Bluest Eye: Climax Analysis

                The conflict of Morrison’s “the Bluest Eye” was resolved in an interesting way.  The protagonist Pecola sought out the help of a former reverend whom was given the name “Soaphead Church”.  She went to Soaphead and asked for blue eyes.  Soaphead initially said that he could not help her, but then decided to trick her.  He said that she would gain blue eyes if she gave a piece of meat to the dog outside.  If the dog acted strange afterwards, she would have blue eyes.  She did as he asked, and the begin to act very strange, and then succumb.  She left, thinking that she had blue eyes. What Pecola didn’t know is that Soaphead poisoned the meat, and was planning on killing the dog himself.  He saw opportunity in Pecola, and had her kill the dog.  I also believe that this is the conflict of the story because all of Pecola’s conflicts amount to this resolution, and she changed the way that she perceives herself permanently.

                Pecola changed her own self-image, but not to other people.  She convinced herself that she had the bluest eyes in the world, and would spend her summer days talking to her conscience about her blue eyes.  I suppose that one discovery that can be drawn from this is that you shouldn’t worry about how other people perceive you, but I think that Pecola discovered that she was finally beautiful to herself.  She tricked herself into thinking that she actually had blue eyes, and nothing else mattered to her.  I thought that this was a very interesting turn in the story.  I would have never expected for Cholly to not only rape her, but also impregnate her too.  Morrison did a tremendous job of showing how Pecola simply went insane in the last segment of the book.  Her use of dialogue spoke volumes about Pecola’s newfound attitude and personality while only committing about 4 pages to the new Pecola.  I envisioned a young, pregnant girl walking the streets talking to herself, almost like a feral homeless man who walks the city of Charlotte.  Also, my jaw was literally dropped as Morrison described not only that Cholly raped her, but she also began to describe how Cholly felt about doing it.  It sickened me as much as it made me respect Morrison for writing details that could make her feel so vulnerable to criticism.  I also enjoyed the very last segment, in which Frieda and Claudia describe their reaction to the new Pecola.  It brought closure to the story, and overall, the book was an  excellent read.

“The Bluest Eye” conflict analysis

The conflict of Pecola in “The Bluest Eye” is that she wants to be beautiful in a world that subjects beauty to outer features, namely blonde hair and blue eyes.  She also shares a conflict with society, which causes her desire for “beauty”.  Society sees her as a dirty, poor, ugly African American child, and they also treat her that way.  Between boys teasing her in the schoolyard, being abused sexually and emotionally by her parents, and being thrown out of houses for reasons out of her control, she also shares conflicts with other people directly. Her three conflicts never get resumed, but she does find a personal cure for them.

My favorite scene in the book is when Pecola encounters bullies in the schoolyard, and Freida and Claudia arrive in time to begin defending Pecola.  Their attempts fail, but the boys notice that a pretty girl in the school named Maureen jumps in and makes the boys leave.  They stroll through the city and get ice cream, when Maureen begins asking Pecola about how she saw her father naked.  When Pecola breaks down from Maureen’s undertones of mockery, Freida and Claudia step in and chase her away, yelling names at her.  This is, to me, is a strong spot of unity in the story.  That while Freida and Claudia feel bad for Pecola, they still stick up for her and make her feel wanted and welcome.

This scene ties in with the main conflict because as Maureen is being chased away, she is screaming about how Pecola is “ugly” repeatedly, which is Pecola’s main conflict.  This is one of many instances that cause Pecola to “resolve” her resolution by visiting a former pastor given the name “Soaphead Church”.  The pastor solves emotional conflicts within people such as mediating marriages, curing anxiety and so on.  Pecola goes to him and wants blue eyes, so he, with the power of God, grants her blue eyes.  He then goes on the write a letter to God saying how only she can see the blue eyes, and touches on the point that he has created a narcissistic god-complex for himself.  She is pictured in the final chapter as mentally unstable, asking her conscience if she has the prettiest blue eyes of anyone in the world, convinced that she has blue eyes.  This conscience could also be her unborn baby, but the voice remains ambigouous.

