Nguyen 1

Huong Nguyen
EN 1113-06
Austin Daniel
November 7, 2014
The Safest Place in The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison, an American novelist, editor, and Nobel Prize winner, has
contributed greatly to the literary world with her numerous works of fictions, plays,
articles, and non-fictions. Morrisons most explored themes are about challenging the
societys lack of sympathy towards colored people in the race-segregated world,
especially the underdog and the most invisible victim of all, little black girls.
Morrisons first novel, The Bluest Eye, displays her later on prominent beliefs in
identity and the true value of beauty. In the excerpt from MSU Reader, Claudias
narration of her childhood and familys expectation on how she should behave when
receiving the doll sets the stage for her transition in adulthood. Although the problematic
racism ideology is widely expressed throughout the book, this excerpt, particularly,
however, focuses on the much more influential and therefore destructive role of the
family, the supposedly safest place for a child, on Claudias characteristics and
perception of her surroundings. Claudias puzzlement, anger, dismissiveness, and finally
hatred toward little white girls all stem back from how her family conducts, rather than
the outside influences of societys racism.
At first glance, it can be clearly induced from the excerpt that there is not much
interaction between Claudia and her family, as she herself sadly admits upon receiving
the Baby Doll, I did know that nobody ever asked me what I wanted for Christmas

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(Morrison 190). Claudia longs for the warmth of Big Mamas kitchen, the smell of
lilacs, the sound of music, [], and the taste of a peach [] (Morrison 190), but what is
bestowed on her, instead of the feeling of connection and companionship, is an object of
no relation to what she deems important, a doll with unyielding limbs, the tapered
fingertips, and a most uncomfortable sleeping companion (Morrison 190). The stark
contrast between Claudias wish and what she gets, a sense of companionship versus an
inanimate object, exemplifies how her family fails to communicate with her, an essential
interaction between parents and child. The lack of communication in Claudias family is
one of the reasons for her disrupted personality later on that she herself is horrified of
since, according to a research done by Jeon et al., a child development is greatly
influenced by the interaction with his or her parent (258). Such an interaction also heavily
affects emotion regulation, which plays an important part in a child executive
functioning, like feeling regulations, physiological responses, attention, and motivation
(Jeon et al. 259); therefore, Claudias indifference to the suffering of little white girls can
be explained not much because the doll she receives as a child represents a completely
different beauty thats estranged from her, but rather because of Claudias exclusion from
her own family due to lack of interaction.
In a white-biased society, Claudia is further and even more victimized by the fact
that her family does not display the affection she needs to overcome the societys
segregated values. Claudias family, as many others at that time, adores the blue-eyed,
yellow-haired, pink-skinned dolls (Morrison 190), and they expect such an appreciation
from Claudia as well, never intending to acknowledge the different beauty that their child
possesses. Morrisons use of linked words You-dont-know-how-to-take-care-of-

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nothing. I-never-have-a-baby-doll-in-my-whole-life-and-used-to-cry-my-whole-eyes-forthem. Now-you-got-a-beautiful-one-and-you-tear-it-up-whats-the-matter-with-you?
(Morrison 190) shows how acquainted Claudia is with the familys criticism and
unaccepting attitudes towards her nonconforming behavior. Besides to make sense of the
beauty that everybody around her values so much, Claudias examining the dolls by
breaking off the tiny fingers, bending the flat feet, loosening the hair, or twisting the head
around is also to react against her parents placing the dolls values above her. Since
children and parents influence one another in a reciprocal fashion (Amato and Fowler
1), Claudias actions are more likely to result from the harsh parenting devoid of
compassion rather than the hatred she has towards the dolls. Claudia is fully aware of the
insignificance of her existence compared to that of the doll, as she can easily recognize
the emotion of years of unfulfilled longing preened in [her parents] voices (Morrison
190), a longing with such an intensity never used to praise or love her. The lack of love
and shelter from racist beauty standards is therefore the true reason for Claudias hatred
and aggression toward little white girls, not the ambivalence of such ideals alone.
Coupling with the verbal abuse and negligence of Claudias family is their
physical restrain to force her into the norms they deem worthy, which ultimately results
in the unstable Claudia with pristine sadism and fraudulent hatred (Morrison 191).
Morrisons one-line paragraph I destroyed white baby dolls (Morrison 191) captures
Claudias transition from feeling puzzled and angry to complete frustration and
relinquishment. At first she is forced to participate in activities that bore her, with the
acridness of tin plates and cups, then she is refused the innocent enjoyment of taking a
bath, to play or soak, and to enjoy ones nakedness (Morrison 191). Claudia

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correlates those nuisances and inconveniences to the existence of the Baby Doll. Her
parents cherish the seemingly perfect features of the dolls so much that they fixate such
ideals to Claudia, not by verbal persuasion only but also by physical enforcement, forcing
her to enjoy the tedious tea parties while fixing on her the irritable, unimaginative
cleanliness (Morrison 191). In the excerpt, not once are Claudias parents shown to
express any concern toward the potential harmful consequences that their actions may
have on their daughter. This is the result of the society where whiteness is the only object
of worship and Claudias family, also being a victim of such racism, believe that how
they treat their daughter is reasonable. It is a vicious cycle where victims continue on
harming other victims, as Claudias later on indifference towards the little white girls
sufferings is the mirrored image of exactly that of her parents, since the parents
personality, talents, and character, as they perceived by the child, are of significance
(Kagan 165).
Claudias fate, overall, is the product of her family. The reality of little black girls
who are continuously subjected to their familys abuse and negligence is as true and
brutal as ever. Morrison has done an outstanding job in telling a story of how a girls
childhood and innocence can be destroyed by her supposedly safest protection against
adversity. The whole story draws to a sad yet inevitable conclusion that when living in
such a house for her whole life, even if it is another doll, not the prevalent Raggedy Ann,
Claudia would still end up the way she is, and the only difference is the victim at the end
of the cycle.

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Works Cited
Amato, Paul R., and Frieda Fowler. "Parenting Practices, Child Adjustment, And Family
Diversity." Journal of Marriage and Family: 703-16. Print.
Jeon, Hyun-Joo, Carla A. Peterson, and Jamie Decoster. "Parentchild Interaction, Taskoriented Regulation, and Cognitive Development in Toddlers Facing
Developmental Risks." Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology: 257-67.
Print.
Kagan, Jerome. "The Role Of Parents In Children's Psychological Development."
Pediatrics 104.1 (1999): 164-66. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. MSU Reader. Eds. Ann Spurlock et al. Boston:
Pearson Learning Solutions, 2011. 189-91. Print.