Blackness: Arrested development in 'The Bluest Eye'.

摘要

The focal point of this study is to identify the social and psychological maladies that pervade the African-American character in Toni Morrison's riveting novel, The Bluest Eye. The issues faced by the characters will encompass the forced adoption of Eurocentric Conceptions of Beauty and their impact on the collective black psyche, as well as hereditary mental illnesses suffered by the central character, Pecola Breedlove.;Theoretical principles of social learning theory are heavily relied upon to explain the effects of white aesthetic standards on the black psyche. Through a system of observation and participation, and rewards and punishments, the characters in The Bluest Eye are indoctrinated into Western standards of beauty that belittle their natural selves. Socio-psychological theories from members of the National Association of Black Psychologists, and other noted authority are relied upon for additional sources of corroboration.