Abstract: The Bluest Eye (1970) tells a story that happened in 1941, about a year in the life of a 11-year-old black girl Pecola who develops an inferiority complex due to her eye and skin color. The author cannot solve the problem that the self-values of the blacks are distorted gradually because of living in black-and-white dual cultural conflict, but she presents a true alienated of American dream which is not judicial and moral, provoking to the deep thoughts of people in the world. This paper focuses on the alienation American dream in The Bluest Eye by analyzing social and cultural factors, and in this way, readers can better understand the nature of the alienated American dream in the novel though the tragedy of Pecola.

Key words:The Bluest Eye; alienated; American dream; social factors; cultural fctors 

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

  1.2  Previous Studies on The Bluest Eye-3

  1.3  The Structure of The Thesis-3

2. An Overview of American Dream-5

  2.1  History of American Dream-5

  2.2  The White American Culture-7

3. Alienation of American Dream in The Bluest Eye-10

  3.1  The Alienation of Aesthetic Values-10

  3.2  The Alienation of Life Values-12

  3.3  The Alienation of Social Connections-14

4. Reasons for Alienation of American Dream-17

  4.1  White Culture Colonialism-17

  4.2  Racial Relations Among Black People-19

5. Conclusion-21

References-22