The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison - 1524 Words

In the novel The Bluest Eye, authored by Toni Morrison, Morrison brings up many social conflicts that occur throughout the novel. One of the biggest conflicts she brings up within the novel is racism. There are many offsets of racism that occur to many of the characters within the novel. One of the most significant issues or conflicts that branch off from racism is how racism affects and limits the opportunities that minorities have. In Morrison’s novel this type of racism that affects opportunity is directed towards African Americans. Even Tonya Cornileus stated in an article she wrote in the year 2013 that, â€Å"Today, African American men are the least likely hired or promoted† (Cornileus 136). This racial discrimination towards African Americans has a major impact on the opportunity they have in the world, just as Morrison portrayed in her novel The Bluest Eye. Racism plays a crucial part in the workforce for African Americans and all other minorities. In The Blues t Eye, Morrison wrote about the job that Polly and most African Americans had to do by working for White people because they possibly did not get the opportunity to get another job that would be better for them. Morrison states a situation that occurs between Polly and the white women she is working for in the novel by stating, ‘You leave him and then come back to work, and we’ll let bygones be bygones.’ ‘Can I have my money today?’ I said. ‘No’ she said. ‘nly when you leave him† (Morrison 121). The white womanShow MoreRelatedThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1720 Words   |  7 Pagesof The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison, criticizes the danger of race discrimination for any kinds of situations with no exception. The purpose of the paper is explain how pervasive and destructive social racism was bound to happen in American society. The intended audiences are not only black people, but also other races had suffered racism until now. I could find out and concentrate on the most notable symbols which are whiteness, blue eyes and the characterization while reading the novel. Toni MorrisonRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1587 Words   |  7 Pagessaid, â€Å"We were born to die and we die to live.† Toni Morrison correlates to Nelson’s quote in her Nobel Lecture of 1993, â€Å"We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.† In Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye, she uses language to examine the concepts of racism, lack of self-identity, gender roles, and socioeconomic hardships as they factor into a misinterpretation of the American Dream. Morrison illustrates problems that these issues provoke throughRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison956 Words   |  4 PagesHistory of Slavery Influenced the Characters of The Bluest Eye Unlike so many pieces of American literature that involve and examine the history of slavery and the years of intensely-entrenched racism that ensued, the overall plot of the novel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, does not necessarily involve slavery directly, but rather examines the aftermath by delving into African-American self-hatred. Nearly all of the main characters in The Bluest Eye who are African American are dominated by the endlessRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1189 Words   |  5 PagesA standard of beauty is established by the society in which a person lives and then supported by its members in the community. In the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, we are given an extensive understanding of how whiteness is the standard of beauty through messages throughout the novel that whiteness is superior. Morrison emphasizes how this ideality distorts the minds and lives of African-American women and children. He emphasizes that in order for African-American wom en to survive in aRead MoreThe Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison1095 Words   |  5 PagesSocial class is a major theme in the book The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison is saying that there are dysfunctional families in every social class, though people only think of it in the lower class. Toni Morrison was also stating that people also use social class to separate themselves from others and apart from race; social class is one thing Pauline and Geraldine admire.Claudia, Pecola, and Frieda are affected by not only their own social status, but others social status too - for exampleRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison2069 Words   |  9 Pagesblack/whiteness. Specifically, white people were positioned at the upper part of the hierarchy, whereas, African Americans were inferior. Consequently, white people were able to control and dictate to the standards of beauty. In her novel, ‘The Bluest Eye’, Toni Morrison draws upon symbolism, narrative voice, setting and id eals of the time to expose the effects these standards had on the different characters. With the juxtaposition of Claudia MacTeer and Pecola Breedlove, who naively conforms to the barrierRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1103 Words   |  5 Pages Toni Morrison is known for her prized works exploring themes and issues that are rampant in African American communities. Viewing Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye from a psychoanalytical lens sheds light onto how, as members of a marginalized group, character’s low self-esteem reflect into their actions, desires, and defense mechanisms. In her analysis of psychoanalytical criticism, Lois Tyson focuses on psychological defense mechanisms such as selective perception, selective memory, denialRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison Essay1314 Words   |  6 PagesThe Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, encompasses the themes of youth, gender, and race. The African American Civil Rights Movement had recently ended at the time the novel was written. In the book, Morrison utilizes a first-person story to convey her views on racial inequality. The protagonist and her friends find themselves in moments where they are filled with embarrassment and have a wish to flee such events. Since they are female African Americans, they are humiliated in society. One of Morrison’sRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1462 Words   |  6 PagesBildungsroman literature in the 20th century embodies the virtues of different authors’ contexts and cultures, influencing the fictional stories of children’s lives around the wo rld.. The Bluest Eye is a 1970 publication by Toni Morrison set in 1940s Ohio in America, focal around the consequence of racism in an American community on the growth of a child, distinct in its use of a range of narrative perspectives. Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid is a novel set in post colonial Antigua, published in 1985Read MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison992 Words   |  4 PagesSet in the 1940s, during the Great Depression, the novel The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, illustrates in the inner struggles of African-American criticism. The Breedloves, the family the story revolves around a poor, black and ugly family. They live in a two-room store front, which is open, showing that they have nothing. In the family there is a girl named Pecola Breedlove, she is a black and thinks that she is ugly because she is not white. Pecola’s father, Cholly Breedlove, goes through humiliated

