“NOBODY PAID US ANY ATTENTION, SO WE PAID VERY GOOD ATTENTION TO OURSELVES”: GIRLHOOD IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

Authors

  • Fernanda Nunes Menegotto Bacharel em Letras pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32988/rep.v2i7.750

Keywords:

Literatura norte-americana, Literatura afro-americana, Toni Morrison

Abstract

This article analyzes Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye in order to demonstrate how the age, gender and race of the main characters influence the narrative and in fact make the story what it is. The analysis is based on the idea of ritualistic violence discussed in Azevedo (2001), the common denominators of American childhood listed by Mintz (2009), the significance dolls have in American girlhood, as explored by Jacobs (2008), and the characteristics commonly found in transitional chapter books specifically about African American young girls discussed by McNair and Brooks (2012). The article demonstrates the ways in which these factors work together in shaping the lives of the three young girls that are in the center of the narrative.

Author Biography

Fernanda Nunes Menegotto, Bacharel em Letras pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.

Bacharel em Letras pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, com ênfase em tradução e literaturas de língua inglesa.

References

AZEVEDO, Mail Marques de. Stereotypes of Persecution in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. In: TORRES, Sonia (Ed.). Raízes e Rumos: Perspectivas Interdisciplinares em Estudos Americanos. Rio de Janeiro: 7letras, 2001. p. 469-480.

GILLAN, Jennifer. Focusing on the Wrong Front: Historical Displacement, the Maginot Line, and The Bluest Eye. African American Review, Saint Louis, v. 36, n. 2, p. 283-298, Summer 2002.

JACOBS, Margaret. Playing with Dolls. The Journal of the History of Childhood And Youth, v. 1, n. 3, p. 321-328, Fall 2008. Available at: <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hcy/summary/v001/1.3.jacobs.html>. Accessed: June 8th, 2015.

KLOTMAN, Phyllis R. Dick-and-Jane and the Shirley Temple Sensibility in the Bluest Eye. Black American Literature Forum, v. 13, n. 4, p. 123-125, Sinter 1979. Available at: <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3041475>. Accessed: June 4th, 2015.

MCNAIR, Jonda C.; BROOKS, Wanda M. Transitional Chapter Books: Representations of African American Girlhood. Read Teach, v. 65, n. 8, p. 567-577, May 2012. Accessed: June 2nd, 2015.

MINTZ, Steven. The Changing state of childhood: American Childhood as a Social and Cultural Construct. In: RE-STAGING CHILDHOOD CONFERENCE, 2009, Bear Lake. Reading material. p. 1 - 23. Available at: <http://www.usu.edu/anthro/childhoodconference/Reading Material/Mintz_changing_state_of_childhood_001.doc>. Accessed: May 31st, 2015.

MORRISON, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York City: Plume, 1994.

ROSENBERG, Ruth. Seeds in Hard Ground: Black Girlhood in The Bluest Eye. Black American Literature Forum, v. 21, n. 4, p. 435-445, Winter 1987. Available at: <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2904114>. Accessed: June 4th, 2015.

ROYE, Susmita. Toni Morrison’s Disrupted Girls and Their Disturbed Girlhoods: The Bluest Eye and A Mercy. Callaloo, v. 35, n. 1, p. 212-227, Winter 2012. Available at: <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/cal/summary/v035/35.1.roye.html>. Accessed: June 4th, 2015.

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Published

08-05-2019

How to Cite

Menegotto, F. N. (2019). “NOBODY PAID US ANY ATTENTION, SO WE PAID VERY GOOD ATTENTION TO OURSELVES”: GIRLHOOD IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE. Revista (Entre Parênteses), 7(2). https://doi.org/10.32988/rep.v2i7.750

Issue

Section

Dossiê Literatura e Subalternidade