Essay on The Bluest Eyes” by Toni Morrison

“The Bluest Eyes” by Toni Morrison is a book that reveals complex relations between genders and races in the US society through the eyes of a young girl, who is in troubles and cannot find the way out. In fact, the book reveals a number of important issues, including racial issues, for the author focuses on the complex interracial relations and the deep-rooted inferiority of African Americans in relation to the whites, who hold the dominant position in the society. Also, the author raises the problem of sexuality and gender relations, for Toni Morrison depicts abusive relations between the father and the daughter, which are grounded on gender-related biases and market the ultimate violation of moral norms and standards. At the same time, the main character always remains concerned with their sexuality and attractiveness, which she associated with standards of beauty imposed on her by the society and mainstream white culture. In such a way, the author of the book shows that the concept of race and gender in the US society are biased since views of characters of the book on beauty and success have racial implications, which reveal the existing inequality in the society, while sexuality becomes one of the manifestations of the impact of racial biases on the society as the main character of the book looks for changing her appearance to become more beautiful and sexier but such a change implies her becoming “whiter” as she wants to have blue eyes.

One of the key issues in the book is sexuality and gender relations. The main character, Pecola is a young girl, who was raped by her own father and who is dreaming of having blue eyes to be beautiful. In this regard, the book reveals the full extent to which gender relations and sexuality are biased in the American society. Traditionally, sexuality and gender played an important role in relationship between people. In fact, these two concepts, to a significant extent, define the development of social relations. At the same time, it is necessary to understand the fact that sexuality and gender as socially meaningful concepts are formed under the impact of internal and external factors. On the one hand, sexuality and gender may be viewed as partially inherited by each individual, while, on the other hand, it is necessary to take into consideration the impact of social environment, existing biases and stereotypes that influences the formation of the concept of gender and sexuality of each individual (Kirby 1999). In this respect, the contemporary media produce a profound impact on the formation of both concepts and, therefore, it is possible to estimate that media form social views and gender stereotypes.

The book focuses on the life of the main character, who is vulnerable to the pressure from her environment to the extent that her life in her own family becomes unbearable. She grows up in the environment, where gender roles are clearly defined and performed. Therefore, as she grows up she becomes aware that she is a woman and her role will be limited to the family and household. She believes that she has to be a good wife. This is why she wants to have blue eyes, which she believes can bring her happiness in personal life. At this point, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the main character is apparently vulnerable to the impact of gender related stereotypes. First, she views herself as a wife and mother above all and she wants to meet standards of female beauty that dominate in the society. At this point, the close relationships between gender and racial biases and prejudices become obvious as the main character wants to have blue eyes, which are definitely the attribute of the white race. Therefore, Pecola wants to meet white standards of female beauty, although she is African American. This means that the main character is vulnerable to the impact of values and standards of female beauty of the mainstream culture, which is definitely white but not African American. What is meant here is the fact that the main character lives in the society, where the whites dominate and set values and standards in the society. In such a way, representatives of the African American community follow the lead of the white racial group, which holds the dominant position in the society. Hence, the main character pursues white standards of female beauty, in spite of the fact of being African American.

Furthermore, the book reveals the fact that the main character, being a female, holds absolutely inferior position in her society. She turns out to be absolutely defenseless in face of her abusive father, who rapes her twice. Reasons of such behavior of her father are unclear but he is obviously driven by the consciousness of male superiority and understanding of the fact that his daughter cannot resist him because she is weak female, who has learned since early childhood to obey men. Therefore, the author reveals the full extent to which gender-related biases and stereotypes can be destructive for the life of the young girl, who attempts to follow existing gender-related biases, stereotypes and standards but they lead her to the dead-end, where she becomes the victim of her abusive father. In such a way, the author raises an important problem of the impact of gender roles and gender-related biases on the life of individuals, especially women, who often turn out to be defenseless in face of aggression and abuse from the part of men. The case of Pecola is very difficult but this case is apparently not extraordinary. Instead, Pecola grows aware that she cannot do anything to resist and her only way to escape from her family hell is to run away from her home.

At the same time, the book reveals complex interracial relations which exist in the contemporary society. In fact, Pecola is striving for whiteness. She wants to have blue eyes because she considers girls with blue eyes being beautiful, although blue eyes are absolutely unnatural for her racial group. Hence, the concept of beauty was imposed on the main character as well as other characters by the dominant white group because whiteness was one of the essential conditions of beauty, while blue eyes were characteristic of whiteness.

