intersectionality and internalization

Cholly’s experience with racism is extremely revealing about the ways that racism operates within the community that Morrison is describing. Cholly’s abuse of his wife (and poor relationship with his daughter) is attributed to a flashback that occurs in the first chapter of the book. Cholly is “surprised in some bushes by two white men” (42). It would seem logical for Cholly to use this experience to develop a hatred for racists and perhaps an irrationally negative disposition towards white people. However, Cholly instead responds to this by adopting patriarchal attitudes. He takes it out by hating women, because in his view, by “hating her, he could leave himself intact” (42). In this way, Morrison gives insight to the complicated ways that racism exists. Rather than merely existing in a white/black binary, patriarchy also adds a more complicated dimension to this hierarchy. The experience of black women in Bluest Eye is vastly different from the experience felt by black men. Many of the black women have a more complicated struggle with ideas of beauty and the expectations of how their physical appearance should be, as well.

the dick and jane books alluded to in the opening pages of bluest eye

The dialogue that exists regarding Maureen also provides commentary on the internalization of racism. Maureen is a light-skinned black girl, and it seems that Morrison is implicitly making the argument that she is regarded as beautiful because of her relative likeness to white girls. Maureen “never had to search for anybody to eat with in the cafeteria” (63). When she gets a locker next to Claudia, she then indulges her “jealousy four times a day” (63). Here Morrison provides a different account of racism than usually found. Rather than racism occurring through the subjugation of one group by another, instead racial understandings of beauty have been internalized by the black girls such that they impose them upon themselves. The social relations of black women with each other have been influenced by an understanding of beauty imposed by a largely white-dominated culture. Clearly Morrison is attempting to open our eyes to a more dynamic understanding of the role that race plays in our society. We all participate in a network of power relations that have the potentiality to improve or worsen the lives of those around us.

beyonce is a living example of norms that exist with what is and isn't considered beautiful