Download - Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye
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Toni Morrison’sThe Bluest Eye
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Dick and Jane ReadersShirley Temple and BojanglesThemes: Race and BeautySymbolsReferences
Outline
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Written by William S. Gray and Zerna Sharp, Dick and Jane Readers were used to teach American children to read from 1930s to 1970s.
Composed of a mother, a father, their children Dick and Jane, who belong to a white, middle class society that Pecola wants to be a member of.
Dick and Jane Readers
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Very simple use of vocabulary
Important point; black characters were not inclueded until 1965
How can you relate the fact that blacks were not included until 1960s to our novel?
Dick and Jane Readers
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The sentences belonging to Dick and Jane style narration are simple and readable but gradually the narrative loses all its punctuation which can be a visual metaphor for Pecola's losing her perspective about her worth as a person.
When the paragraphs dissolve into a river of print, having absolutely no meaning, we can liken this situation to the madness of Pecola.
……..… would like to be Jane (Blue Hair & Blonde Hair)
How do these readers relate to our novel?
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The sentences belonging to Dick and Jane style narration are simple and readable but gradually the narrative loses all its punctuation which can be a visual metaphor for Pecola's losing her perspective about her worth as a person.
When the paragraphs dissolve into a river of print, having absolutely no meaning, we can liken this situation to the madness of Pecola.
Pecola would like to be Jane (Blue Hair & Blonde Hair)
How do these readers relate to our novel?
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Late 1930s and 1940sChild starBlonde hair and blue
eyes
''my friend, my uncle,my daddy, who ought to have been soft -shoeing it and chuckling with me''.
Surname : Temple Idolized
Shirley Temple
Retrived on 10 March 2010 from; http://www.ioffer.com/img/1160290800/_i/14573461/1.jpg
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Shirley Temple VS Jane Wilkers
Retrieved on 10 March 2010 from; http://www.classicmoviekids.com/images/w/withers/withers303a.jpg
Retrieved on 10 March 2010 from; http://www.child-stars.com/shirley-temple/130-034~Shirley-Temple-Posters.jpg
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Greta Garbo
Pecola and Frieda?Ginger Rogers
Retrieved on 10 March 2010 from; 6MIOjrTc*xm5IV9UOA7bAH0gd-ONXxirUvqVXMg5PC4-uLFLrXPW/gretaicon.jpg
Retrieved on 10 March 2010 from; http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2094/2259441246_2dbe65ccfd_o.jpg
Mr Henry praises sisters with two white actresses. Related with self-hatred.
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Bojangles – Bill RobinsonFake smile, greate
dance.Blacks as actors."beau jongleur"
"fine juggler"Earns more than $2
million but dies in poverty.
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Catagorization of humans
Cultural AspectPhysical futures
Skin colourCranialFacial featuresHair
Race
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Has two meanings Differences in human character
Discirimination or Prejudice based on Race
For example: Blacks treating as slaves
Racisim
Do races got stereotyped in themselves? For example, which race do you think has the most beautiful women?
Why did you choose it?
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BeautifulMaureen PealShirley TempleRosemary
VillanucciGeraldine*
BreedlovesPecolaPauleenChollySammy
Claudia MacTeer + Frieda MacTeer*
Mrs Macteer ("Big Mama")
People According to Their Appearence
Ugly
Do you see the ugliness as a personal choice?
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Pauline
• despised not only by whites but also by blacks
“The sad thing was that Pauline did not really care for c...... and m….. . She merely wanted other women to cast favorable glances her way.”
Race and Beauty
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Pauline
despised not only by whites but also by blacks
“The sad thing was that Pauline did not really care for clothes and make-up. She merely wanted other women to cast favorable glances her way.”
Race and Beauty
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While she was 5 months pregnant, she went to the films of Clark Gable and Jean Harlow.
http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Harlow,%20Jean/Annex/Annex%20-%20Harlow,%20Jean%20(Hold%20Your%20Man)_03.jpg
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She fixes her hair like Jean Harlow.
http://teegardennash.com/media/*MS/Harlow1TN.jpg
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“I hurt just like them white women.”
(p.125)
And Pauline said:
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Pecola…
was described “ugly” by her mother Pauline, while she was a baby
“…But I knowed she was ugly. Head full of pretty hair, but Lord she was ugly.”
(p.126)
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Long hours she sat looking into mirror, trying to discover the secret of ugliness.
(p.45)
She would see only what there was to see: eyes of other people.
(p.47)
Pecola…
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not white but a light-skinned girl
green eyes, perfect clothes
Maureen Peal
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Meringue Pie
Brown outside, white inside.
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CoalNecessity that they cannot give up Source of lifefatal‘black’ as they are
Symbols
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Flowers & Soil Frequent use of flowers
Marigold(Starts and ends the story, doesn’t grow in Lorain)
Forsythia(Holds no cheer)
Dandelion(“Nobody loves the head of a dandelion (. . .) so many strong and soon.”)
Hollyhocks((. . .) roots are deep, their stalks are firm and only the top blossom nods in the wind” - Geraldine)
Symbols
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Soil ; also symbolizing fertilityThey ‘bury’ if needed.
Flowers are season dependant Cyclical Writing Style
• House X OutdoorsHouse symbolizing a possessionGeraldine cares about her house, whereas Pauline
cares about where she worksBreedloves’ house burns downWhite Street X Black Street
Symbols
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The way they sleep
Symbols
Wall Claudia
Pecola Frieda
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Blue EyesProbably most obvious symbol of the novel; beauty
Economic Symbols: BrandsIsaley’s, Frequent use of brands, economic wealth of
America before Great Depression
MetalsCold and TensionZinc BathtubSteel Industry
Symbols
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Famous People
Greta Garbo
Shirley Temple
Ginger Rogers
Symbols
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Suits Cleanness Funk
The CatSymbolizing Geraldine’s freedom and what she
desires to have as a relative or a friend
White Colored ObjectsWealth
Symbols
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Precious LordJesus Christ Ideal man that Pauline longs for
ToothAnother symbol of beauty
RainbowOrgasm Satisfaction
Soaphead Church’s Relationship With ObjectsHe can’t stand any human contact he can only
bear the objects (i.e. pot)
Symbols
Retrieved from http://brianmclain.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/rainbow_prev.jpg
ORGASM!
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Violence, Beauty and Blackness
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T. Morrison, The Bluest Eye, 1993, Vintagehttp://www.child-stars.com/shirley-temple/
130-034~Shirley-Temple-Posters.jpghttp://www.classicmoviekids.com/images/w/
withers/withers303a.jpghttp://www.ioffer.com/img/1160290800/_i/
14573461/1.jpg
References
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THANK YOU!!!