1
Collection of Response Papers – This American Life
2020-21
Julia Herni
, 2
Response Paper 1:
The Bluest Eye: A Racist Nature
On page 103 until 104, Claudia and her sister enter a neighbourhood surrounded by nature. It
is described in a positive way and as if the image of the environment is a dream. Nevertheless,
behind the façade of the houses and the environment is a racial system that is indirectly part of
Claudia’s perception and thoughts. It shows that racism is part of an inescapable natural
environment consisting of real estate, geometry, and nature. Along with these three aspects,
the colour blue is often used. Blue indicates whiteness and white Americans.
The lakefront houses have these “windows like shiny eyeglasses” (Morrison 103).
Through the eyeglasses they look at the outsider or everyone who walks and lives outside of
the house. The symbol of the eye plays a large role in The Bluest Eye. It is usually discussed
as part of a white person as in having blue eyes. ‘Shiny’ is in this context a positive adjective
and Claudia along with other black children admire beautiful, blue eyes. These lakefront
houses are most likely owned by white people. Especially when it becomes clear that behind
the house, in the “backyards” (103), and thus, behind the “shiny eyeglasses” (103), there is a
blue lake.
There is a use of vocabulary, often linked to natural objects, linked to geometry and
mathematical forms: “tree-lined streets” (103), “porch posts straighter” (103), “shrubbery
clipped into smooth cones” (103), “balls of velvet green” (103), “calculated disorder” (104),
“hiding the cunning symmetry” (104), “we circled the proud house” (104). Geometry creates
order within nature and sees the basic structures behind natural phenomena. It is the
foundation of objects. This is shown in the phrase “tree-lined” (103) in which a natural object,
the tree, is used to create or make sense of a line, a mathematical construction. Similarly,
social structures are part of the larger human population, which unfortunately also contains
(natural and unnatural) racism. Social structures, and racism, are at the foundation of human
Collection of Response Papers – This American Life
2020-21
Julia Herni
, 2
Response Paper 1:
The Bluest Eye: A Racist Nature
On page 103 until 104, Claudia and her sister enter a neighbourhood surrounded by nature. It
is described in a positive way and as if the image of the environment is a dream. Nevertheless,
behind the façade of the houses and the environment is a racial system that is indirectly part of
Claudia’s perception and thoughts. It shows that racism is part of an inescapable natural
environment consisting of real estate, geometry, and nature. Along with these three aspects,
the colour blue is often used. Blue indicates whiteness and white Americans.
The lakefront houses have these “windows like shiny eyeglasses” (Morrison 103).
Through the eyeglasses they look at the outsider or everyone who walks and lives outside of
the house. The symbol of the eye plays a large role in The Bluest Eye. It is usually discussed
as part of a white person as in having blue eyes. ‘Shiny’ is in this context a positive adjective
and Claudia along with other black children admire beautiful, blue eyes. These lakefront
houses are most likely owned by white people. Especially when it becomes clear that behind
the house, in the “backyards” (103), and thus, behind the “shiny eyeglasses” (103), there is a
blue lake.
There is a use of vocabulary, often linked to natural objects, linked to geometry and
mathematical forms: “tree-lined streets” (103), “porch posts straighter” (103), “shrubbery
clipped into smooth cones” (103), “balls of velvet green” (103), “calculated disorder” (104),
“hiding the cunning symmetry” (104), “we circled the proud house” (104). Geometry creates
order within nature and sees the basic structures behind natural phenomena. It is the
foundation of objects. This is shown in the phrase “tree-lined” (103) in which a natural object,
the tree, is used to create or make sense of a line, a mathematical construction. Similarly,
social structures are part of the larger human population, which unfortunately also contains
(natural and unnatural) racism. Social structures, and racism, are at the foundation of human
