Written by the sorceress of words, ‘Toni Morrison’, ‘The Bluest eye’ is loaded with gut-wrenching questions asked in the choking air of self-contempt. Published in 1970 this is the first full-fledged written by Morrison. Morrison was the first African American woman who won a Nobel prize in literature, her writings particularly strike a chord with African American women, vigorously depicting their intimate experiences within their community. Though ‘The Bluest Eye’ is not as famous as her Pulitzer Winner ‘Beloved’, nonetheless, it carries the same Morrison-esque charm as the latter one, which becomes apparent when it rocks the reader with its vivid portrayal of grueling reality, only made poignant by the surrealism of Morrison’s language. Morrison believed that she wrote this book because she wanted to read it, ‘I thought that kind of book, with that subject - those most vulnerable, most undescribed, not taken seriously little black girls- had never existed seriously in literature’. It can be said that ‘The Bluest Eye’ is her first attempt to give voice to black females particularly little black girls who were left out by the mainstream.
Loose in its structure, this fast-paced story is broadly demarcated in its timeline by the chronology of seasons - fall, winter, spring, summer of the year 1940-1941, a momentous period in itself when America was on the brink of entering the Second World-War. The story is set in Lorain, Ohio (also author’s hometown) where the main protagonist- a 12-year black girl Pecola Breedlove lives with her mother, father, and an elder brother. Another black girl Claudia, Pecola’s school friend and narrator of the story observes the ‘peripheral existence’ of the African-American community in one of her reminiscing episodes of childhood located at the beginning of the novel. As the story moves forward, it dawns on the reader that Breedloves have been pushed to the periphery in the larger peripheral microcosm of the black community by virtue of their penury and ‘ugliness’.
The author essentially points out that poverty possessed by Breedloves is only traditional and common, there is nothing new in it. What is unique to them is their ugliness. Their ‘sheer’ ugliness which contributes to their ostracization within the black community is not only emanating from the outer gaze but also from their own conviction and the faith they held in that perception. As the author said, “No one could have convinced them that they were not relentlessly and aggressively ugly” [Page no-36].
The outer gaze about which Morrison is talking has a character of duality in it. Morrison talks about a ‘Master’ and this gaze belongs to the white masters only. ‘It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had accepted it without question’ [page no-37]. Here the author tries to illuminate the hegemonic white standards of beauty and the violence it inflicts upon those who don’t possess it. Breedloves could never experience the beauty because the all-powerful ubiquitous gaze of white masters followed them everywhere, callously scrutinizing them and then passing verdict to them that ‘they are the sole owners of ugliness’. ‘They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact, support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance’ [page no-37].
This outer gaze is also borrowed by blacks who had shunned Breedloves because the internalization of physical inferiority and the subsequent conviction of ugliness is not unique to Breedloves, but is a psychological phenomenon commonly found among African-Americans, though varying in degree and manifestations. As observed by Claudia, ‘Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs- all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured.’ [Page no-18] The only difference between Pecola’s and other average black families is that the latter’s circumstances saved them from drowning in racial self-loathing while the former’s pushed them in it.
Pauline aka Polly Breedlove, Pecola’s mother, remembers no love, either before marriage or after and she couldn’t love her children because they turn out to be ugly like her. So, she took refuge in her Christian belief and in housekeeping whereas Cholly, Pecola’s father also remained unwanted, first abandoned by mother and then rejected by father, with only alcohol promising him those increasingly rare moments of adrenaline in his desolate existence. These two creatures couldn’t bring themselves to love each other or their children as a normal couple/parents would do. There was no sign of relationship between them except momentary bouts of lust. Adding to this, their regular episode of violence on each other destroys their children, especially Pecola.
It’s extremely heart-wrenching to bear witness to Pecola’s journey. This particular scene would drench anybody in tears where she fervently prayed for those ‘bluest eyes’, which she believes would make her beautiful and everybody around her, including her parents, start loving her and stop fighting. Except for one time, we have never seen anything resembling anger or even a slight sense of injustice in Pecola even after receiving so much hatred because somewhere she felt that she deserves this. After all, she hadn’t got those bluest eyes and she is ugly. She reduced her self-worth to a level where every despising glance seems legitimate to her. Pecola remains hidden behind her cloak of ugliness until an eventual tragedy befalls which eliminates all remnants of life inside her. Morrison named it ‘psychological murder’. Pecola’s vulnerability stemmed from her being a ‘poor black female child’ from a crippling family and it’s quite convenient for a society, as we have seen, to find and destroy more such Pecolas by reducing them into a medium to channel their own suppressed feelings. This novel carries great importance if seen from the lens of intersectionality as it keeps reminding the reader of the intensity of suffering of those who find themselves on the crisscross of identities that exacerbate their disadvantage.
Personally, I believe reading this novel proves to be an unsettling experience. Morrison’s blazing words would not allow you to disassociate yourself from Pecola’s pain. This is a challenging yet powerful read that compels its readers to dig deeper into the trenches of oppression especially when it seems relatively casual and clement.
By Damneet Sandhu
References:
1. https://lithub.com/you-dont-know-anything-and-other-writing-advice-from-toni-morrison/
2.https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1993/morrison/biographical/
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