the bluest eye?

Question

what aspects of black girlhood are universal? which ones are unique to african american girls in the middle of the twentieth cenutry???

Answer 1

Wonderful story. Last year I saw an Off-Broadway play version of it--good production.

What's common to all black girls and women is growing up with the image of the white woman, particularly the blonde woman, as the ideal of beauty. The Shirley Temple doll is a key image, and an image that black girls simply can't live up to. Because we can't be blonde or white, many of us have grown up thinking that we were ugly--that is, until the "Black is Beautiful" movement of the Sixties. Toni Morrison, the author of The Bluest Eye, said something like, "The concept of physical beauty is one of the cruelest and most torturous things human beings have invented."

Claudia destroyed her Shirley Temple doll. I had a Skipper doll--with brunette hair, God bless my mother for that--and one day I darkened her skin with red lipstick, so that it more closely resembled mine. (I'm medium light, kind of like peanut butter.)

On the other hand, since we couldn't be blondes, we idealized the closest thing we have: the light-skinned woman. This is symbolized by Maureen Peel. (Think of Michael Jackson, and the irony of Maureen's last name. In fact, the name Maureen could be interpreted to mean "little brown one".) The darker-skinned Frieda and Claudia resent how the adults favor Maureen because she is light. Although the sisters know better than to blame her, they give in to human nature, and they do blame her. And Maureen, hurt by their insults, turns on them and relies on the racist ideas they're all growing up under: "I am cute. And you're ugly. Three big and ugly Black-e-Mo's" [which would include Pecola, whom Maureen tried to befriend].

When my cousin's daughter, a multiracial child a little lighter colored than I, had her First Holy Communion, I bought her a communion doll with brunette hair. On that day, I saw her doll collection, which featured a lot of Barbies. As far as I could see, all of her dolls were blonde. Yes, the girl's hair was a golden brown, kind of blonde-like for us, but still!

Years ago, in an unrelated article, I read this stupid-yet-revealing statement from a black man: "The light-skinned woman is the black man's blonde."

Maybe Toni Morrison was right.

I can't speak too well about what unique to girls growing up in the middle of the twentieth-century, unless you consider the 1960s the middle of the 20th century. I suppose some of the games Morrison's girls played might be similar to the games my sisters and I played, but I don't remember the games in the novel that well.

I just had a memory triggered, In the novel Frieda and Claudia tried to plant marigolds that died. That reminded me of when I was seven, and after hearing the story of Saint Bernadette in school, I dug a hole like she did, near a playground, hoping to find a spring of water. This went on for a few days, until some older boys took over the hole and buried a jar full of insects in it. But I suppose that episode is unique to me, and not to black girls in general.

I hope you know that most of our fathers do not rape us. I did have some adult guy, a black guy, sneak his hands on me where they didn't belong, like Frieda had. I've read that one out of four girls is molested, and I don't know if the statistics are any higher, or lower, for black girls.

That's all I can think of for now.

Answer 2

I honestly love dirty blonde hair it looks really pretty

Answer 3

Is dependent on the person. I have aircraft black hair and it looks great on me, and I have buddies with blonde hair that looks excellent on them.