Depiction of identity disorientation and sexual barbarity: Analysing the racial degradation in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved

Abstract

This thesis aims to focus on the amalgamated effect of internalized racial identity loss and sexual violence manifested as a power tool in order to control the African American community on The Bluest Eye and Beloved; two of the most brilliant works of Toni Morrison. The purpose is to shed light upon the concept of generational trauma inherited by the characters and passed on to their children fabricating new forms of oppression such as cultural hegemony, colourism and internalized sexual malice, that the community is furthermore burdened upon within, ultimately making them the “Other” of a society. Additionally, it will also discuss the result of sexual violence regardless of gender and the unspoken trauma that is evidently normalized or hidden ultimately creating double objectification of the African American community. This argument will be further studied through the lens of the womanism and psychoanalytical theories. Therefore, this thesis will convey how Toni Morrison created a hybrid form of post-modern consciousness on the bilateral effect of sexual barbarity and racial identity loss that occurs heavily within the African American community throughout generations, in defiance of historical timeline differences.