Race and Family Systems Therapy

I fortunately read Bluest Eye a few weeks ago for my TC class. As a result, the major themes discussed in the book have been in the back of my mind for a while. I am extremely ambivalent about what the final message is that we should take from Bluest Eye. I’ll describe this internal dialogue through a response to Bump’s papers on Bluest Eye.

One of the most moving moments in Bluest Eye was definitely the internal split dialogue that occurs at the end. Pecola’s insanity is described in a somewhat disturbing manner as the novel draws to a conclusion. When talking to a seemingly imaginary friend, Pecola exclaims, “don’t go. Don’t leave me” (Morrison 203). This insanity was caused by Pecola’s desire for the “bluest eyes in the whole world” (203). It must be determined what Morrison is attempting to argue is the cause of Pecola’s neurosis. When attempting to describe what caused the family problems in Pecola’s family, Bump draws from Family Systems Therapy. Using this framework, he argues that “family therapists support the claim that “white society finds it difficult enough to have traditional, nuclear, stable families itself” (Bump 154). This claim is used to create universality when responding to family issues. There is a universal struggle that exists regarding family systems that is not limited to specific racial experiences.

one must be careful to avoid the dangerous fallacies of the moynihan report

However, the afterword seems to argue that there is a racial element to Morrison’s argument. She seems to argue that Bluest Eye is an attempt to “transfigure the complexity and wealth of Black American culture” into an empowering force (Morrison 206). When taking into account the origin of Cholly’s patriarchal behavior, we must remember that it began when Cholly had a racist encounter with white people. However, Bump is quick to remind us that “research has demonstrated that the average black family is healthier than the average white family” (Bump 159). Moreover, perhaps a different reading of Bluest Eye is more strategic for addressing issues of race. If we have a more universal response to Pecola’s insanity then we can “enable the reader to experience the suffering of such a victim of racism and fear of ugliness” (Bump 162). While this is a reasonable argument about strategy, I am still uncomfortable abandoning the racial lens entirely. Family Systems Therapy may be useful in explaining clinical cases of family problems, but a closer reading of specific narratives (such as the fictional one posited in Bluest Eye) reveals a different experience within black families that is different from white families. Considering many aspects of psychological theory were developed with predominantly white patients and case studies, it seems only fair to attempt to build empathic coalitions through a universal understanding of family problems while simultaneously being mindful of unique racial experiences.

pecola views her own (lack of) beauty in a racial context

Jerome Bump. “Family Systems Therapy and Narrative in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye”. Reading the Family Dance: Family Systems Therapy and Literary Study. Rosemont Publishing Danvers Massachusetts. 2003.

Jerome Bump. “Racism and Appearance in the Bluest Eye: A Template for an Ethical Emotive Criticism”. College Literature 37:2. 2010.