Since its publication in 1970, Toni Morrison\u2019s debut novel has been praised for its \u201cprofound and unrelenting vision,\u201d as \u201ca profoundly successful work of fiction\u201d written with \u201cprose so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry.\u201d The author, hailed for the \u201cvisionary force and poetic import\u201d of her writing, received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993. As a powerful narrative of the African American experience, \u201cThe Bluest Eye\u201d has been a frequent addition to reading lists and school curricula.<\/p>\n
The novel has also been a frequent target of book banning. School boards and citizens\u2019 groups have accused it of containing \u201csexual content and dark themes,\u201d \u201cobscene and\/or pornographic material\u201d and an \u201cunderlying socialist-communist agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the last few days of Black History Month, a Lunch and Lit event hosted by Furman\u2019s chapter of the English honor society, Sigma Tau Delta, examined the impact of the novel and how the varied reactions to it have reflected societal motives and prejudices in the last half century.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is the fear that white people have that they don\u2019t want to be seen?\u201d asked Shi Pope \u201923, president of Sigma Tau Delta, during the discussion. \u201cWhat are they trying to hide from us?\u201d<\/p>\n
The novel examines racial identity and beauty myths through the eyes of one of its protagonists, a young dark-skinned girl named Pecola living in post-Great Depression Ohio. Constantly scorned and ostracized as \u201cugly\u201d by those around her, Pecola desperately longs to have blue eyes and the beauty she associates with whiteness.<\/p>\n
Pecola is surrounded by poverty and domestic violence. She suffers parental rape, the death of her premature infant daughter and, ultimately, insanity. Morrison narrated these horrors unflinchingly \u2013 as have scores of white writers who aren\u2019t targeted for bans, noted Timothy Helwig, a visiting professor of English.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always feels like a misdirect,\u201d he said. \u201cLook at Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. These topics are all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n
White critics of \u201cThe Bluest Eye\u201d may be challenged by \u201ca Black-centered book,\u201d added Rhaynae Lloyd \u201923, an urban studies major. \u201cIf [the main character was] a white girl, they would be able to feel that empathy and know why it\u2019s important to read,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause readers can\u2019t empathize with Black people, they only see these grotesque, violent crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banning a book like \u201cThe Bluest Eye\u201d robs readers in minority communities of the chance to see representation in literature, said Kaniqua Robinson, an assistant professor of anthropology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciated \u2018The Bluest Eye\u2019 because I saw myself in it,\u201d she said. \u201cI saw a Black woman existing. It got the nuance of what it means to be Black \u2013 the trials, the failures, the successes, the daily experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morrison, who became the first Black fiction editor at Random House before becoming a novelist, always \u201cworked to uplift Black voices and Black writing,\u201d said Robinson. \u201cHer goal was never to cater to white audiences. She knew it was important that we talk about our stories in our way to our people.\u201d<\/p>\n