Comments on: Celebrating Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye: Blogger’s Roundtable 2010

By: Claudia

Claudia — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:45:21 +0000

Hi Ariel, thanks for stopping by and leaving this excellent comment. That chilling moment - and Cholly's hate - makes me think a lot about what Zora Neale Hurston wrote in Their Eyes Were Watching God about the way black women have historically been treated as the "mule of the world," mistreated by both racists whites and powerless black men. And this most certainly has implications today. I do hope that you will take a look at Doret's post on Cholly and leave your thoughts there as well: "A Closer Look at Cholly Breedlove."

By: Ariel Jones

Ariel Jones — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:31:08 +0000

One thing that I’m really curious about is the Black Male aspect in The Bluest Eye. i.e. Cholly. When he was caught by flashlight, his anger and hatred was directed towards the young lady. He was helpless and he could not protect her, yet he still hated her?
I can’t help but think that this faintly addresses a big problem in the black community that there are some black men that do NOT protect their women. I also can’t help to think that the whole “B****es and H**s” problem stems from the long history of Black men being largely unable to protect Black women’s virtue and sexuality as White men are able to. I must admit that I believe over all self-esteem issues prevailing Black men and women have roots in that issue.
That may be kind of far fetched, but it was one piece that I took away from reading the novel.

By: Evelyn N. Alfred

Evelyn N. Alfred — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:23:38 +0000

I finally finished my post, it’s set to publish July 7th at 7am.

By: The Bluest Eye – Happy Anniversary | Words like whoa!

The Bluest Eye – Happy Anniversary | Words like whoa! — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:36:35 +0000

[...] Eye – Happy Anniversary Claudia from The Bottom of Heaven asked if I wanted to participate in Blogger's roundtable for Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, to celebrate its 40 anniversary. There was only one answer I [...]

By: brilliant blogs « Fledgling

brilliant blogs « Fledgling — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:56:56 +0000

[...] you stopped by The Bottom of Heaven lately? Claudia has posted the first in a series of reflections on Toni Morrison’s The [...]

By: On the literary descendants of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye - WriteBlack

On the literary descendants of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye - WriteBlack — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:48:52 +0000

[...] continuing series celebrating the 40th anniversary of Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye. See a complete list of participating bloggers at The Bottom of [...]

By: Camille

Camille — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:38:38 +0000

Hi Claudia,

I totally agree! It would be a huge disservice to say The Bluest Eye is simply a story of one lonely girl suffering from low self-esteem. What about the other wonderful (if not disturbing at times) characters? What about their relationships to each other? What about their experiences which made them behave that way? Sigh. It’s such a complex story and I love it so.

I’ll be checking back Monday for future posts!

By: Claudia

Claudia — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:54:22 +0000

Hi Camille, thanks for stopping by! Those last pages of the novel really pack a punch. I’ll have more to say about Claudia on Monday, but it is passages like this one that really take this story to another, more complex level I think. It makes it hard to just see this as the story of just one lonely girl, right?

By: Camille

Camille — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 09:09:51 +0000

“And fantasy it was, for we were not strong, only aggressive; we were not free, merely licensed; we were not compassionate, we were polite; not good, but well behaved. We courted death in order to cal ourselves brave, and hid like thieves from life. We substituted good grammar for intellect; we switched habits to simulate maturity; we rearranged lies and called it truth, seeing in the new pattern of an old idea the Revelation and the Word.” – The Bluest Eye

This paragraph is like a poem to me… it’s lyrical and poignant. I love these words so much.