Literary Essay: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

             The bluest eye is an experimental novel by Toni Morrison, a noble prizewinner and a very respected American author. It tells the tale of Pecola Breedlove and her family. The story’s narrators jump around from chapter to chapter, from Claudia, a friend of Pecola’s, to the third person. Its centered on the struggles of a being black woman in America at that time, Pecola’s desire to be beautiful, and racism, specifically within their own race faced by African Americans in Ohio. 

          A very present theme in “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison is the desire to be considered beautiful, specifically Pecola’s. Pecola Breedlove comes from a poor family that nobody really likes, and is infamously ugly. The author also made it very clear that everyone, including the Breedloves knew it. “No one could have convinced them that they were not relentlessly and aggressively ugly.” Morrison says as she introduces the family. She almost describes their hideousness like an object, explaining how each member of the family handles their faces. “Mrs. Breedlove handled her as an actor would a prop.” “Sammy used his a weapon to caused others pain.” “And Pecola. She hid behind hers.” She made their ugliness so obvious to show how important it is for the time period. Specifically the word ugly, it was always being said in the story. Being so terrible looking is a big disadvantage in Pecola’s life. She was practically immobilized by her crooked nose, high cheekbones, forward turned ears, and shapely lips that drew attention to her whole disaster of a face. “As long as she looked the way she did, as long as she was ugly, she would have to stay with these people.” The narrator explains. Her teachers would refuse to call on her, or even look her way; her ugliness was too much of a discomfort. Not only does Pecola want to be pretty, but also she specifically has a need for blue eyes. In fact, her goal throughout the whole book is to have bright blue eyes like Mary Jane, the girl on the wrapper of her favorite candy. She has this illusion that if she had eyes like her, all her problems will disappear. Her parents would say, “Why look at pretty eyed Pecola. We mustn’t do bad things in front of those pretty eyes.” However the reality of it is quite the contrary. At the end of the story, after having endured a pregnancy from her father and going crazy, she believes she has blue eyes. Her self torment has gotten to the point where she cant take it anymore, she makes talks herself into believing she has reached her goal. She has a whole dialogue with herself asking if she has the bluest, prettiest eyes in Medallion. “Bluer then Joanna’s?” she asks “Much bluer than Joanna’s”, the voice inside her head answers. However at the end of the day, She still has brown eyes, and is still considered ugly, therefore practically useless.

           Another theme very obviously present in the book is racism. Not only white people discriminating black people and vice versa, but also racism within a race. Light skinned black people were even considered better then someone with a darker completion. Someone who symbolized this is Maureen Peal. Or “Maginot Pie” the nickname our narrator Claudia and her sister Frieda call her to make fun of her light skin. Not because they thought it was bad, but because they secretly envied her. Everyone did, she was the “high yellow dream child with long brown hair,” who “enchanted the entire school.” One day, a bunch of boys were making fun Pecola’s brown skin (even though they were also black) when Maureen steps up. The boys immediately disperse. “Maureen appeared at my elbow, and they boys seemed reluctant to continue under her springtime eyes…” Claudia says. Not only do the boys treat Maureen better, but also so does everyone, which was made very clear by the author. It was very obvious that her family was richer and more respected then Claudia or Pecola’s. She knew all the latest movies, something you can infer Pecola and Claudia don't get to see much. Overall “Maginot Pie” just knew more things in general then Pecola and Claudia. Pecola also faces discrimination from a white candy storeowner. However, she as well as every black person in Medallion faces discrimination from more then Maureen Peals and candy stores owners, but everybody. Being judged by the color of her skin was just the way of life that she dealt with without even thinking twice. Every time Pecola wants to go get candy, she has to deal with by Mr. Yacobowski. Mr. Yacobowski sees Pecola as this piece of disgusting garbage, or doesn't really see her at all. “How can a 52 year old white immigrant store keeper with the taste of potatoes and beer in his mouth his mind on the doe-eyed Virgin Mary, his sensibilities blunted by permanent awareness of cost, see a little black girl?” The author says. In fact, when Pecola reached to give him the money, he hesitated, not wanting to touch her hand, almost as if he’d get sick if he touched a black girls dirty hand. However things like this occur throughout the whole novel, because it was that normal for the citizens of Medallion.

