The Price Of Persecution By Toni Morrison s The Bluest Eye

The Price of Persecution The plight of the weak against the powerful is one of the oldest and compelling stories that can be told, and it has always been the story of race in the United States. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is a candid look into the lives of African Americans in the early 1940’s, focusing on the drama surrounding the coming of age of young girls. The debilitating effects of racism, sexism, and classism on children and adults of different social statuses are explored through the stories of a number of families. By illustrating a society in which each class elevates itself by oppressing those below them, Morrison demonstrates how the cyclical nature of oppression can cripple a community and family for generations. The†¦show more content†¦Her son, forbidden from befriending children deemed too black and uncultured, initially longed for a connection with the boys whose â€Å"hardness†¦ and wild blackness† (87) he admires. However, he eventually internalizes the message that the shade of his skin renders him superior to his peers and he decides to avoid contact with them. Geraldine’s obsession with pedantic distinctions between different groups of black residents in Lorain leads her son and the whole next generation to preserve the biases of their parents. The maltreatment practiced by those of mixed race has a real impact on those they perceive as inferior. Maureen Peal is a wealthy mixed race girl that moves to Pecola’s school. She enters Pecola’s narrative by holding some boys intent on harrassing Pecola at bay and starts a friendly conversation with her. Soon after, she turns on Pecola and feeling her image being threatened yells â€Å"I am cute! And you ugly! Black and ugly black e mos. I am cute!† (73). Pecola, who had idolized Maureen for her cute looks and popularity, is devastated. The repetition in Maureen’s declaration mirrors the constancy of society’s message to young black girls li ke Pecola: she is not valuable, and it is because of her race. Maureen, as a person of mixed race, is hardly the model most white children would aspire to. She possesses only an increment of superiority over girls like Pecola, but that slight advantage allows her to show disdain to the lesser