Wisdom Walk

In meditation, I did find a place to begin with. The place I found was the forest behind my house where I currently live in Pennsylvania.  I always used to go into the woods with friends, just to observe the preservation of nature in an industrial world.  I chose a scenario where I went alone however, because I do remember venturing in alone for reflection.  I walked over a bridge to enter the woods, and proceeded down a marked path.  I came across a large meadow with a tree in the center of it, but it wasn’t quite hilly enough to be the meadow I wanted to imagine.  So I continued further, leading me to a river bed right under an iron bridge.  Ignoring the bridge, I continued out to a hilly meadow.  Realistically, there is no tree in this meadow, but I placed one there for meditation’s sake.  I sat under the tree and breathed.  However, the tree gave me no message that I could see at the time.  So I continued to the rocky edge of the meadow and walked through a door.  Again, my mind played illusions for the better of my meditation.  I walked through the door, which immediately caused a nostalgic euphoria.  I thought of how I used to, and still do, listen to rush, and a doorway leading to a room filled with doors on a rocky cliff made me envision rush’s science fiction tones.  I observed all of the doors, and reflected on an unheard message the tree gave me.  It gave me the realization that my journey has numerous possible outcomes.   Knowing this, I concluded that my actions alone determine which door I walk into.  Naturally, I began to see myself as a Chef, simply directing a team of senior cooks and interns, as my banquet chef would do before we began production every day.  I faded out of that thought, and continued to breathe easy.  My heart rate began to relax and I welcomed the thought.  I walked out of the room and began the journey back through the woods.  I ignored the iron bridge, because if I didn’t, I would begin to see images of lust and hate that never trapped me in, and I wouldn’t begin to walk towards it.  I walked calmly out of the woods, into the meadow where I began.

Meditation

While meditating, I just tried to focus on breathing.  When outer thoughts started traveling through my mind, I acknowledged them, and let them pass by.  If I dwelled on something to long, I diverted my attention to my breathing, and the thoughts passed.  Upon leaving meditation, I felt very peaceful. I still do feel very peaceful, if not almost distant from the stress of college and modern technology.  I am slowly coming back to what needs focus on, and I enjoy the fact that my body is capable of “stopping to smell the roses” once in a while.  I’m still very relaxed physically as well; my shoulders are slouched, and my breathing slow. My countenance is slightly stern, but relaxation is apparent. I am grateful for the time we had to meditate, and I look forward to it in my future composition classes.

Free Write 3

When I think of meditation, I think of inner peace between the body and mind.  I also think of various activities that include meditation, such as yoga and prayer. I immediately draw connections to religion when I think of meditation, and think of how certain cultures use meditation during ceremonies of prayer.  I also think of feudal china, and how samurai and ninjas would meditate as well.  The act of meditation has been adapted by many cultures, and while the exact founder of it remains unknown to me, it is widely used in the world by numerous cultures.

Meditation is ambiguous to the general public.  Some people may consider the warm up before working out as a meditation.  Before I go for a run, I always take the time to stretch so I don’t hurt myself.  The stretches not only loosen my muscles and prepare them for vigorous activity, but they are also calm and relaxing.  As a casual runner, I could interpret that as my form of meditation.  The nation of Islam prays 5 times daily, and this could be there meditation because they are connecting their mind and their body to the gods.

Meditation, for many cultures, is also vital to their wellbeing.  Apart from Islam, monks also meditate for peaceful reasons.  Some people consider meditation to be a pep talk before a football game.  Meditation is anything that forms a connection between your mind and body, and it helps you channel positive energy through your body for various reasons.  Not pulling a muscle during a workout, praying for vitality, exercising peace, and generating endorphins, to name a few.  So without a doubt, mostly everyone may have meditated at one point of another, without even knowing it!

