Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye, focuses on the emphasis African Americans place on the culture and its emphasis on white standards of beauty and success on the American culture. The characters in the novel desire to attain the same level of economic success as white Americans. In the novels time period, specifically the year 1941, African Americans faced social barriers in their efforts to achieve class status beyond the working class. The social aspects American …showed first 75 words of 802 total…

…showed last 75 words of 802 total…how ownership begins to replace the sacredness of the community's relationships. African Americans begin a pattern of self-hatred because they compare themselves unfavorably with white standards of living. Morrison presents the difficulty of maintaining cultural values in an environment where white images of beauty and success are installed as early as childhood. African Americans dwell on the images of beauty and success they receive, and the notion that being white is more prestigious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**