Dick And Jane Primer In Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye As An Aesthetic Device

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject American Studies - Literature, , language: English, abstract: The focus of this paper is the narrative mechanism of employing a paragraph of "Dick and Jane" Reader, which was popular in children schools in 1940s in the American United States. It educates children how to read and they hear it from the very beginning of their lives. Through such an educational system, the white dominant culture exerts its authority in oppressing black people. In her novel "The Bluest Eye", the African-American writer Toni Morrison cuts an expert of "Dick and Jane" narrative and uses it as a prologue. She repeats the paragraph three times which are highly different from each other, then dismembers it into pieces that appear as headings to some chapters of the novel. The study reveals the aesthetic purpose beyond such reproducing and dismembering of "Dick and Jane" narrative. Morrison sends a message of moral content to blacks as well as whites: On the one hand, blacks, particularly those who immersed in the white ideology, have to wake up and realize the value of their culture, heritage and language in protecting their black identity. On the other hand, whites should respect and admit the cultural and humane existence of the other and realize the merit of the black culture.

REA's MAXnotes for Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, A Novel MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work. MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independent thought about the literary work by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions. MAXnotes cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed, and has study questions and answers.

Scientific Essay from the year 2015 in the subject American Studies - Literature, , language: English, abstract: The Bluest Eye is simple yet a difficult narrative of a twelve year old black girl Pecola’s desire to have blue eyes. The question arises why does a black girl want blue eyes? Why does she want to look differently? What causes this desire in her? As the story unfolds we get answers to these questions and also a realization that how the simple things like cup images or candy wrappers can be a strong factor in influencing an individual’s psychological response to beauty and his/her own self importance. The present paper while building on existing criticism tries to explore the popular culture, for instance children items (cups, dolls, candies) and movies and its individual psychological response. These commercial products play a pivotal role in establishing beauty aesthetics. Regular exposure to these ideals results in their idealization and a longing in people to have these defining physical features of beauty. It creates an environment of superiority and inferiority. People who possess the defining features (physical) are considered superior to those who don’t have these physical features. This adversely affects their psyche and becomes a reason for their downfall.

Scientific Essay from the year 2015 in the subject American Studies - Literature, language: English, abstract: The Bluest Eye is simple yet a difficult narrative of a twelve year old black girl Pecola's desire to have blue eyes. The question arises why does a black girl want blue eyes? Why does she want to look differently? What causes this desire in her? As the story unfolds we get answers to these questions and also a realization that how the simple things like cup images or candy wrappers can be a strong factor in influencing an individual's psychological response to beauty and his/her own self importance. The present paper while building on existing criticism tries to explore the popular culture, for instance children items (cups, dolls, candies) and movies and its individual psychological response. These commercial products play a pivotal role in establishing beauty aesthetics. Regular exposure to these ideals results in their idealization and a longing in people to have these defining physical features of beauty. It creates an environment of superiority and inferiority. People who possess the defining features (physical) are considered superior to those who don't have these physical features. This adversely affects their psyche and becomes a reason for their downfall.

Discusses the writing of The bluest eye by Toni Morrison. Includes critical essays on the work and a brief biography of the author.

An exploration of how specific historical contexts, narrative conventions, and cultural politics shape the ways that stories of incest are told and heard

"[A] most impressive achievement by an extraordinarily intelligent, courageous, and—that goes without saying—'well-read' mind. The scope of this work is enormous: it provides no less than a comprehensive, historically grounded theory of 'modern peoplehood,' which is Lie’s felicitous umbrella term for everything that goes under the names 'race,' 'ethnicity,' and nationality.'" Christian Joppke, American Journal of Sociology "Lie's objective is to treat a series of large topics that he sees as related but that are usually treated separately: the social construction of identities, the origins and nature of modern nationalism, the explanation of genocide, and racism. These multiple themes are for him aspects of something he calls 'modern peoplehood.' His mode of demonstration is to review all the alternative explanations for each phenomenon, and to show why each successively is inadequate. His own theses are controversial but he makes a strong case for them. This book should renew debate." Immanuel Wallerstein, Yale University and author of The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World

