Abstract

Toni Morrison is a very important black female writer in the contemporary American literary circle. Deeply rooted in the black history, black lore and reality of the black, her novels show great concern for the miserable experiences of the black when they are discriminated by the American racialists. Her first novel The Bluest Eye is a tragic novel full of blood and tears. It tells a story about a black girl Pecola who finally breaks down due to her longing for the bluest eye of the white. Though this novel is centered on the perspective of black females, it is not difficult to find that black males are also affected by the white values. As a result, they begin to doubt their own traditional culture. From the perspective of cultural confidence, this paper analyzes the typical black males in The Bluest Eye on the basis of addressing the connotation of cultural confidence and the crisis of Afro-Americans’ cultural confidence. They are the distorted escapist—Cholly, the amiable but lost soul—Henry, the absolute outsider—Eliue and the firm and diligent inheritor—Mr. McTeer and Blue. By comparing their different fates, this paper aims to argue that those black males all have to improve their cultural confidence. In terms of the ways to reconstruct the cultural confidence of black males, two suggestions are put forward: facing up to the white cultural racism; inheriting black culture. More research and exploration are needed to achieve a better development of the black culture. 

Key words: Toni Morrison; The Bluest Eye; Black Male Characters; Cultural Confidence

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Cultural Confidence of Afro-Americans-2

2.1 Connotation of Cultural Confidence-2

2.2 Crisis of Afro-Americans’ Cultural Confidence-3

3 Analysis of Black Male Characters in The Bluest Eye-5

3.1 The Distorted Escapist-5

3.2 The Amiable but Lost Soul-6

3.3 The Absolute Outsider-7

3.4 The Firm and Diligent Inheritor-8

4 Reconstruction of Black Male Images-10

4.1 Rational View on the White’s Culture Racism-10

4.2 Critical Inheritance of the Black Cultural Tradition-11

5 Conclusion-13

References-14