Tag: toni morrison

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+ banned books, racism, the bluest eye, toni morrison

The Role of Names in Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”: Part II

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A few posts ago I started exploring the role of names in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Specifically, I looked at Soaphead Church’s letter to God and his questions, “What makes one name more a person than another? Is the name the real thing, then? And the person only what his name says?” By looking at Claudia and Frieda’s nickname for Maureen Peals and the ways … Read More The Role of Names in Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”: Part II

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+ african american literature, banned books, Literature, race, the bluest eye, toni morrison

The Role of Names in Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”: Part I

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In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Pecola goes to see Soaphead Church, a self-proclaimed “Spiritualist and Psychic Reader” who could help individuals overcome things that impacted them. Pecola comes to Soaphead Church asking him to give her blue eyes so she can feel pretty and be like the white movie stars that she idealizes. After Pecola leaves, he sits down at the table and write … Read More The Role of Names in Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”: Part I

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+ banned books, Pedagogy, the bluest eye, toni morrison

Think About the Children! Ban the “Filth” from Libraries!

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Recently, my daughter and I started a podcast, Classics & Coffee, where we drink coffee and discuss literature. We do five books per season, one joint selection and two book selections apiece. One of my books selections for season one was Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. I chose this book, partly, because I am teaching it this semester. I also chose it because it pairs … Read More Think About the Children! Ban the “Filth” from Libraries!

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+ african american literature, american literature, banned books, the bluest eye, toni morrison

Seeds and Growth in Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”

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On her first novel, The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison states that she wanted to explore the “tragic and disabling consequences of accepting rejection as legitimate, as self-evident.” While some become dangerous and violent, “reproducing the enemy who has humiliated them over and over,” others become invisible, melting away as they “collapse, silently, anonymously, with no voice to express or acknowledge” the impact of rejection. Through … Read More Seeds and Growth in Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”

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+ alice walker, ernest j gaines, toni morrison, writing, zora neale hurston

Writing Saves Lives

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Next semester, I’m teaching Alice Walker’s The Color Purple alongside a couple of her essays, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Ernest Gaines’ Of Love and Dust, and other works. Preparing for the class, I recently read Walker’s 1976 essay “Saving the Life That is Your Own: The Importance of Models in the Artist’s Life.” Walker wrote the essay in the mid-1970s, at a moment … Read More Writing Saves Lives

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