         Another big part of “The Bluest Eye” is how women are treated. Specifically black women. Throughout the whole story, Morrison mentions how husband all beat their wives, as if it can be assumed. A marriage she specifically zooms in on is Pauline and Cholly Breedloves. Cholly has this hatred for his wife and women and the author tells the story of how it began. Even though Cholly is definitely not the first of men to hate women, and his views are not unique, his story is. The day of his caretaker’s funeral, Cholly meets Darlene, and they go for a walk in the woods. Eventually Cholly and Darlene end up having sex behind one of the trees when they get interrupted. Two white men appeared, snickering, and yes “there was no mistake about them being white, he could smell it.” They embarrassed Cholly to the point where he felt extremely deep hatred, except not towards the white men. "For now he hated the one who created the situation, the one who bore witness to his failure, his impotence. The one whom he had not been able to protect, to spare, to cover from the round moon glow of the flashlight." He hated Darlene, but not just Darlene, but all women. This story perfectly represents the way a lot a men probably felt at the time about women and why.

       The bluest eye has tons of great examples on how messed up America once was and sometimes still is. Its represents sexism, racism and the desire to beautiful, that was faced by Pecola and thousands of other women in Medallion, and still is being faced by everybody today. Overall, I think Toni Morrison delivered a good story but also a powerful novel that poses questions about society.  

blog post that inspired this essay: http://margojohnston805.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-bluest-eye-by-toni-morrison.html

Time for a Raise?

"Time for a Raise?" by Patricia Smith discusses the issues concerning minimum wage salaries in America. It informs us that lately President Obama has been trying t convince the federal government to raise the minimum wage. Currently, minimum wage is 7.25 dollars an hour. The aticle says thats 290 a week, not enough to live well on. "No one who works full time in America should have to live in poverty" says President Obama. A lot of the articles focus is the age of the people minimum wage is affecting. It turns out that a whopping 49 percent of minimum wage workers are 25 years old or older. Lots of which have families to support im sure. They include quotes from fast food workers like Roberto Tejada. "These jobs arent just for teenagers anymore," he says. They also include the pros and cons of raising minimum wage. In fact, raising it may not change anything. If an owner has to raise everybodys wages, he/she could increase prices, scaring off customers. hire fewer workers, or reduce the amount of hours his employees work. There are already tons of jobless young people and even people with families, so economists wonder what the best thing to do would be.

I think Patricia wants us to support minimum wage being raised. Most of the article talks about how unfair it is for minimum wage workers, and how it is affecting a wide age group of people. She includes a quote from Obama, supporting the raise, and also a quote from a minimum wage worker. Along with that, she has a picture of people protesting for 15 dollars an hour and a political cartoon making fun of how ridiculous things are for fast food workers. She also has a pie chart reflecting the different age groups of minimum wage workers. 20-24 years old,, 27 percent, 16-19 years old, 24 percent, 25 years and up, 49 percent. Smith conducts a very persuading argument, with very factual evidence. She convinced me and Im sure a lot of others that minimum wage should be increased.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

This week I continued to read "The Bluest Eye", by Toni Morrison, however the main conflict of the story has changed a lot.

Instead if the main issue being about racism like it was when i wrote my synthesis page, it has shifted to more sexism. Race still plays an extremely important role in the book. However I think now it is specifically talking about the struggles of black women. Currently, were hearing about the story of Cholly, Pecolas father. And even though it is about a boy, there's are really good example of misogyny for the time period. For example, we just heard a story about Cholly on his Aunt Jimmy's funeral day. Cholly and a girl named Darlene went and had sex in the woods, when they got caught by two white men. Cholly was so humiliated and furious. Except not at the men that caught them, that caused him the embarrassment, but at Darlene. "For now he hated the one who created the situation, the one who bore witness to his failure, his impotence. The one whom he had not been able to protect, to spare, to cover from the round moon glow of the flashlight". This all means Darlene. Morrison not onky included this story to explain why Cholly treated his wife so terribly, but also to send a bigger message. She not only wanted to explain why Cholly acted this way, but why any black man who beat his wife at the time this way. And even though the specific story may be unique, the feelings Cholly had were shred amongst many people similar to him. A lot of men in general just had this hatred of women. They were quicker to blame the women then the person who actually upset them.

