All Text Connection

After reading American Born Chinese and The Bluest Eye, my perspective on race has totally changed and I have realized that I have been quite ignorant. From reading these two novels, one can obviously see that many people from different races dream of becoming apart of the white race. Actually, it's more of a necessity to them. People of a different race yearn to be beautiful and excepted - like the white rice. To characters from American Born Chinese or The Bluest Eye, the white race is the perfect race; and the pressure of perfection makes these characters believe that they should feel ashamed for the culture and race that he or she represents. Obviously, Jin Wang is ashamed of his ethnicity for when Wei Chen - Sun is introduced to his class, Jin Wang proclaims, "Something makes me want to beat him up"(Yang 36). In truth, Jin Wang really wants to beat himself up because Wei Chen is just another reminder of how much Jin Wang is ashamed of his race. Thus, he turns his shame into the white American way and demands conformity from Wei Chen.

In response to these themes, I am just simply awstruck at some things - especially from The Bluest Eye. After reading this book, it finally hit me on how much the white race has been idolized for so long. The whole obsession that pecola had with the white porcelain doll with the blue eyes kind of reminded me of the Nazi era; when Hitler proclaimed that all humans blonde and blue - eyed prevailed and everyone else perished - It's frightening. I don't know i've always idolized other races more than my own race - I really can't explain why. But going back to the bluest eye, yes the book revolved around the need for being white but the way in which Pecola, Claudia, or any black person were treated by their own in this story was disturbing - the beatings they received. Then again, it does go back to the white race during the era slavery. Whippings and bad behaviors were the only things the black slaves new. Slaves were treated like animals thus the pattern unfortunately continues.

One of the most powerful passages for was from The Bluest Eye. This part goes from page 193 to basically to the end of the novel. The conversation that Pecola had with this mysterious character made me imagine her having a conversation with a white porcelain doll. It made me imagine that Pecola had become so crazed with the idea of having blue eyes that she actually believes she has them - soaphead church's miracle came true. But after reading a particular part of this conversation, another idea occurred to me: "The sun is too bright. It hurts my eyes", "Not mine. I don't even blink. Look I can look right at the sun" (Morrison 195). It appears as though that Pecola is blind. I guess one could interpret that God has blinded her for this constant need to be something she is not. She couldn't except herself for who she truly was. Thus, if you can't see yourself for who you truly are, why should you see at all?

Watching the video and reading the passage or chapter on Soaphead Church were the most difficult for me. On behalf of the video, when the interviewer asked the one boy as to which doll was the nicer doll and he picks up the white doll, such an action kinda of broke my heart. This boy is at a very young age and makes me upset to see that such a young child could already feel that he is not as nice as a human being as a white person. Now onto Soaphead Church. Yeah, the whole note he wrote to God confessing as to why he did things to little girls as if he did nothing wrong just disturbed me. Then again, he does confess that he knew what he was doing wasn't right but he justifies it by saying that the girls who came to him were basically asking for it. But im going to stop before i go on a tagent.

Sorry for the length, enjoy!