A Lost Lady is a novel by American author Willa Cather, first published in 1923. It centers on Marian Forrester, her husband Captain Daniel Forrester, and their lives in the small western town of Sweet Water, along the Transcontinental Railroad. However, it is mostly told from the perspective of a young man named Niel Herbert, as he observes the decline of both Marian and the West itself, as it shifts from a place of pioneering spirit to one of corporate exploitation. Exploring themes of social class, money, and the march of progress, A Lost Lady was praised for its vivid use of symbolism and setting, and is considered to be a major influence on the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It has been adapted to film twice, with a film adaptation being released in 1924, followed by a looser adaptation in 1934, starring Barbara Stanwyck. A Lost Lady begins in the small railroad town of Sweet Water, on the undeveloped Western plains. The most prominent family in the town is the Forresters, and Marian Forrester is known for her hospitality and kindness. The railroad executives frequently stop by her house and enjoy the food and comfort she offers while there on business. A young boy, Niel Herbert, frequently plays on the Forrester estate with his friend. One day, an older boy named Ivy Peters arrives, and shoots a woodpecker out of a tree. He then blinds the bird and laughs as it flies around helplessly. Niel pities the bird and tries to climb the tree to put it out of its misery, but while climbing he slips, and breaks his arm in the fall, as well as knocking himself unconscious. Ivy takes him to the Forrester house where Marian looks after him. When Niel wakes up, he's amazed by the nice house and how sweet Marian smells. He doesn't't see her much after that, but several years later he and his uncle, Judge Pommeroy, are invited to the Forrester house for dinner. There he meets Ellinger, who he will later learn is Mrs. Forrester's lover, and Constance, a young girl his age.

One of the greatest challenges for English language arts teachers today is the call to engage students in more complex texts. Tim Gillespie, who has taught in public schools for almost four decades, has found the lenses of literary criticism a powerful tool for helping students tackle challenging literary texts. Tim breaks down the dense language of critical theory into clear, lively, and thorough explanations of many schools of critical thought---reader response, biographical, historical, psychological, archetypal, genre based, moral, philosophical, feminist, political, formalist, and postmodern. Doing Literary Criticism gives each theory its own chapter with a brief, teacher-friendly overview and a history of the approach, along with an in-depth discussion of its benefits and limitations. Each chapter also includes ideas for classroom practices and activities. Using stories from his own English classes--from alternative programs to advance placement and everything in between--Tim provides a wealth of specific classroom-tested suggestions for discussion, essay and research paper topics, recommended texts, exam questions, and more. The accompanying CD offers abbreviated overviews of each theory (designed to be used as classroom handouts, examples of student work, collections of quotes to stimulate discussion and writing, an extended history of women writers, and much more. Ultimately, Doing Literary Criticism offers teachers a rich set of materials and tools to help their students become more confident and able readers, writers, and critical thinkers.

In 1993 Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Nobel committee described her work as "characterized by visionary force and poetic import [that] gives life to an essential aspect of American reality." Twenty years later, a group of scholars met in Stockholm to commemorate and celebrate Morrison's award, and just as importantly, to critically engage the wealth of scholarship that has sprung up around Morrison's work-both the six novels recognized by the Nobel committee and those works of fiction and criticism published in the two decades afterwards. The essays in this collection implicitly and explicitly take up Morrison's clarion call to vivify language. They engage her words by elaborating on their meaning, offering readings of her literary texts that highlight their intertextuality, their proliferating conversations with other texts and contexts, and even other languages. In some, Morrison's words give life to authors no longer with us, in others we are encouraged to resituate her writing in unfamiliar contexts in order to highlight the multiplicity of meanings generated by her work. The essays offer rich testimony to the life-giving properties of Morrison's language and seek to contribute to the ongoing afterlife of her work by adding to the scholarly conversations animated by her extraordinary literary career. Authors: Andrea Sillis, Lynn Penrod, Sangita Rayamajhi, Anna Iatsenko, Giulia Grillo Mikrut, Lucy Buzacott, Hilary Emmett, Tuire Valkeakari, Aoi Mori, Laura Castor & Kerstin W. Shands.