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The Bluest Eye


             The Bluest Eye is an inversion of fairy tales-the ugly duckling does not become the beautiful swan. Seasons do not presage growth; indeed summer is winter," (Harris, 11). Morrison shows that the emigration of black people to the North was not a story of easy success and comfort; these emigrants had to contend with their differences with white people as well as the black people of the North. "Through a process of reversal, Morrison undercuts the belief in the North as a freer place for black people, thereby debunking the myth that informed folktales and blues lyrics about successful journeys North. She also refutes the belief that the image of middle-class respectability, reflected in the primer story of Dick and Jane and their family, is applicable to blacks;" (Harris, 11). Even Geraldine whose house, with little lace dollies, potted plants, and pretty furniture comes the closest to the green and white house that Dick and Jane live in, is far from middle class bliss. On the surface, there appears to be order and domestic bliss in the household. Geraldine, her husband, son and their pet cat live comfortably in a beautiful house like Dick and Jane. They have potential to develop into perfect American family. However, Geraldine's hatred for "niggers" and her restrictions on Junior make him somewhat of a social outcaste. He is not allowed to play with the black kids that he can relate to and longs to be with, and is shunned by the white kids. His only fried is a boy two years younger than him who didn't enjoy doing anything that interested Junior. Violence and bullying are his only saving graces and he resorts to them for entertainment and attention. The choices for Junior's future are dim and limited. "He could reject his mother's lifestyle by becoming the epitome of those representative of "loud and dirty niggers," or he could follow her path more intensely by becoming one of the persecutors of those despicable "niggers" (certainly his behavior with Pecola would portend the latter pattern" (Harris, 32).


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