Quest for Personal Identity in Toni Morrisons The Essays

Quest for Personal Identity in Toni Morrison's The Essays Quest for Personal Identity in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye English Quest for Personal Identity in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye Post World War I, many new opportunities were given to the growing and expanding group of African Americans living in the North. Almost 500,00 African Americans moved to the northern states between 1910 and 1920. This was the beginning of a continuing migration northward. More than 1,500,000 blacks went north in the 1930's and 2,500,00 in the 1940's. Life in the North was very hard for African Americans. Race riots, limited housing resulting in slum housing, and restricted job opportunities were only a few of the many hardships that the African American people had to face at this time. Families often had to separate, social agencies were overcrowded with people that all needed help, crime rates increased and many other resulting problems ensued. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison takes place during this time period. A main theme in this novel is the "quest for individual identity and the influences of the family and community in that quest" (Trescott). This theme is present throughout the novel and evident in many of the characters. Pecola Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove, and Pauline Breedlove and are all embodiments of this quest for identity, as well as symbols of the quest of many of the Black northern newcomers of that time. The Breedlove family is a group of people under the same roof, a family by name only. Cholly (the father) is a constantly drunk and abusive man. His abusive manner is apparent towards his wife Pauline physically and towards his daughter Pecola sexually. Pauline is a "mammy" to a white family and continues to favor them over her biological family. Pecola is a little black girl with low self esteem. The world has led her to believe that she is ugly and that the epitome of "beautiful" requires blue eyes. Therefore every night she prays that she will wake up with blue eyes. Brought up as a poor unwanted girl, Pecola Breedlove desires the acceptance and love of society. The image of "Shirley Temple beauty" surrounds her. In her mind, if she was to be beautiful, people would finally love and accept her. The idea that blue eyes are a necessity for beauty has been imprinted on Pecola her whole life. "If [I] looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too. Maybe they would say, 'Why look at pretty eyed Pecola. We mustn't do bad things in front of those pretty [blue] eyes'" (Morrison 46). Many people have helped imprint this ideal of beauty on her. Mr. Yacowbski as a symbol for the rest of society's norm, treats her as if she were invisible. "He does not see her, because for him there is nothing to see. How can a fifty-two-year-old white immigrant storekeeper... see a little black girl?" (Morrison 48). Her classmates also have an effect on her. They seem to think that because she is not beautiful, she is not worth anything except as the focal point of their mockery. "Black e mo. Black e mo. Yadaddsleepsnekked. Black e mo black e mo ya dadd sleeps nekked. Black e mo..." (Morrison 65). Shouted by her classmates on such a regular basis, this scorn seemed not to penetrate anymore. As if it were not bad enough being ridiculed by children her own age, adults also had to mock her. Geraldine, a colored woman, who refused to tolerate "niggers", happened to walk in while Pecola was in her house. "'Get out,' she said her voice quiet. 'You nasty little black bitch. Get out of my house'" (Morrison 92). By having an adult point out to her that she really was a "nasty" little girl, it seems all the more true. Pecola was never able to get away from this kind of ridicule. At home she was put through the same thing, if not worse because her family members were the ones who were supposed to love her. Her mother was not able conceal her obvious affection towards a white girl over her. One day as Pecola was visiting her mother at the home where she is working, Pecola accidentally knocked over a blueberry pie. Obviously burned by the hot pastry, her mother completely ignored Pecola's feelings of pain and instead tended to the comforting of her white "daughter". "'Crazy foo...my floor, mess ...look what you...get on out...crazy...crazy...my floor , my floor....' Her words were hotter and darker than the smoking berries. The little [white] girl in pink started to

The History of the Ashikaga Shogunate

The History of the Ashikaga Shogunate Between 1336 and 1573, the Ashikaga Shogunate ruled Japan. However, it was not a strong central governing force, and in fact, the Ashikaga Bakufu witnessed the rise of powerful daimyo all around the country. These regional lords reigned over their domains with very little interference or influence from the shogun in Kyoto.   The Beginning of Ashikaga Rule The first century of Ashikaga rule is distinguished by a flowering of culture and the arts, including Noh drama, as well as the popularization of Zen Buddhism. By the later Ashikaga period, Japan had descended into the chaos of the Sengoku period, with different daimyo battling one another for territory and power in a century-long civil war. The roots of Ashikaga power go back even before the Kamakura period (1185 - 1334), which preceded the Ashikaga shogunate. During the Kamakura era, Japan was ruled by a branch of the ancient Taira clan, which lost the Genpei War (1180 - 1185) to the Minamoto clan, but managed to seize power anyway. The Ashikaga, in turn, was a branch of the Minamoto clan. In 1336, Ashikaga Takauji overthrew the Kamakura shogunate, in effect defeating the Taira once more and returning the Minamoto to power. Ashikaga got his chance in large part thanks to Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor who founded the Yuan Dynasty in China. Kublai Khans two invasions of Japan, in 1274 and 1281, did not succeed thanks to the miracle of the kamikaze, but they did significantly weaken the Kamakura shogunate. Public dissatisfaction with Kamakura rule gave the Ashikaga clan its chance to overthrow the shogun  and seize power.   In 1336, Ashikaga Takauji established his own shogunate in Kyoto. The Ashikaga Shogunate is also sometimes known as the Muromachi shogunate  because the shoguns palace was in the Muromachi district of Kyoto. From the start, Ashikaga rule was bedeviled by controversy. A disagreement with the Emperor, Go-Daigo, about who would actually have power, led to the emperor being deposed in favor of the Emperor Komyo. Go-Daigo fled south and set up his own rival imperial court. The period between 1336 and 1392 is known as the Northern and Southern Courts era  because Japan had two emperors at the same time. In terms of international relations, the Ashikaga shoguns sent frequent diplomatic and trade missions to Joseon Korea, and also used the daimyo of Tsushima Island as an intermediary. Ashikaga letters were addressed to the king of Korea from the king of Japan, indicating an equal relationship. Japan also carried on an active trade relationship with Ming China, once the Mongol Yuan Dynasty was overthrown in 1368. Chinas Confucian distaste for trade dictated that they disguise the trade as tribute coming from Japan, in exchange for gifts from the Chinese emperor. Both Ashikaga Japan and Joseon Korea established this tributary relationship with Ming China. Japan also traded with Southeast Asia, sending copper, swords, and furs in exchange for exotic woods and spices. The Ashikaga Dynasty Overthrown At home, however, the Ashikaga shoguns were weak.  The clan did not have a large home domain of its own, so it lacked the wealth and power of the Kamakura or the later Tokugawa shoguns. The lasting influence of the Ashikaga era is in the arts and culture of Japan.   During this period, the samurai class enthusiastically embraced Zen Buddhism, which had been imported from China as early as the seventh century. The military elites developed an entire aesthetic based on Zen ideas about beauty, nature, simplicity, and utility. Arts including the tea ceremony, painting, garden design, architecture and interior design, floral arranging, poetry, and Noh theater all developed along Zen lines.   In 1467, the decade-long Onin War broke out. It soon escalated into a nation-wide civil war, with various daimyo fighting for the privilege of naming the next heir to the Ashikaga shogunal throne. Japan erupted into factional fighting; the imperial and shogunal capital of Kyoto burned. The Onin War marked the beginning of the Sengoku, a 100-year period of continual civil war and turmoil. The Ashikaga nominally held onto power until 1573, when warlord Oda Nobunaga overthrew the last shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki.  However, Ashikaga power really ended with the start of the Onin War.