The Bluest Eye post 1

So far in The Bluest Eye, the reader has been introduced to the not so subtle racial discrimination of the 1960's. Seen through the eyes of two African American girls, Claudia and Pecola, prejudice has already played a defining factor in the novel. Race and skin color seem to have more of an effect on Claudia them anyone else in the book. Between hating Shirley Temple wanting to tear heads off of dolls, she appears to be looking for a reason to hate other based on their complexion. She also has a tendency to see skin color as a defining characteristic, especially when Maureen, a wealthy white girl is introduced to the plot. There is an interesting section in one of the more tangential chapters. The author writes about the "perfect" life of an African American woman and the life she develops as she grows older. However, this was not the interesting part. What I found interesting was when Morison began to classify some blacks as "niggers" and some as just blacks. She described niggers as dirty, rude people, while blacks were clean, upstanding people. This kind of social prejudice is interesting because this description is coming from an African American author through her African American character and displays a hateful attitude toward some African Americans in her characters community. This kind of "black on black" hatred is something that I realized I haven't seen in other books with a large focus on racism. If this view point comes up again in the novel, it will be interesting to see the context in which Morison does so.