A revealed reality

On page 49-51 the poem It's My Body poses thought provoking scenes. This poem reinforces some of the themes we have touched on in class. The poem illustrates how girls grow up in a society in which perfection is viewed as a goal, which is attainable. However, the poem fails to illustrate the potential barriers that often prohibit perfection. The narrator of the poem is observing her nieces at play with the Barbies. During her observation, she internally reflects on the fantasy world which envelopes the children at play and the reality in which she lives in. In her reflection, she comes to the understanding that society places a false viewpoint of women through the Barbies into the young naive girls. She knows that the reality is that women can be individuals and be who they want to be and that women can be beautiful even if they do not look like the celebrities on the TV depicted in the poem.

Bicentennial Barbie

I really enjoyed this poem because I think it accurately depicts the influence Barbie's appearance and ideals have had on society, especially women. The author points out that girls who look like Barbie have dominated the social world. They are voted "Best Personality" and date the good looking football players. The poem makes that point that even though girls grow out of the "fashion doll" playing age the dolls remain in their subconscious. When Barbie asks the girls who won the
"Most likely to succeed" and "Best Dressed" categories why they won, they reply because they do not care what the masses think. This is the author's way of showing that the women who do succeed in life are different and don't always look perfect like Barbie or have the ideal "girly/Barbie" personality. At the end of the poem Barbie talks about the Bicentennial Barbie and questions if she will come across the same things that she has since being released from the time capsule. Barbie wonders if the pressure will be too much or if she will be able to express herself. The author poses a serious question on society, especially women: will society continue to be dictated by Barbie and the "Barbie ideals" or will women finally break free and be their own person?

Is this about Barbie or Society?

At first I was under the impression that these poems would be about barbies and their effect on society, but now I feel like Duhamel is merely using barbies in place of people so that she can make semi-controversial statements about them and society while appearing to talk about barbies. The Native American Barbie poem is blatently about the near extinction of Native Americans, and I think in the Hispanic Barbie poem seems to suggest that Hispanics are mostly illegal citizens and poor. In Oriental Barbie, Duhamel speaks of "round eyes" and "Geishas to Go." I know she's poking fun of Mattell, but I just don't see the purpose of her poems.

Humor in Kinky

I know there are a lot of deep messages in this book and I have put thought into them, but I am choosing to post on the poem I found the funniest, which is "Codependent Relationship". Almost all the poems have some humor in them, but this one made me laugh out loud. I think it was a breath of fresh air after some of the more serious poems. I like how it shows the conceitedness of the barbie character when it says "you know what chlorine does to my hair." What I found funniest was how she asks Ken to take off her head. Can't you just picture Barbie saying that? I guess my question would be: is there supposed to be a deeper message to this poem or is it supposed to just be funny?

Black Barbie and Hispanic Barbie

One way to interperet the two poems "balck barbie" and "hispanic barbie" is that they are in some ways related to what we have talked about with Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. These poems also display the image of the blonde haired blue eyed girl as the model for beauty. However the two poems are not as restrictive as the model for beauty from the novel. They concede that darker skin tones can be considered beautiful, but only if it is complimented by white physical features.

Another way would be to say that by creating other barbies of races and by giving these girls dolls which they can better identify, mattel is subjecting all girls to the same unrealistic standards as it has done to little white girls for decades previous.

Native American Barbie

Of all the poems, I thought this was one of the stronger poems in Kinky. Yes, it is only one line long, but the underlying implications of this poem are worth taking a closer look at it. By saying that there is only one of them left, Duhamel might be making the point as to how Native Americans are nearing extinction. However, one can also look at the other side. Is there only one of such barbies because it/she is so popular? I think this is what Duhamel is trying to get across. Individuals want to live out their fantasy of what it would have been like to live in the past when there were many Native Americans around.

Although I don't agree with all of the connections that Duhamel makes in Kinky, I do see how they are connected. The one connection I don't quite see as fitting in the picture is Barbie and religion. Morman Barbie and Sister Barbie kind of get the religion ball rolling. I don't know if my lack of seeing the connection is due to my love of Barbies, but I was wondering if anyone else had any insight on the theme of Religion in Kinky?

I Love Lucy in Manifest Destiny

I found it particularly interesting that Duhamel used an 'I Love Lucy' reference in the poem Manifest Destiny. I think it's especially important for highlighting the serious issues and situations that women have to deal with--sterilization, big business, etc, because I Love Lucy is the polar opposite of this situation. The show was an idealization of society and and showed the simple and 'normal' life of Ricky and Lucy. By contrasting these factory workers with Lucy, Duhamel further symbolizes the hardships that less fortunate women have to face. On a related note, in the show, Lucy always wanted to become a famous person, a star. She, in a way, was striving to be an icon--one like Barbie has become and one like the women workers manufacture.

Slicing up the consumption pie

I know we haven't talked about this in lecture yet. But as i turned from manifest destiny to all the other poems about racial identities, i find an obvious link between the former and the latter. By introducing all these racial elements into the barbie dolls e.g. orientalism, changing their skin colors, Mattel is in fact colonizing and hearts and minds of little children across different psychographics - the point Duhamel makes in the last four lines of Manifest Destiny.

A desirable workforce

In reference to the idea of sterilization in lecture on Monday, it made me think of the invention of the 'baby barbie' - Kelly (if I remember correctly). Though such baby barbies exist, a pregnant adult barbie was never produced - probably because its often associated with negative images such as weight gain, vomiting etc. Pregnancy is thus portrayed as something undesirable. In sterilizing the Philippine workers, the manufacturers are creating a desirable working force for themselves.

Pecola and Her Baby

In lecture professor Zimmerman suggested that Pecola's baby was a a product of all madness, history, racism, etc. My question is why did the baby die? It is supposed to represent something? In my mind, when Morrison has the baby die she is sending out a message to the readers. Morrison is trying to say that no one is able to exsist happily/normally when all of this maddness, racism, and hatred exsists in society. People cannot live in a society like this. I wonder, had Pecola not endured so much pain and had someone reversed her maddness would her baby have lived? Would her baby then represent the hope and the future of society when people disregard difference and eliminate racism?

Junior vs. Ricky

I couldn't help but notice the parallels between 'Night Mother and The Bluest Eye. One such example is the relationship between a mother and her child, specifically, the relationship between Geraldine and Junior and Jessie and Ricky. Geraldine is not only a mother to Junior, but she is also a teacher, who shapes Junior's views on the world and people around him. She teaches Junior what is right and what is wrong. Geraldine, in a sense, controlled Junior, which he disliked and funneled his anger on to the cat, which Geraldine adored. In 'Night Mother, Norman shows a mother-child relationship that is opposite to that of Geraldine and Junior. Jessie is frustrated by Ricky's actions. She blames herself for how Ricky turned out. Jessie can't control Ricky. Even thought these two relationships are on two opposite sides of the spectrum, they share a common underlying notion that Geraldine and Jessie still loved Junior and Ricky respectively even if they committed actions that did not match with their mothers' expectations.

Dick and Jane

When first reading the book the Dick and Jane primer in the beginning really threw me off. When Prof. Zimmerman talked about how it represented an idealism of the perfect family, it made more sense. When you take out the spaces and punctuation it all gets jumbled together. I think that is a representation of how the view of a perfect family can be skewed. It's not always what we see. The primer also connects to the flowers the girls plan in an effort to save Pecola's baby. Flowers can be associated with the "ideal" happy family. The flowers don't grow, Pecola's baby is not saved, and of course they don't have an "ideal" happy family.

Media Power

In reading Morrrison's "The Bluest Eye" what struck me most was the results of Pauline's visits to the movies. As in the last novel we read (White Noise), I see another connection to the theme of the media role in shaping individual's lives. Pauline's visits to the movies shapes the way she sees not only herself, but also those around her. "She was never able, after her education in the movies, to look at a face and not assign it some catetgory in the scale of beauty" I would go on to argue that the scale of beauty in which Pauline rates people is based on the white ideals of beauty (as Pauline even tries to look like Jean Harlow a white woman, an attempt to be beautiful). This presents another-- and I feel extrememly powerful-- reason as to why the black characters in this novel find it difficult to view themselves as pretty/ beautiful.By being bombarded by the white perception of beauty, and living in a society dominated by white people it becomes difficult to view black as beautiful. Pauline also comments: "Them pictures gave me a lot of pleasure, but it made coming home hard..." thus suggesting the power media has in influencing individual's daily lives. Pauline is not able to live satisfied with what she has a result of images she's shown in movies suggesting what she has is undesireable/ unacceptable.

