Samantha+W.

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Throughout Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye," Pecola, Claudia, and Freida are poor black girls whose parents are cleaning white people's homes, beating them with fresh green switches and, in Pecola's case, sleeping with them. The girls associate beauty and good fortune with white people, and happiness with dancing, singing, beautiful, curly-haired, white girls like Shirley Temple. For the main characters, blue eyes are the symbol of prosperity and beauty that they associate with the white working class Americans. The eyes could also be a play on words, the bluest //I's// meaning the bluest characters.====== My poster, which is kind of hologram-esque is a (not tech savvy) compilation of my selected main character (Amandala Steinburg) and Shirley Temple as seen in the pictures below, with (again terribly done) blue eyes added.

Samantha Wright Dr. Mrs. Angela Gunter AP English Language 24 March 2013 “The Bluest Eye”: An Annotated Bibliography

Alissavw. "The Controversial Reads: The Bluest Eye." //Hot Buttons, Controversial Reads, and the Courage to Teach//. Word Press, 5 Apr. 2009. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

In this writing, the author describes “The Bluest Eye” in terms of Pecola’s innocence, and the contrasting terms of “racism, incest, and molestation.” She says that the subject of the book is not unlikely or irreverent for most students. The site shows a timeline of the times that the novel had been banned from 1994 to 2003 on the terms of sexual content, objectionable language, and explicit material. The author describes “The Bluest Eye” as a shameful reminder of the capability of the human race to hate one another based on appearance and how some of society’s people are “dumped on by society.”

Davis, Stacy. "Brookfield Residents Ask the Board to Drop Book from Curriculum." //NewsTimes//. Hearst Communications Inc., 06 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

In Brookfield, CT, Superintendent Anthony Bivona received multiple complaints from parents whose senior advanced English students were reading “The Bluest Eye.” An excerpt sheet was distributed to parents with quotations of explicit scenes from the book. Multiple parents, many of whom have only read the quotation sheet or cliff notes version, are attempting to ban the book at the coming meeting of the Board of Education. One of the parents has gone so far as to describe the book as, “pornography, pure and simple,” and declare it irrelevant. However, Mr. Bivona (who is currently reading the novel) assures parents that if they have moral issues with the book, their student may receive an alternate assignment, and asserts that Morrison’s book is quality literature that can benefit the students.

Hammond, Stephanie; Teague, Jenny. "Teaching African American Literature | Toni Morrison." //Teaching African American Literature | Toni Morrison//. Department of English & Theatre-University of North Carolina, Pembroke, 13 Apr. 2009. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

This article, while lengthy, begins by providing an in depth discussion on the importance of student’s knowledge on the background of Ms. Toni Morrison, which allowed her a fair-minded point of view on the topics discussed. Hammond and Teague quote Elizabeth Becker who explains that “The Bluest Eye was published in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement and therefore did not see immediate success, however the novel became slowly received and finally caught the attention of “more traditionally respected” authors. She also describes that Morrison is currently working on a new literary canon which includes women and minorities. The teacher’s go on to quote the foreword of the novel which describes that the idea behind the novel came from an actual conversation that had occurred between her and a childhood friend. Moreover, the authors describe the themes that students should be familiar with before attempting to understand the novel, and urges the students to understand the hardships faced in the book with reverence and fortitude.

Hanagarne, Josh. "Banned Books: The Bluest Eye." //Worlds Strongest Librarian RSS//. Worlds Strongest Librarian, 29 Sept. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

Mr. Hanagarne begins by saying that he has read “The Bluest Eye” at least three times, and found the novel just as shocking each time that he picked it up. However, he continues saying that this novel is much deeper than its descriptive sex scenes. Morrison describes the world through a first person view that allows the reader to truly experience the horror. He goes on to say that Morrison has an inexplicable ability to tell the reader that what she is describing is wrong and perverse without every stepping out in her novel and saying it. She describes the scenes in ways that allow the reader to come to only one possible conclusion without ever stepping out of character. Hanagarne describes the book as serious in all of its aspects, but affirms that banning the book completely is not the right course of action. While, he says, he would not hand the book to his son without the tools and maturity to read it, in the established, analytical minds, he thinks that the book is a beneficial read.

Schultz, Valerie. "'Bluest Eye' Controversy a Tragedy." //The Bakersfield Californian//. 'Bluest Eye' Controversy a Tragedy, 10 Feb. 2006. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

Mrs. Schultz begins by describing the lush imagery that Toni Morrison uses in her Pulitzer Prize winning novel “The Bluest Eye.” A parent of a Kern High School Honor’s student recently pushed to have the book banned, she explained, the parent partially succeeded in allowing only honors students to ability to read the novel, and the parents must be notified before the students may read. Schultz finds it degenerating for the non-honors students to be unable to read such fine literature, while she understands that AP students must read an abundance of varied literature, she feels that the not advanced students should also have the right to use “language [to] separate us from nonverbal beasts,” and to “foster and nurture… an appreciate of language.” She exclaims that the difficult topics that are discussed in “The Bluest Eye” are also discussed on talk shows and sitcoms in vulgarity, and she would rather her daughter read a beautifully crafted novel such as this one, than to learn the information from her friends at school. She understands that as a parent you have a right to shelter you child from danger, but believes that this book is appropriate for teens, “on the cusp of adulthood.”

Washbum, Liz. "Should High School Students Be Exposed to Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye'?" //Union County Weekly RSS//. Union County Weekly RSS, 11 Nov. 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2013

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">As an English teacher at Union County High School, the author of this article does not deny that students would come in after reading parts of “The Bluest Eye,” talking about certain passages, but he believes, after the initial shock of the language, students genuinely walked away with “deeper insight and knowledge.” She describes the book as gritty, and real, but goes on to describe the other well-read novels that are based in grim settings and time frames, with disturbing themes. “The Crucible,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Night” are just of few of the examples gives. The author says that the “clean and happy” literature is entertaining, but does not allow the reader to reach an intellectual depth, nor are they able to deal with universal human experiences. Furthermore, literature that deals with the struggles and pain that are common in humanity, “warts and all” allows the reader to connect with the source of discomfort described in novels, and that this is the reason books are banned; because we are uncomfortable with the way we connect with the characters.

View My Bibliography in a Microsoft Word file here: