Patrick Ellrott

Black Identity in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" Patrick Ellrott

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 2,3, University of Wuppertal, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to show the destruction of identity in The Bluest Eye. In order to find out how far Toni Morrison digests her own experiences in her first piece of work, it is important to have a closer insight into her biography. First of all, I will provide the reader with some basic information about the author and genesis of the work in order to find out how far Toni Morrison dwells on her past. It is necessary to reflect on the underlying reasons why Toni Morrison started writing The Bluest Eye, as her motivation reveals the emotional attachment she has to her work. Hence, The Bluest Eye is introduced. The primer depicts the main aspects around the Bluest Eye and how it deals with identity formation and the tremendous problem with the context of beauty. Subsequently, I will give a definition of social identity to lay the foundation and back my argumentation. In this context, the concept of beauty plays a major role. I will illustrate the difficult situation of black people in a dominant white culture and how some black characters in The Bluest Eye are developed as a result of this. After that, I will present a sociological view of this problem and describe how Morrison's characters developed their identities by classifying them into categories. In my conclusion, I will discuss the main character's identities and highlight the differences between the MacTeers and the Breedloves.