Abstrak


The Views of Whiteness as The Standard of Beauty in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye


Oleh :
Amalia Herwinda Agustini - B0315003 - Fak. Ilmu Budaya

The objective of this research is to study the way Pecola Breedlove, the main character in The Bluest Eye, views whiteness as the standard of beauty, Toni Morrison's historical and social conditions and its correlation to the novel The Bluest Eye, and also Toni Morrison’s worldview through the work of The Bluest eye. In order to achieve the objective of this research, I use Lucien Goldmann’s theory of genetic structuralism to see how it applies in the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. As the methodology, it is a combination between comprehension and explanation. In comprehension part, mental structure of society in the novel is being discussed. While in explanation part, it is the comparation of the mental structure in the novel and society in real life. The findings gained from comprehending the novel is that the way Pecola Breedlove’s obsession of whiteness as the standard of beauty is indeed a result of being pressured by the mental structure of society in the novel regarding the beauty standard. On the other hand, Toni Morrison also encountered the same mental structure of society regarding whiteness as the beauty standard in real life during the writing of The Bluest Eye. Hence, Morrison’s worldview that is seen in the novel is related to the perception and acceptance of the environment or the society towards whiteness as the beauty standard. Morrison wants to spread the idea that whiteness is not the standard of beauty.