Literature review

This literature review will be divided into three parts: individual and groups, reasons and character analysis. Individual and groups depicts under the White Cultural Hegemony, resisting the slavery is not an individual behavior but a group behavior. Being an individual, Pecola has different fates from Claudia. In order to explain the difference between the two girls#8217; fates, the literature review analyses from two aspects, reasons and character analysis.

1. Previous studies on individual and groups

There are also some previous studies on individual and groups.

Zheng Yurong (2009) stated the relationship between individual and groups and their existing schema. Morrison, without exception, places the characters in the black community. However, when they face the oppression of the white mainstream culture, they make different choices. Some still adhere to their tradition; some are assimilated by white culture; some linger about the marginal of the two cultures; and some become the focus and victims of the two cultures. From the perspective of a little girl, Pecola, Morrison depicts the miserable experience of the black people who are under the double oppressions of racial discrimination and patriarchal domination. She also believes that in the society where white culture is attached more importance, the black are defined as ”others”. Their self-definition was suppressed and self-identity was crushed, so they are doomed to be the sacrifice of failure and refusion.

In a word, the personal power is weak. Zheng Yurong (2009) also noted, ”The struggle against slavery was a collective consciousness, not a personal action”. In Morrison#8217;s novel, The Bluest Eyes, the three whores were successors of white culture, but they were too weak to make Pecola wake up. Instead of rebelling against the oppression of white hegemonic culture, most African American chose to keep silent.

2. Previous studies on character analysis

Some scholars analyzes characters in this novel.

Ma Yong (2013) noted that there are different black men and women images which can be divided into two groups. One is the black men and women of self-alienation under the suppression of white mainstream culture, and another is those whose mind gets distorted further. Morrison not only portrays the black girl Pecola, but also a black man, Pecola#8217;s father, Cholly. Same as Pecola, Cholly#8217;s mind is gradually distorted under the suppression of white culture. Meanwhile, Morrison also creates some black women images. They abandon their traditional black culture and alienate themselves under the white culture. The most representative person is Pecola#8217;s mother, Pauline, who extremely loathes the black people including her family, and is proud of involving in life of the white people.

Wang Hong and Wang Ping (2013) noted that Pecola and Claudia have lots of similarities, such as being black girls, living in the black communities under the control of White Cultural Hegemony, and only two years apart while being similar family background. But they two have more differences. Young Pecola finds all these differences are due to her being ugly and dreams of having beautiful blue eyes. Unfortunately, it doesn#8217;t change anything. It not only makes her fail to achieve her aspiration, but also leads her to be raped by her father and become pregnant. So she falls into a more painful abyss, and eventually become mental-disordered. Claudia, however, looks like a fighter. She dares to maintain her rights, protect Pecola, question the white hegemony culture and survive in the black community.