When you think about who is in control over the large media conglomerations existing today (white males)....I believe it becomes easy to see why there are still many negative stereotypes regarding black people (and other persons of color).

(BTW. I know that the movies are not considered Media, but I felt connection could be made???)

Why would Toni Morrison choose children’s experiences, surroundings, and thoughts to expose the themes of race, segregation, and assimilation?

In response to the question posed earlier, I feel Morrison uses children to express the racism in the book because children are seen as the purest form of the human race and are usually partial to views. Children are easily influenced by their parents and other members of the society. This can be seen in the scence with the blue eyed babydoll. Morrison writes "Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, windown signs- all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured" (20). Morrison uses children to tell the story because they do not know any different and it gives readers an insight into the hardships and difficulties blacks faced during this time. The book shows that black children have just accepted the way of life, not because they were forced to but because they don't know any better. Also, Morrison probably uses children because readers might tend to be more emotionally involved with children than adults.

Response to A Childs View

In response to your question I think that Morrison's choice of using children to narrarate the story is completely on purpose and also brilliant. Children, for the most part, say it how it is. They are honest and pure about their surroundings. At a young age they remain somewhat objective and can a give mostly unbiased account of what is going on. The world is theirs to discover and explore. By Morrison choosing to use children she provides the readers with an honest account of the time period without any opinions from one side or another.

Childs View continued....

In response/addition to Julio, it seems to me that Morrison used childrens' points of view to get her message across simply because her fictional story was reality during the 60's and surrounding Civil Rights decades. I believe she wants to portray to the reader exactly how "brainwashed" African American children were, and since young children lack the mental capacity to differentiate racism and bigotry from what is morally correct, if that makes sense. Furthermore, I believe Morrison uses Mrs.Breedlove along with the children to show how the inferiority complex instilled in black children grow with them into adulthood. The epidode of Pauline comforting the young white girl after the cobbler spilled is a good example. Furthermore, it feeds into the daughters Breedlove's sense of inferiority creating a cycle of sorts.

A Child's View

In reading Toni Morrison’s Bluest Eye, we are introduced to the world of perpetuating racism, which invokes many complicated thematic issues. Despite the complexity of the issues, Toni Morrison decides that the best way to make these issues comprehensive for the reader is to expose them through the daily lives and surroundings of children; namely Claudia and Pecola. My question to the group is then simple. Why would Toni Morrison choose children’s experiences, surroundings, and thoughts to expose the themes of race, segregation, and assimilation? Is this a coincidence or is it a way of presenting a more convincing argument by Morrison?

Scene at the Movies

The major point I want to focus on in the differences on how black and white are viewed in the scene at the movie theater. First off, there is this contrast of dark and light at the top of p.123. The lights are turned down, leaving darkness, and then light on the screen appears and the movie begins. No pays any attention to the dark because the light of the movie is what they came to see like the social invisibility of blacks because society only cares about the whites, likewise the light suppresses the dark like the whites oppress the blacks. Then, there is the portrayal of "white men taking such good care of they women" while Pauline does not have the ideal lifestyle at home. This contrast furthers Pauline's suspicions that to be white is to have it all, to be white is the way to find happiness, and being black only leads to suffering and despair. the black is ugly belief, which many of the novel's characters subscribe to, is also furthered by the story of when Pauline did her hair up like Jean Harlow but still did not look like her and then here tooth falls out and again she feels ugly. The white standard of frustrates many of the characters, an impossible standard to live up to due to there skin color, they just wish to be accepted as beautiful in their own right.

Ugliness

What struck me while reading this is text is the fascination with ugliness, how it is explored and reinforced with the different characters. The way in which Morrison brings ugliness to the forefront is through the character Pecola. Pecola is obsessed with the fact that she is black, for that time period, meant she was ugly. We can see how she wishes she had blues, if she had blue eyes she believes she would be beautiful. Then we see the opposite of this in Claudia who does not wish to be beautiful but instead destroys the concept of beauty. She destroys the doll which to her represents white beauty. I am interested to see how this conecpt of ugliness and beauty will play on later in the book.