The Toni Morrison 2013 Novel Challenge is in action! We are hearing from several people that discussions will be more lively next week because many are focusing on just beginning to read the book this week. In the meantime, we’d love to hear about your connection to The Bluest Eye. Why are you reading The Bluest Eye with the Melanated Writers’ Collective?
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- @Uptownmessenger jewel bush: Young trailblazers for equality - uptownmessenger.com/2013/05/jewel-… 7 hours ago
- Yes Lorde! http://t.co/7pSLTCIhoc 1 day ago
5 comments
Ambata Kazi-Nance says:
Jan 24, 2013
I signed up for the “challenge” because I love Toni Morrison’s work. I know Morrison isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but she is a true storyteller. Whenever someone tells me they are reading one of her books, or rather struggling through, I tell them to hang in there, it’s worth the journey. The Bluest Eye is tough, but there are so many passages that are pure poetry. What Morrison does with words is just amazing. I’m reading The Bluest Eye to be reminded of the pain a young black girl can feel from being unloved because of her black skin. I’m reading it to think about how such pain can be eliminated, how a girl like Pecola can have a happy ending, how she can cultivate real, attainable dreams, how she can learn to love herself and her blackness and how we can learn to love her.
Mary Webb says:
Jan 25, 2013
Challenge is, indeed, an accurate word for Toni Morrison’s work. But, as with every challenge, the payoff is rewarding. I’m rereading her work and participating in this literary event to pay homage to one of most gifted scribes. I’m reading The Bluest Eye in particular to remind me of one of the reasons I teach — to reach the little black girls who feel inferior and help them, in whatever small way I can, to feel less so.
Geryll says:
Jan 29, 2013
I’m dedicating my read to my inner children. I am healing myself and all the wounded beings who have had to live through this confusing and emotionally disturbing era of human existence. May all beings be free!
Rashad L. Givhan says:
Feb 6, 2013
I signed up for the challenge because I love Toni Morrison’s novels, and I love how the MelaNated Writers Collective is engaging with the community at large (literal and virtual).
I also think that in these racially charged times, conversations about Pecola’s plight are as timely and fresh as when Morrison first published this manuscript.
Thanks for allowing me to be a part.
RG
Marla says:
Apr 11, 2013
Many years ago, when I read the Bluest Eye for the first time, it was like reading the diary of my own heart. Though I did not share Pecola or any of the other character’s tragedies, I did experience racism growing up. Toni was able to illuminate and give definition to my experience and the plight of so many black children in America who were made to feel different and freakish at an early age. This book truly articulates what if feels like to be a young innocent trapped in a color caste system, prematurely self-conscious about one’s blighted spot in a sea of whiteness.