The Analysis of The Bluest Eye from the perspective of Frantz Fanon’s Post-colonialism

【Abstract】On the perspective of post-colonialism， which is indeed a kind of cultural colonialism， this study mainly probes the tragic root of protagonist Pecola Breedlovs and the black peoples spiritual bewilderment. This paper claims that the strong impact of the white culture and the loss of black national identity contribute to Pecola Breedlovs tragedy. National cultural identity approval， inheritance of the ethnic cultures and the absorption of the alien culture are the hopes of the national survival.

【Key words】 Frantz Fanon; Post-colonialism; The Bluest Eye

【作者簡介】丁美，西北大學。

1. The Brief Introduction to Post-colonialism and Frantz Fanon

Post-colonialism was developed in the late 1970s， pioneered by Frantz Fanon， who critically analyzed the colonized peoples cultural and psychological trauma caused by the ideology of colonialism. The heydays were in the middle and late 1980s and early 1990s and representatives included Said， Spivak and Baba. Post-colonialists focus on two fields. The first is focusing on the post-colony， studying the post-colonial localization culture， that is， how cultural practice is colonized. The second is focusing on the mother countries， diachronically analyzing the culture and hegemony of the imperialist countries in order to study their attitudes and approaches to colonial culture， and to criticize the cultural logic that is full of superiority. Another focus of post-colonialist criticism theory is the “other” created by colonialism. In postcolonial theory， Westerners are often referred to as subjective “self”， while colonial people are referred to as “colonial other”， or directly called “other”.

Most of Fanons researches started from the perspective of sociology， philosophy， and psychiatry， and his work inspired many anti-imperialist liberation movements. Fanon is also one of the most important black cultural critics in modern times. He explored black Africa from the perspective of black people and made the African study truly subject to the attention of Western scholars. Compared with todays post-colonial studies， Fanons discourse was a little bit superficial. But the issues he raised at the time， the methods discussed， as well as a set of assumptions and terminology all lay a solid foundation to the latter post-colonial studies.

2. The Analysis of The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye is based on spiritual slavery suffered by African Americans around 1941. At that time， African Americans suffered the “spiritual enslavement” of white Americans who tried hard to use culture to wipe out the ancient and primitive traditions of black people. Although the dehumanized manual labour of African American and the action of American whites selling blacks to the Americas as slave blacks are over， black people in the south America are still suffered the poverty and racism everywhere. The evil consequence of “spiritual enslavement” is that some black people are relishing a material life that they are happy to improve.

Pecola is unable to speak of the suffering she suffered and is unable to rebel against this widespread racist feeling of inferiority. Throughout the history， the sense of inferiority of the black race was deliberately tempered and consolidated by the white mainstream society. Lies are woven into truth， and the black race has long lived in a political context where prejudice is rationally institutionalized. Science has become a tool to explain the rationality of slavery and racism. The philosopher demonized the dark race. The black mans body is used， defiled， destroyed， and defined according to the white man. After a long period of dark period of slavery， the racist ideology of white supremacy continued to spread indiscriminately， continuing to influence and dominate the spirit and flesh of the black people.In this novel， Morrison answered how the feeling of inferiority can be rooted in the childs heart and answered the most fundamental reason for the inferiority of the race.

Not only does Pecola suffer pressure of the racist environment， it is even more tragic that her parents does not give her any power to against white values and aesthetics. Pecolas parents （Breedlove family） are poor blacks who have moved from the South to the northern towns in pursuit of their aspirations. Because of the impact of the glamorous Hollywood films， Pauline， her mother， could no longer face her own home. Soon she found a job as a maid in a white home. The white couple is well-to-do， well-behaved and has a lovely doll-like child. She loyally commits herself to the duties as a servant. The full meaning of her life lies in the job. However， Pauline kept this order and beauty only for herself， and never brought them home and brought to her child. Growing in such a family， Pecola is afraid of growing up， afraid of others， and afraid of life.

In The Bluest Eyes， by telling Pecolas tragic life， Morrison showed readers a black community developed with the internalized white cultural values. They are negated because of their different races， and therefore they lose their awareness of themselves. This idea is just like the issue of “ethnicity” and “identity” referred by Fanon. Fanon once said that ethnic classification belongs to the social category and it is a prejudice from a group against another group of people. The concept of “race” can limit peoples thinking. While “Identity” is self-consciousness that is the product of imagination. It produced by the interaction between self and non-self. And he once said， “The colonists had to incorporate their images in the colonists eyes into their self-images and imitate their differences in the eyes of the colonists according to the requirements of the colonists.”