This is also an example of unity between cultures.  While we all may be very different from each other, we all share at least one common activity.  Although we are in wars with various cultures constantly, we should be able to understand the actions of other cultures.

Free Write 2

Throughout pages 1-41 of Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”, Morrison’s goal was to establish the setting of the novel through sensory details, remembering and observing.  The introduction itself almost seemed to foreshadow future events, in which a family seems to be a happy, strong family.  In later pages, you meet the two girls, Freida and Claudia, along with a child of a broken family, Pecola.  The introduction identifies a girl as Jane, whom is yet to be introduced (besides in reference).  The text appears to show through illiterate typing that a young child was writing it, and this child kept saying how Jane was having so much fun.  Almost suddenly, a sense of panic was established by jumbling all of the words together without spaces or punctuation.  Theauthorwrotethelastsectionoftheintroductioninthismannerwhichcreatedatensescene.

                The story leads into the protagonist(s) house near the mines, in which the narrator, Claudia begins to set that scene as well.  She uses details such as sound to describe the drunken public droning by her house, and touch to introduce the freezing, uncomfortable conditions.  After creating this scene, she continues to convey her memory by introducing a flashback in which Pecola is involved.  Her family lives in a dilapidated storefront, and her dad is abusive and drunk.  The events described can infer that this is why her father was sent to prison.  With her family separated, social services takes her in and sends her to the protagonist’s house.  Claudia also describes the difference between, out and outdoors.  Outdoors is the equivalent of modern homelessness.  The author of the story uses all of these memories and observations of Claudia’s childhood to set the introduction.

                Morrison also sets the conflict in the introduction of the story.  She taps into Claudia’s internal conflicts, and goes into detail of how she would rip apart these blonde hair blue eyed dolls, and how she despised Shirley Temple.  This leads up to the main conflict, but not directly.  The author may direct this conflict to the main conflict though jealousy, and Claudia will realize that she just wants to be perfect like them. 

                Morrison seems to have created a storyboard with these scenes, due to them not being fragmented, and how she is slowly progressing to the climax at this point.  Her first scene sets the mood of the story along with the setting. It also introduces the main characters of the story.  The second scene goes through dialogue between the characters which shines on dysfunctions of the family.  Her third scene is a flashback to further introduce Pecola Breedlove’s personality, and her conflicts as well.  Naturally, the fourth scene brings them back from the flashback, where possibly a new conflict will arise to keep attention.

Date

Today’s date is September 13th, 2012

Free Write

Equality is the unification of certain cultures, groups, ideas, etc.  Equality has been a controversial topic for many years, dating back to times before Christ, in which religious equality in Europe would cause persecution and ended up with the death of Jesus.  There are early examples like that, but more modern examples could be centered around the American Revolution, Civil War era.  The American Revolution was the American colonists wanting to be free from the british rule, which could be also related to an issue on inequality.  Since America felt oppressed, they fought back for freedom and equality and gained it.  The civil war is a war based on equality.  African American slaves wanted freedom, and the north recognized this.  The south boldly disagreed, which led to a war between America.  Another instance is the Civil Rights movement in the 20^th century.  African americans still sought equality, so protested to gain rights.  Equality is a very controversial topic that has been looming for years.  In relation to our reading, “The bluest eye” by Toni Morrison, the main character is a young African American girl who is pressured by society at the time to look great.  The look of the era was blonde hair blue eyes. She goes through various persecutions throughout the story, and the author conveys these events in poetic fashion.  It is important to fight for equality within cultures in America because we are exercising our constitutional rights by doing so.  In a specific case, we are exercising our right to free speech and free press.  To do so is to stand up to hate and oppression, and to also relieve ignorance amongst the people.  The act of protest for equality in other countries is not looked highly upon.  Especially in third world countries, standing up for one’s rights could be punishable by death.  Although the risk is there, people all over the world stand up for equality.

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