Kindred

Kindred is an interesting book that focuses on the enormous difference of lifestyles between African Americans during the slave era compared to modern day Americans. This to me was the most interesting theme in the book. Dana going back in time gave the readers a modern perspective on what life really was like for black slaves and free black people. Dana's perspective gave the readers a more dramatic view because it made it seem like anyone of us could have been like Dana. Picked up from the security and comfort of our modern lives and thrown into a time where people were beaten and raped for simply being of a different race.

One of the scenes that saddened me the most was the scene where the children were playing a game that auctioned themselves off as slaves. It reminded me of the scene in The Bluest Eye when Claudia received the white doll. Both, the children playing the slavery game and Claudia getting the white blue eyed baby doll, are showing the children that there future cant become anything they want, that there future is bleak. In the the case of the slave game the children are role-playing something that most likely will happen to them, something that will ruin them. In the case of the blue eyed doll it is reminding Claudia that she is not someone that is supposed to be admired, that what is admired is a white, blonde hair, blue eyed girl.

Kindred, as well as the other readings we have done in class, has brought to light the problems that modern day African American women as well as past African American women have endured. I never would've known about a modern black women's pressure to wear her hair straight if Hooks hadn't of mentioned it, or felt some of the feelings and scenarios that past black women have struggled with if it wasn't for Morrison and Butler. These readings have given me a better understanding of the racism that past and present African Americans endure everyday.

The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is a novel that expresses hardships that some young black woman may have endured in the 1940s. One of the main hardships that I noticed in The Bluest Eye was that of Pecola. Pecola felt as if she was too ugly or 'too black'. Pecola longed for bright blue eyes because she felt like that would make her prettier, more like a Shirley Temple doll. Although Toni Morrison showed that Pecola and maybe some of the young women from that time did not accept themselves or there skin color she also had characters who did. Claudia is one character that does not want to be more like Shirley Temple or like the white children in her town. When Claudia is given a little white doll with blue eyes for Christmas she is more interested in destroying it rather than worshiping it. I would ask if because of this behavior Claudia is hateful to the white community or if she is simply very secure with her inherent culture and is sick of the white culture being idolized by the black community.