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Ashleen Moreau
Professor Hobson
April 30th, 2019
In the novel Another Country we witness many themes of bisexuality, racism, sexism, homophobia, interracial couples and women in society during the 60s/70s and even today. These characters lived within a time where internalized and institutionalized racism shaped the idea of progression, shaped living standards and shaped the standards of how people viewed one another. As readers we are introduced to many relationships between a variety of different people. There are people of different races, social backgrounds and lifestyles, but they all have some of the same tendencies regarding self. Baldwin explore the bias and prejudices of society and how they are incorporated into the relationships portrayed in the novel. Baldwin allows us to learn about the individuals process of self-exploration. Each character learns something about themselves during the course of the book.
I chose to compare my research paper o the novels Another Country by James Baldwin and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. The reason for my choice is because these two strong writers open the doors of new discovery and interpretation that relates to their African American experience.
The language in which Baldwin chooses to write discusses the male centered view on women and how they place women in categories. Baldwin shows us that we live in a world that is not private. The reality of things is that many of the characters have a difficult time with finding their identity and knowing who they are. Behind closed doors we live privately but ultimately, we must come out and find out who we are. And who we are can sometimes be defined by society.
The language in which Morrison chooses to write discusses culture, beauty, society and how difficult things were back then and even today. Morrison explores the events of rejection and how a person accepts that. The central motivation of this thesis is to reveal the standards of women and how they are portrayed and how women can be influenced but also intimidated by what they see in others, what they are shown, what they are told and not in themselves.
Women’s experiences in society made it much more difficult to embrace their true selves. The lack of self-confidence and the self-hatred intensified because of the way society choose to view bisexuality, homophobia and interracial love. The aspects of race provide to the recognition of beauty in The Bluest Eye. Throughout the novel Morrison continues to show that beauty, in the American society, proves that white women and black women are not treated the same. In fact, compared to white women, black women have a disadvantage because it is much harder for black women to uphold to these standards of beauty in the American society. According to a piece written by Elizabeth Matelski The Colors of Perfection American beauty standards were set by Europeans. She expressed that British sexologist Havelock Ellis presented the mostly highly evolved end...
