In the duration of this course, we have gone through various sources of diaspora literature and other media, such as films. This has presented us with a wide array of information choices as seen both through fiction and non-fiction sources, and allowed us to compare and contrast them. Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye, however, is different, as the characters are figured there, are almost exclusively Afro-Americans, not so much immigrants themselves, as the descendants of slaves, brought over to the USA a long time before the events in the book itself took place. Consequently, this essay will look at The Bluest Eye and several other novels and see how it fits with the rest of the novels as piece of diaspora literature.
First of all, we will look at the other diaspora fiction that we have studied during this course. Robin Cohen's work Global Diasporas (chapter 8) will help to clarify how the characters in The Bluest Eye fit into the world of immigration and diaspora. Using the examples and terminology applied in this work, the essay will examine and classify the type of migration undertaken in The Bluest Eye (more or less), something that will aid the readers later to understand why the novel's characters act the way they do.
The characters of The Bluest Eye live in a world that is alien and hostile them, at least in the novel. Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice may help to relate to them, as will Dionne Brand's novel What We All Live For. Just like Toni Morrison's novel, these works deal with expatriates (or their descendants), who have settled in a new world that may be friendlier to them than their homeland had been in some ways, but just as hostile in the others. This essay will make certain comparisons between The Merchant of Venice, What We All Live For and The Bluest Eye to show the next reason why Toni Morrison's novel is a diaspora-related novel and will also introduce further the theme of immigration-related trauma in The Bluest Eye.
Since this course is titled "Diaspora and the Literary Imagination", however, this essay will also examine a different work of Toni Morrison - a non-fiction work titled Playing in the Dark. This work will examine some of her literary ideas: the issue of race in American literature, the situation in the post-Civil War US, and see how they apply to The Bluest Eye and the diasporas. The Merchant of Venice will be looked once again, for it too deals with the matters of race and colour, though in different ways than Toni Morrison. (Amitav Ghosh's novel In an Antique Land will be mentioned as well.)
Then this essay will look over the role of "the other" both in The Bluest Eye and The Merchant of Venice, both for comparison and to show how "the other" also helps to establish The Bluest Eye as diaspora-related fiction. The essay will elaborate further on the function of -The Bluest Eye as a diaspora-related novel and will help it to interconnect with the other works of fiction and non-fiction used in the essay, showing how exactly this is a diaspora-related novel, which deals with immigration-related trauma as well.
Finally, there will be some looking over of Ruth Leys' chapter "Freud and Trauma" from her work Trauma: A Genealogy, 2000, to see if it is applies to the characters in The Bluest Eye. "The other", mentioned before, will re-appear as well at this moment, and the essay will demonstrate how it connects both to The Bluest Eye in general and to the immigration-related trauma demonstrated in the novel in particular. (Quotations from Playing in the Dark may also be used to further illustrate these points.)
After that, the essay will wrap up and summarize the points mentioned above, before finally answering if The Bluest Eye a diaspora novel or not. Throughout the last half of the essay characters such as Pecola, Cholly and others will be examined to see if they have been traumatized through their life as descendants of immigrants
In conclusion, this will be a final essay of a course that has looked over both traumatic and non-traumatic aspects of living in a diaspora and the aspects of the lives of the immigrants. Consequently, this essay will do the same, drawing from several differences sources that oversee these aspects - society, psychology, literature, and so on - and will attempt to combine them into one, single work. Hopefully, it will succeed at doing that and will be an easy and enjoyable read as well.