The Bluest Eye Finale Ft Legend of Zelda

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Weekly Rants: AP Exams ft. The Bluest Eye

Wanna Fit In? Gotta Fit Out.

Toni Morrison continues to display African-American inferiority during those times. As seen on my previous blog, she also compares it with esthetics. This time, instead of using a doll, she uses the Breedlove family. 

“The eyes, the small eyes set closely together under narrow foreheads. The low, irregular hairlines, which seemed even more irregular in contrast to the straight, heavy eyebrows which nearly met. Keen but crooked noses, with insolent nostrils. They had high cheekbones, and their ears turned forward. Shapely lips which called attention not to themselves but to the rest of the face. You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly.”(39) The Breedlove are nothing similar to the white, blue-eyed, dolls. Their physical differences have made them therefore ugly. Because of this shame in appearance, Pecola is disgusted towards her physical traits and uses them as an excuse to her daily problems: conflicts at home and at school.

"Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike. She was the only member of her class who sat alone at a double desk." (45) Naively, Pecola thinks that the only reason there is to her isolation is because of her ugliness. Instead, it was racial segregation and discrimination that caused it. However, because of these things, one could say that the Pecola was a bit right. Society's regard for beauty and acceptance was solely based on the Caucasian race.  Morrison's reason for the Breedlove's description was to show the inferiority of the African-Americans during those times. 

It seems Morrison is portraying life as an African-American through esthetics and the experiences of Pecola, who is just going through emotional and physical change, coincidentally connected to the African-American culture, who too is experiencing these changes. 

 

More Color to the Text

Soliloquies (24): noun. An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, esp. by a character in a play.

Zest (28): noun. Great enthusiasm and energy. 

Prodded (31): verb. Poke (someone) with a finger, foot, or pointed object.

Fester (34): verb. (of a wound or sore) become septic; suppurate.


Don't Google Infection!!!


Wad (35): noun. A lump or bundle of a soft material, used for padding, stuffing, or wiping.

Malaise (37): noun. A general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify.

Me when googleing infection....

Schemata (37): noun. A representation of a plan or theory in the form of an outline or model.

Not the Same

Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye is set right before the civil rights movement in the United States. Morrison describes the life of Claudia, a nine year old African-American. The conditions in which she lives in are seemingly different from those around her. It's not only that, her behavior is explicitly unusual.

Claudia is either nine or ten years old. Girls like her are innocent and happy. The complete opposite seems to be happening in this case. Morrison displays the difference between Claudia and the normal girls of that time. By normal I mean Caucasian girls. That was the perspective then. Claudia seems to be aggressive and violent. As Morrison states in the first page, "When she comes out of the car we will beat her up, make red marks on her white skin, and she will cry and ask us do we want her to pull her pants down."Last time I checked, this was not normal behavior for a nine year old. Morrison shows how different African-Americans are from Caucasians, how they were brought up and, most importantly, their social status.

Further into the book we see how the difference between Claudia and the rest of society is shown. When Claudia receives a doll, Morrison states, "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 girls treasured." (20) Based on this, the concept of beauty during those times was the description of the doll. A little bit after, Morrison describes, "Remove the cold and stupid eyeball, it would bleat still, 'Ahhhhh,' take off the head, shake out the sawdust, crack the back against the brass bed rail, it would see the disk with six holes, the secret of the sound." (21) Claudia seems to despise the site of the doll, societies perfection. This marks the difference between her and other girls, or even, African-Americans with Caucasians.

Morrison illustrates a key contrast between two races. She shows it by displaying Claudia's acts towards symbols of society's beauty and perfection. Based on what I have read, I foreshadow a fight against Caucasians for a definition of African-American beauty. Or just the opposite. 

Real Mind Tricks

"This sentence is a lie."(135) Ok, lets slow down here a little. Chapters O, P, and Q brings about the real definition of mind blown. We started seeing contradictions, doubt and thinking. This statement includes all three of them. Shields introduces paradoxes with this opening sentence. If it is stating that the sentence is a lie, then wouldn't it not be not not a lie? Now I'm messing with your head. Paradoxes relate to the topic of reality. Is the nature of reality paradoxical? Firstly, my definition of reality is what I feel and experience around me. Most importantly, it's my version of a story.  

“Something can be true and untrue at the same time” (135) Here we go. Something can be true for someone while it can be untrue for someone else. The topic of religion revolves around this. What Shields is trying to say with this is that truth is only true according to that someone who created it. 

"The real story isn't the official story; the real story is my version (wrong, too, but I'm aware that it's wrong) of the official story." (139) Again, each one has their own version of what is real. Something like history is written by the victor. The victor tells his part of the story without taking into account the looser. There is no way in telling what is actually true. This doen't necessarily needs to be written in history books. An argument between friends or colleagues can end the same way. Each one has their own version of the story and only they know what is actually true. Many times both stories contradict each other. Therefore reality can be paradoxical. To avoid any further headaches, I'll continue living my version of reality. 

Less > More

Growing up, we've always had the idea that writing more meant it was better. We disregarded quality over quantity. This is specifically done by Collegeboard, the organizers of the SAT. According to their rubric, test readers are only allowed thirty seconds for every essay. In those thirty seconds they must identify the thesis, examples that support the thesis, a conclusion that wraps it all up, and the length. A study conducted by a student showed the correlation between the length of the essays and the scores they got. "Milo says out of 115 samples, longer essays almost always garnered higher scores."(ABCNews Has Teen Unlocked the Secret to a Better SAT Score?) This type of essay has gone through much controversy since its incorporation to the SAT in 2005. Experts say it doesn't measure a students true skill of writing if ultimately length is what affects the score. "Milo's advice? For a higher score, write more."(ABCNews Has Teen Unlocked the Secret to a Better SAT Score?)

Shields would disagree with Collegeboard. He points this out when he states, “The merit of style exists precisely in that it delivers the greatest number of ideas in the fewest number of words” (127). He believes in quality over quantity and suggests that by being concise, the point is reached out more effectively. It's easier to understand a point if explained briefly but well. Long texts might confuse the reader and even bore him/her.

Another point that supports Shield's argument is Kimball's project of writing post cards. He fills hundreds of post cards with people's experiences. Last time I checked, post cards were 9x13 centimeters. That's pretty small. "Sometimes these interviews have run to more than 5,000 words. As the life stories get longer - 508 words is the longest so far - my handwriting has got smaller."(The Guardian Brief Lives) Kimball is forced to compress long and interesting stories into a brief summary. Though, he does it with no problem and the end result is people enjoying his results.

“It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a whole book-what everyone else does not say in a whole book” (129) I wouldn't mind having everything summarized. I am the type of person who gets bored after reading an excerpt with no end in sight. Most of them are just the same old thing repeated or lines of uninteresting junk. In the end, getting your point across is what matters. There is no point in writing something if you don't want your audience to understand.