Oppression of black women in The Bluest Eye : The interplay of race, gender and age

The focal point of this essay is to analyze how Toni Morrison thematizes the oppression of black women in her novel The Bluest Eye. An intersectional analysis reveals how the categories of race, gender and age interplay and affect the characters’ lives. The black girls are inferior, due to the fact that they carry three positions that mark them inferior: race, gender and age. Pecola, who is victimized because of both racism and intra-racial racism, is particularly affected because of the interplay of race, gender and age. To reveal how Morrison continues to thematize the oppression of black women in her later works, two of her short stories "Recitatif" and "Sweetness" are compared to The Bluest Eye. The comparison reveals that Morrison focuses on the destinies of young, black girls in her short stories as well.