Carnival and Black American Music as Counterculture in Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Jazz'

Søfting, Inger-Anne

doi:10.22439/asca.v27i2.1132

asca

1995

DOI: 10.22439/asca.v27i2.1132

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Carnival and Black American Music as Counterculture in Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Jazz'

Inger-Anne Søfting¹

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“…Claudia reveals that she can grasp this aesthetic temporarily, with hesitance and caution. Softing (1995) says that "Claudia is the only character in this novel who consciously makes an attempt at deconstructing the ideology of the dominant society. This is seen in her dismembering of the dolls" (90).…”

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Black empowerment and Afro-American values in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Karim¹,

Idrus²

2020

IIUC Studies

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The Bluest Eye of Toni Morrison is extraordinarily significant, as it addresses the different sides of American literature, and the lives of the Afro-American people. Although the conventional theological aspects of white culture can negatively influence other characters of Morrison, it is Pecola whose life appears to be increasingly defenseless against the impulses of the individuals who have accepted the Western custom. In a democratic country, people generally have the same value, but there are still prejudices in the concepts of beauty and worthiness. The search for freedom, black identity, the nature of evil and the robust voices of African-Americans have become themes for African-American literature. Folklore covers the history of black and white interaction in the United States and also summarizes the feelings expressed in protest literature1. Morrison argues that the survival of the dark ladies in a white dominated society depends on loving their own way of life and dark race and rejecting the models of white culture or white excellence. This article attempts to examine The Bluest Eye from the perspective of empowerment of blacks and African American and their value system. IIUC Studies Vol.16, December 2019: 111-121

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Black empowerment and Afro-American values in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Karim¹,

Idrus²

2020

IIUC Studies

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“…Acknowledging Claudia's outstanding resistance to the white beauty myth, but at the same time implying its hegemonic power over the other characters, Inger-Anne Softing (1995) writes that "Claudia is the only character in this novel who consciously makes an attempt at deconstructing the ideology of the dominant society" (p. 90). Moses (1999) likewise points out that "the child Claudia seems to stand alone in her critique of a 'master' aesthetic that is internalized by nearly everyone in her community" (p. 627).…”

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White Oppression and Black Resistance in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Al-Abbood

2019

IJECS

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Many critical interpretations of Morrison’s The Bluest Eye are driven by the belief that the novel pessimistically depicts an African American community so helplessly captivated by an insidious white aesthetic ideology that it is incapable of resistance, self-regeneration, or change. Pointing out the flawed premises of these readings, this article argues that the novel presents rather an effective example of resistance to the dominant white ideology thematically and formally. Morrison’s deconstructive rewriting of the “Dick and Jane” primer effectively subverts the terms of the white oppressive discourse and demolishes its ideological foundations, thus paving the way for African American self-affirmation. This is reflected in Claudia’s increasing awareness of, and mounting rebellion against, the destructive white aesthetic. Her rejection of the white beauty myth, demonstrated by her confused early childhood’s destruction of white baby dolls, culminates in a more sophisticated perception of the operation of this myth and in a radical retrieval and re-affirmation of the black beauty and worth which the white beauty myth denies in order to legitimate itself and establish its hegemony. The article argues that the radical resistance to the dehumanizing white ideology Claudia develops is, like Morrison’s formal deconstructive project, quite indebted to African American music and, more crucially, to the rich heritage behind it. The article concludes by emphasizing that in the world depicted in The Bluest Eye possibilities of resistance and chances of survival are vitally dependent on the strength of one’s connection to African American culture and heritage, as the story of Claudia’s survival proves.

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From Faulkner to Morrison »Jazzing Up« the American Nobel Prize Heritage

Waegner

1997

Z Literaturwiss Linguistik

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Carnival and Black American Music as Counterculture in Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Jazz'

Abstract: -

Cited by 3 publications

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Black empowerment and Afro-American values in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Black empowerment and Afro-American values in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

White Oppression and Black Resistance in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

From Faulkner to Morrison »Jazzing Up« the American Nobel Prize Heritage

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