The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison - 1838 Words

The themes of sex, power and violence intersect throughout Toni Morrison’s novel ‘The Bluest Eye’ within a number of narrative scenes. The example Pauline uses is a recount of her more loving relationship with Cholly, where sex, power and violence are intersected as Cholly’s orgasm coming before hers gives her ‘a power’ of feeling ‘strong’, ‘pretty’ and ‘young’ . However, there are also contradictory intersections of the themes in the novel, such as the intersection of sex, power and violence within Cholly’s rape of Pecola, which leaves both characters powerless. Power and violence are almost always connected; to be ‘powerful’ one must violently assert themselves as superior over another. Sex then frequently intersects with these two themes to either strengthen or undermine this power; a power which is either violently achieved or violently strengthened or diminished by sex. Therefore I will argue that whilst power and violence always intersect as a character cannot have one with the other; sex can then have opposing consequences on this intersection; due to the different ways in which the themes intersect throughout the novel. These varying presentations can thus provoke alternative interpretations of the novel which can be seen in the works of literary critics, which I will continually refer to throughout this essay. Sex, power and violence are firstly intersected in the novel through Morrison’s use of ostensibly innocent contemporary American culture images, such asShow MoreRelatedThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1720 Words   |  7 Pagesof The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison, criticizes the danger of race discrimination for any kinds of situations with no exception. The purpose of the paper is explain how pervasive and destructive social racism was bound to happen in American society. 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