Download The Bluest Eye

THE BLUEST EYE
Unit 3: Social Standards
Does Beauty Equal Happiness ?
Anticipation Guide
 American society, in general, places more value on physical
beauty than on any other aspect of a particular person.
agree___
disagree___
 There is more than one way to be a beautiful person.
agree___
disagree___
 The definition of beauty has changed in the past 100 years.
agree___
disagree___
 In order for a person to be beautiful, s/he must be happy
with her/himself as a person.
agree___
disagree___
“Without Commercials”
Alice Walker
Listen,
stop tanning yourself
and talking about
fishbelly
white.
The color white
is not bad at all.
There are white
mornings
that bring us days.
Or, if you must,
tan only because
it makes you happy
to be brown,
to be able to see
for a summer
the whole world's
darker
face
reflected
in your own.
Stop unfolding
your eyes.
Your eyes are
beautiful.
Sometimes
seeing you in the street
the fold zany
and unexpected
I want to kiss
them
and usually
it is only
old
gorgeous
black people's eyes
I want
to kiss.
Stop trimming
your nose.
When you
diminish
your nose
your songs
become little
tinny, muted
and snub.
Better you should
have a nose
impertinent
as a flower,
sensitive
as a root;
wise, elegant,
serious and deep.
A nose that
sniffs
the essence
of Earth. And knows
the message
of every
leaf.
Stop bleaching
your skin
and talking
about so much black
is not beautiful
The color black
is not bad
at all.
There are black nights
that rock
us
in dreams.
Or, if you must,
bleach only
because it pleases you
to be brown,
to be able to see
for as long
as you can bear it
the whole world's
lighter face
reflected
in your own.
As for me,
I have learned
to worship
the sun
again.
To affirm
the adventures
of hair.
For we are all
splendid
descendants
of Wilderness,
Eden:
needing only
to see
each other
without
commercials
to believe.
Copied skillfully
as Adam.
Original
as Eve.
“Without Commercials”
Alice Walker
 Who are the ethnic groups that Walker
names?
 Why do you think Walker titled her poem
“Without Commercials”?
American Media Images:
Beauty of the Past
Alice Walker's poem "Without Commercials" challenges the idea in many ads that being
beautiful means having a flawless complexion, "perfect" hair, or a slender body. Listen to the
following old-time radio commercial from 1930s and 1040s to hear these perceptions .
Welch Grape Juice Radio Commercial (1933)
Camay Mild-Soap Radio Commercial (1943)
How are these commercials like the commercials today? How are they different?
Discuss your views with a partner.
American Media Images:
Beauty of the Present
Alice Walker's poem "Without Commercials" challenges the idea in many ads that being beautiful
means having a flawless complexion, "perfect" hair, or a slender body. Look at the following media
and compare Walker’s plea to a life “without commercials” to the images portrayed in these ads .
Star Magazine
Covergirl Commerical (2009)
Based on the above examples (yes there are only two examples), would you
add anything to the previous discussion with your partner? Discuss your
views with the same partner.
American Media Images:
Beauty of the Future
 The following commercial
advertisement seems to
echo some of Walker’s
sentiments in “Without
Commercials”.
 Evolution - A Dove Film Video
 What is your reaction
Dove’s advertisement
campaign strategy?
Dove Evolution Campaign
Discussion Question
 Is our need to change drastically the way we
look grounded in pleasing ourselves (which
Walker considers acceptable) or is it a result
of succumbing to cultural and societal
influences, our flight away from who we are?
 Do characters in The Bluest Eye succumb to
cultural and societal influences to “fly away”
from who they are? Who, why, and how?