AN OVERVIEW OF THE IDENTITY CRISIS IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

This paper attempts to study the struggle for personal and racial identity, the concerns arising out of perpetual racial discrimination that led to an acute identity crisis among the Afro-Americans living in a society dominated by whites, as portrayed by Toni Morrison in the novel The Bluest Eye. Toni Morrison shed light on the black consciousness of the 1960s in her debut book, The Bluest Eye (1970), which was marked by an identity crisis as a consequence of racial and cultural prejudice. This identity crisis was defined by the black consciousness of the 1960s. The book’s plot showcases the sad story of a young black girl who has an unquenchable yearning for a pair of blue eyes. She believes that if she gets blue eyes, others will see her as more attractive and deserving of respect. Morrison exposes the catastrophic repercussions of racial prejudice on innocent black girls, who are left scarred and devoid of any identity due to the impacts of the discrimination.