Moreover, the book shows that whiteness is also an essential condition of success. At this point, it is possible to refer to Pecola’s school experience for there was a mulatto girl, Maureen, who was very successful and the main characters believes that it is due to her whiteness Maureen was successful at school. In this regard, the author of the book raises a very important problem of interracial relations and education. The problem of interracial relations was traditionally one of the most serious problems that persisted throughout centuries in relations between different races and ethnic groups. At the same time, the essence of this problem heavily relies on the existing inequality between races, which lead to the gap between socio-economic position and opportunities of the dominant race compared to other races within society.

Basically, nowadays the problem of racial inequality is still unresolved and even though considerable changes were made in the national legislation it cannot fully prevent different ethnic groups from being discriminated by the dominant white community. In fact, the equality of rights of all people, regardless their ethnic background, is purely formal, while in actuality, representatives of African-American community, Latin-Americans and other ethnic groups are deprived of equal opportunities to realize their rights and liberties. At the same time, white Americans still remain in an advantageous position compared to the rest of the American society.

In this respect, it is possible to refer to the contemporary system of education which proves to be absolutely ineffective and unequal. To put it more precisely, at the present moment the overwhelming majority of African-Americans, Latin Americans, and other deprived groups have little opportunities to get a normal education, while the perspective of the higher education is extremely vague and it is practically an unachievable goal for an African-American from the inner city. Moreover, the existing system of public schools is absolutely ineffective because it cannot provide students with a good education of a high quality.

At this point, race plays a very important role because, speaking about contemporary public schools, it is hardly possible to avoid the question of segregation (Bannerji 2007). It is not a secret that many public schools are predominantly non-white. What is meant here is the fact that students attending publics are basically representative of African-American community, or Latin Americans, Asians. At any rate, often the majority of the students of public schools is non-white. Moreover, in some schools the share of African-American students reaches 99% that indicates to the presence of racial segregation in public education.

Naturally, such a situation in the contemporary education undermines the psychological state of students and determines the future race-related problems increasing inequality (Bannerji 2007). Obviously, students attending public schools and living in the inner city feel their exclusion from the American society and the fact that African-American and non-white students dominate in such schools enforces substantially racial inequality in the society because students believe that it is because of their race and ethnic background they are deprived of benefits of modern education and they are doomed to live in the inner city in a kind of ghetto. This psychological pressure along with low educational opportunities enlarges the gap between white and non-white population in the US because African-Americans and other non-white groups cannot get a perspective, well-paid job because they cannot get the higher education, while the education they have cannot give them good perspectives either (Goldenberg 1999). As a result, children, suffering from segregation at school and becoming low-qualified specialists in their adulthood because of the lack of educational opportunities, are deprived of good job opportunities that contribute to the growing socio-economic gap between them and white population of the US.

In such a way, sexuality and racial relations are key issues that the author raises in her book. In this regard, the book has a significant impact on the audience because it changes the traditional view on races and sexuality. What is meant here is the fact that the author makes the concepts of race and sexuality being closely intertwined. To put it more precisely, the concept of sexuality turns out to be dependent on the concept of race (Goldenberg 1999). The main character as well as other characters of the book view whites as superior. However, this superiority extrapolates not only on interracial relations but also on views of representatives of both racial groups and their values. This is why the main character wants to have blue eyes, the traditional attribute of female beauty in the white community, which though is virtually unthinkable in relation to an African American woman. This means that the main character views such elements of whiteness as blue eyes as the major condition of being beautiful.

In such a way, the author of the book goes far beyond the traditional depiction of interracial relations or relations between representatives of different genders. Instead, the author shows that the domination of the white culture in the society and the domination of the whites in the political and economic life lead to the formation of erroneous biases and stereotypes in relation to gender relations and fundamental concepts, such as the concept of beauty, sexuality, and others. These concepts are shaped under the impact of the white culture and whiteness becomes an important element of the successful life, which minorities, such as African Americans strive to.

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that sexuality and gender are defined by the mutual impact of physiological factors and the impact of the social environment, which shapes specific gender roles and sexuality of males and females. In this respect, it should be said that book plays an extremely important role since the book helps to reveal views of the main characters on gender roles and sexuality, shaping stereotypes and biases related to gender and sexuality and how they are shaped under the impact of racial biases and prejudices. In fact, the author depicts how racially biased the American society is because the concept of whiteness turns out to be an essential condition of individual success. Moreover, the concept of whiteness and superiority of the whites and the white culture in the US society leads to the rise of the absurd idea in the main character of the book that blue eyes, which are apparently elements of whiteness, will make her not only more beautiful but also happier and more successful.