I think this story is a really good reflection of the book. A lot of the story is what life was like being a black women in New York during the time period

"Catcher in the Rye" by JD Salinger

This week I started reading "The Catcher in The Rye". This book is a sweet story following teenage Holden Caulfield, from New York. The stroy begins with him explaining aboyt how he got kicked out of his boarding school, Pencey. Holden is very cynical and sort of a sad character, however at the same time he is very charming. For example, he'll drag on about how much he hates his old friend Sally, but he still goes on a date with her. Or how he hates plays yet he still brongs her to one because she's a big theatre person. He even talks about his friend Ackley who never brushes his teeth yet he still hangs out with him a lot.

Most of the book he talks about how he's depressed or how much he hates something but actaully he seems like a sweet guy. He's always talking about how much he loves his little 12 year sister Phoebe. He even wanders around trying to find her favorite record and buy it for her to then bring to her in the park. And even though he doesnt want to walk around trying to find this record, he still wants to go bring it to his little sister.

I'm not done with the book yet, however i like it a lot. Considering it only follows one person in one city for a short time, it's very interesting. I think Holden Caulfield is really actually a very amusing character that can keep the book enjoyable.

"The Bravest Girl in the World" by Malala Yousafzai

This week, I read an article called the "Bravest Girl in the World". This article is about a young women, named Malala Yousafzai, who lived in Pakistan when she was attacked by the Taliban. By the time of 11 years old, she was already known in her Pakistani town for speaking out for education rights of girls.
    The author of the article is actually, Malala herself. Most of the article is actually about her attack and why she got attacked, however Malala wasnt trying to get you to feel bad for her. She wanted you to think about how it;s notonly her who was a victim, but also other girls. Yes, not everybody got shot in the head, but hundreds of girls are being stripped of their education. The only reason she got shot was because she spoke out against them. In the article, she also talks about how she loved doing normal teenager things. For example, gossiping with he friends, listening to Justin Bieber songs, exchanging beauty tips, and riding the bus. In fact, she was on a school bus when she and two other of her friends got shot. She talks about the gory detail of it, how "by the time they [we] got to the hospital, my long hair and Moniba's lap were full of blood. And also how the shooters arm was apparently shaking when he fired. She does this all to make us see how terrible things are for Pakistani girls specifically.

    Malala later speaks about how even after her attack, at 15 years old, she is still expressing her opinion and fighting for equal rights. She wants us to know that this message is so important for her to get across, shes risking her and her families lives. She also wants us to realize that the goal can be met. Already, at 16 shes been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize spoken at UN, and inspired hundreds of other young women around the world. This article really educates you on how terrible women still have it in countries specifically affected by the Taliban.

Persopolis- inquiry question 2

    The perspective that is mostly being shown in persopolis is maryjane, a young girl that narrates the graphic novel. Maryjane is actually the author of the graphic novel. the whole story is about experiences she has grwoing up in iran. The story not only includes the difficulties of living in a war torn county, but also just growing up in general.
    it is un maryjanes perspective because i think people can relate to her best that way, not only people who have had to grow up in such difficult situations, but also just young girls. the story is just as much focused on her growing up as it is focused on the war happening in her country. she didnt want the story to be about some random person living in iran, she wanted it to be about a kid, if it wasnt about one, the story would be so foreign to readers, but now, kids can relate to it, which makes it more appealing to them, in fact adults could relate to , considering they were all kids at some point. and part of the reason it was in her point of view is obviously because its a memoir. maryjane satrapi was just explaining her life in an interesting graphic novel.
   The perspective missing is the enemies, or in this story, the government. it is not being shown, because it would send across the completely wrong message. it would make them seem like the good guys, which would not only send a controversy across readers because they were not the "good guys", but also thats not what maryjane wanted to do. she was a victim of what the government was doing at that time, she would never want them to seem good.
    overall, i think maryjane made the right choice in putting it in her point of view. she wanted to share her experiences with the world, not somebody elses. and by doing it, it made an interesting book and character.

