man. (hooks 52-3)
The African American women, it seems, would do anything to be beautiful because they believe that beauty would change their lives. In The Bluest Eye, Pecola believes that if she had blue eyes she would be loved by all the people instead of being pitied: "As long as she looked the way she did, as long as she was ugly, she would have to stay with these people Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike" (The Bluest Eye 45). Pecola would do anything to have blue eyes, therefore she unconsciously poisons a dog, following Soaphead's advice because Soaphead, not liking the dog, misuses Pecola's determination to do anything to have blue eyes. She deeply believes her wish will be fulfilled if she does what she is told: "Take this food and give it to the creature sleeping on the porch. Make sure he eats it. And mark well how he behaves. If nothing happens, you will know that God has refused you. If the animal behaves strangely, your wish will be granted on the day following this one" (The Bluest Eye 175). When the dog coughs and dies, Pecola believes she got blue eyes and starts to perceive the world positively. Unfortunately, this change in her perception is a consequence of her mental state, though Pecola believes that the world has changed for her own good. The importance and effect of beauty on the perception of African Americans and distinction among African American society in The Bluest Eye is presented when Junior's mother describes the African American women who:
are not like some of their sisters ... They are as sweet and plain as buttercake ... They wash themselves with orange-colored Lifebuoy soap, dust themselves with Cashmere Bouquet talc, clean their teeth with salt on a piece of rag, soften their skin with Jergens Lotion ... They straighten their hair with Dixie Peach, and part it on the side. (The Bluest Eye 82)
Thus Pecola, as Pereira observes, is one of the many Morrison's female characters who is "engulfed by white ideals of beauty", but she is the only one who believes in a real change.
Although the money makes the men feel more powerful, which does effect the treatment of a wife, oppression is not exceptional among the poor African American either. In The Bluest Eye, Cholly Breedlove, the father of Pecola, lives on the margin of the society, his family ruined by the poverty as well as his behaviour. His treatment of his wife Pauline and especially his daughter, who he raped and is responsible for her pregnancy, led him in prison.
In The Bluest Eye different characters represent different classes. The upper class seems to be obsessed with themselves and do not care about their families and have no real friends. The poorest class is more capable of making friends with the representatives of middle class, and the middle class is closer to the poorest class than to the upper class. The African American upper class is a distinct group that makes it obvious that they do not need any help. The upper class emphasizes their independence and their status while the middle class characters are open to strategic alliances with the poorest as well as with the rich if such a situation appears.
In The Bluest Eye, the upper-class characters are represented by Soaphead Church and the family living close to the playground. These characters do not allow themselves and their families to befriend neither the poorest nor the middle-class people. The upper-class characters tend to establish their own distinct group which only the "better" people can join. In The Bluest Eye, the "better" people are represented by African Americans of lighter-skin, who usually have some roots of white ancestry. Nevertheless, the prejudices of Junior's mother rather complicate her life and the life of her family as Junior was used to make friends with "other" classes. Junior's mother prohibits him to associate with other African American children and she herself cannot happily enjoy her life since she is always angry and aware of the poorer African Americans. Soaphead is busy understanding his own identity while being quite certain about his position in the society. His "white" roots place him in the upper class, at least according to him, and Pecola comes to him as if Soaphed Church was a magician and could grant her the blue eyes. Soaphead thinks about himself as superior to other African Americans, but does not really show his superiority in the novel as he is shown only in the relationship with Pecola.
To conclude, the three above stated Morrison's novels describe the experiences of African American people in the USA. They present different classes, different destinies and different characters. The African American society is presented to be male-dominated and divided into three classes established according to various factors. The mobility within these classes requires luck and determination rather than hard work since the middle class works hard and does not move up the social ladder and the poorest class is usually not even able to get employed. The upper-class characters prove the best luck in their lives, but they also show their ambivalence or worries about where they really belong. Besides, the African American women are treated as subordinate by men even if they are members of the upper class. Thus, the most self-confident characters are middle-class African Americans who does not want much more, just to keep their lives as they are and even the husband-wife relationship is usually described as functional in Morrison's novels because they need each other to keep their middle-class status.
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