I find it curious how Claudia is describing Maureen, who basically appears to be the quintessential white girl to the entire school, in terms of "spring, summer, and autumn," the seasons that Claudia obviously prefers over winter. Indeed, Claudia certainly isn't a huge fan of the idea that white beauty is the greatest beauty, so then why does she describe Maureen, who goes on to cause a lot of grief for several characters, with words that suggest that Claudia finds Maureen pretty? I may be reading too much into this, but it does suggest that Claudia does have some measure of insecurity about how she views whiteness and beauty.
"And when we found out that she had been born with six fingers on each hand and that there was a little bump where each extra one had been removed, we smiled. They were small triumphs, but we took what we could get--snickering behind her back and calling her Six-finger-dog-tooth-meringue-pie....When she was assigned a locker next to mine, I could indulge my jealousy four times a day" (63).
Well I guess I answered my question about my first quotation. Claudia is jealous of Maureen, but I see now that this jealous appears to be of the perfectionist aura surrounding Maureen rather than the perceived beauty inherent in her whiteness.
"They seemed to have taken all of their smoothly cultivated ignorance, their exquisitely learned self-hatred, their elaborately designed hopelessness and sucked it all up into a fiery cone of scorn that had burned for ages in the hollows of their minds--cooled--and spilled over lips of outrage, consuming whatever was in its path" (65).
This is one of the most strikingly beautiful passages I've read in a long time, not to mention that it carries a heavy message with it. Self-loathing, especially over one's own skin color, is a very controversial topic. I believe that it's powered by societal stigmas; people aren't born hating themselves, they gradually become self-loathsome as they are made aware of the culturally fabricated, negative stereotypes that apply to their race.
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| I found this image online and was shocked to discover that African-American abortion rates are much higher than that of any other ethnic group in America. Some articles I read claimed that this stems from a self-hate that permeates African-American society today. This can't really be true, can it? |
"Safe on the other side, she screamed at us, "I am cute! And you ugly! Black and ugly black e mos. I am cute" (73).
The entire exchange between Maureen and Frieda, Pecola, and Claudia ends in such a way that only suggests that Maureen took the time to walk home with them out of curiosity, a sort of sick, perverted interest that shows that Maureen views the three girls as wholly inferior people. And where does the majority of Maureen's self-perceived superiority come from? Her skin color and how she believes it makes her "cute."
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| Maureen makes me see starry-eyed Shirley Temple as a two-time conniving little brat. |
"However, the modern European definition of family plots has little relevance to a people displaced from their homeland, denied their claims to origin, separated form one another, forbidden their language, and refused participation in the dominant discursive economy" (494).
Without thinking too hard about the effects that the denial of one's traditional culture would have on such a family's dynamics, I'm going to go ahead and disagree with this quote. My relationship with my family has been such a rollercoaster ride over the years, and at the end of the day, while there may be circumstantial differences between the actual paths that others' family's relationships travel, I believe that all families are the same. As a species, we all share the same biological instincts, and those instincts predispose us to agree and disagree with our nuclear family members at various points throughout our lives. Yes, some people may get along better with their families and some people may not get along as well with their families, but every human has a rollercoaster relationship with their family members. I think it's crazy talk that certain races have better or worse family dynamics.
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| As humans we all love, hate, laugh, and cry as families to some extent. No one race does one more than the other. |
"The power to punish, Nietzsche notes, can enhance your sense of social status, increasing the pleasure of cruelty" (507).
It's a little off topic, but this sentence explains sadism so much to me. By extension, I see how racism is explained by this: the power to punish a slave, not to mention the very act of owning a slave, was very much a symbol of social status several hundred years ago.
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| Every time Nietzsche appears in our readings, he always has a way of explaining things with incredible clarity and conciseness. The man really had a way with words... |
"Hearing the term 'white supremacist' in the wake of that shooting had given me another occasion to wonder whether white supremacists are any more dangerous than regular white people, who tend to enjoy supremacy without believing in it" (508).
This quote stood out to me because even though I will never understand what it is like to be black, I do believe that as a straight, white male, I enjoy many privileges that I absolutely take for granted. And the scariest part: I have trouble identifying many of these benefits that I inherit based solely on my skin color and sex.