YA fiction essay

Lately in the literary world, YA fiction has been a raging topic. Outraged parents, librarians, and teachers have been trying to convince people that the current literature has become to dark for their audiences. And authors and kids have been disagreeing. And according to my sources, their attempts have not been too convincing. Teens should be able to read any books they choose because many of them go through the same things as the characters, and it would just be pointless to take it away.

Young adults appreciate YA fiction greatly. In “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood”, an article written by Sherman Alexie, author of the award winning novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” explains just how much teen readers love his novel. He says he gets letter daily thanking him for his frequently challenged book. He even includes that he has still not gotten a single complaint concerning his book coming from a teen. He says that when he was a child, he read a lot of YA fiction himself, the types of books that might be considered “dark” now. And he explains he read these books “because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in life.” Right there, just shows how much kids appreciate these stories. So, when I saw Meaghan Cox Gurdon, in the article “Darkness Too Visible” trying to convince you that books like these just spread problems, I knew it was ridiculous. She says that the “logic” is that when a reader reads things like this, they can relate to the books and it will help them manage. Which is exactly what it does. Telling from all the letters Alexie gets, it seems like it does anyways.

Taking away teen beloved young adult fiction would sere as beneficial to no one and just be pointless. According to Sherman Alexies article, many children go through grim experiences similar to those faced by the characters in these stories. He states that he’s spoken to numerous schools where the kids are victims of sexual and physical abuse, racism, poverty, depression etc. These are all “dark” topics that play a big role in a lot of teen fiction today. Many of which are reasons behind banning a lot of popular teen fiction. Seeing that kids are going through these things themselves, what would be the point of banning these books? Sherman Alexie includes a powerful quote about his own childhood. “They wanted to protect me fro sex when I had already been raped. They wanted to protect me from evil when a future serial killer had already abused me. They wanted me to profess my love for god without considering that I was the child and grandchild of men and women who had been sexually and physically abused by generations of clergy.” This is coming from someone who has experienced darker things than any one could imagine, and has watched as people try to take away the novels that helped him and hundreds of other teens bear these experiences, for what he knows is absolutely no reason. Alexie in Gurdon’s article says that kids can find just as bad stuff online. Yet another reason for why taking away teen fiction wouldn't help anyone. Since kids spend almost all their time on the Internet now, I’m sure kids have found worse things surfing the web. Again, this proves another one of Gurdon’s silly arguments to be invalid. She talks about “Scars” by Cheryl Rainfield, and how the cover might make a victim of self-mutation relapse. I’m sure this picture of a “horribly scarred forearm” is nothing compared to what kids discover on various social networking sites like twitter, tumblr, and instagram.

Even teenagers themselves agree that YA fiction helps them. In  Mary Elizabeth Williams article “Has Young Adult Fiction Become Too Dark?” she speaks about a reoccurring trend on twitter, #YAsaves. According to the article, the hashtag has endless links to teen and adult blog posts. She recalls one child’s heart-wrenching post on a reaction to Meaghan Cox Gurdon’s article. She says,” Good literature opens up all the good parts of us, the parts people like you have deemed too dark, inappropriate, grotesque or abnormal for kids to be feeling- and try stitch is all back together before we even realize they’re talking about us. This explains exactly how teenagers are reacting to all these attempts at taking away their books, which is exactly what Gurdon failed to do in “Darkness Too Visible”. She even tried to convince you that children don't read YA fiction at all. This honestly just made me laugh, because if she’s trying to tell me that, why did she just write a 4 page article trying to get kids to stop reading these books. She explains that a local bookstore owner visited a private school (which are typically very small already), that only 18 kids actually admitted to reading teen fiction. However, just one poll done by a random woman from a bookstore isn’t exactly a good source. And again, if kids aren’t reading these books, why are you trying to take them away?

Telling from several the articles I read both and against YA fiction, and being a young adult myself, teen fiction should not be banned or challenged. If YA fiction does anything at all, its most definitely help us. There’s been various stories of kids benefiting from teen fiction, but I haven’t heard a specific story of a child being harmed by it. And again I have read several articles against and for YA fiction. And Sherman Alexie, an award winning author, Mary Elizabeth Williams, mom of teenagers, and thousands of other parents’ kids feel the exact same way. Trying to limit what we read wouldn't help anyone and just upset readers that depend on these stories just to get him or her through their difficult adolescence.