Essay about Is Abortion Morally Permissible or Not

The following essay will examine the morality of abortion with specific reference to the writings of Don Marquis, Judith Jarvis Thompson, Peter Singer and Mary Anne Warren. I will begin by assessing the strength of the argument provided by Marquis which claims that abortion is impermissible because it deprives a being of a potential â€Å"future like ours,† and then go on to consider the writings of Singer, Thomson and Warren to both refute Marquis claims and support my assertion that abortion is morally permissible primarily because of the threat to the freedom and bodily autonomy of women extending the right to life to a foetus in utero would pose. To fully understand the argument we should first define the parameters of the debate and the†¦show more content†¦Don Marquis spearheads the potentiality argument in his essay on the immorality of abortion (Study Guide, pp. 167-73), claiming that it is impermissible because it deprives the foetus of a â€Å"future like ours,† and is consequently morally on par with killing a healthy adult (Study Guide, p. 170). Despite Marquis’ claims that his argument combines the best aspects of the personhood and sanctity of life ideas to produce a superior ethical theory on the immorality of abortion (Study Guide, p. 170), his argument features many flaws, including seemingly ad hoc explanations to avoid speciesism (Study Guide, p. 169) and exclude contraception (Study Guide, p. 173), and, most prominently, ill-defined terminology. His entire argument centers on the value of a â€Å"future like ours† and yet he fails to define what exact quality makes such a potentia l future valuable, giving only a vague indication that it is somehow different to personhood. The vagueness of what is essentially the key to his entire theory makes it difficult to accurately dispute his claims, yet he concedes himself that his theory is simply an indirect and unconvincing way of reaching the same conclusion as the personhood argument (Study Guide, p.171). His conclusions are in essences the same as those drawn from the personhood argument, it argues that foetuses should be granted legal personhood based onShow MoreRelatedIs Abortion Morally Permissible?966 Words   |  4 PagesA Defense of Abortion, she argues that abortion is permissible because an individual’s right over their own body outweighs a fetus’s right to life. In this paper I will focus on whether or not abortion is always permissible. First, I will present Thomson’s argument which says that abortion is sometimes permissible. I will do so by describing her â€Å"famous violinistà ¢â‚¬  thought experiment. Next, I will object to Thomson’s claim and expand the scope of her argument by arguing that abortion is in fact, alwaysRead MoreAbortion Is Morally Permissible?1817 Words   |  8 PagesAbortion is the willful and deliberate termination of pregnancy before the fetus comes to term; meaning the death of a fetus. Not having access to safe and legal abortions can cause more pain than positive it can lead women to be injured or infertile or even dead. Also, the denial of access to safe and legal abortion is said to be depriving women of the right to control their own body. However, the above point does not persuade people who are against abortion because they believe that fetuses areRead MoreAbortion Is Morally Permissible?1675 Words   |  7 PagesAbortion is defined as â€Å"The deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.† (Oxford Dictionary). Nearly three out of ten women in the U .S. have an abortion by the time they are 45-years-old (Planned Parenthood). Abortion is morally permissible because an abortion prevents a woman and the potential child’s suffering. Abortion is moral because it is a fundamental right of competent adults to make their own decisions on the course of theirRead MoreIs Abortion Morally Permissible?1977 Words   |  8 PagesThe question of whether or not abortion is morally permissible is widely disputed amongst those who are pro-life or pro-choice. While in some societies abortion has been outlawed, others either entirely allow for it or consider abortion permissible on a case-by-case basis. Many pro-lifers classify abortion as immoral, some even considering it murder. Abortion is typically defined as terminating a pregnancy before the fetus is able to survive outside of the womb. A crucial factor in determining whetherRead MoreIs Abortion Morally Permissible?1879 Words   |  8 PagesAbortion is morally permissible in all ca ses; regardless of how the pregnancy came about. The question of whether the fetus is granted personhood at conception or anytime during its development is entirely irrelevant. The right to control your own body often trumps someone’s right to life. Even if you declare personhood to the fetus, it does not determine the morality of abortion. Whether it is â€Å"killing an innocent child† or not does not take away the fact that this country has time and time againRead MoreThesis: Is Abortion Morally Permissible?851 Words   |  4 PagesAbortion Thesis: Abortion is morally permissible in which a fetus is not a person which deprives the fetus to its right to life, circular reasoning is an ineffective to oppose abortion, abortion only risks the fetus not society, and deprivation from a fetuss future and suffering of a loved one has no affect on the argument towards anti-abortion. Mary Anne Warren in On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion stated the characteristics which are central to the concept of personhood which are â€Å"sentienceRead MoreEssay about Abortion: Morally Permissible or Impermissible?2524 Words   |  11 PagesAbortion: Morally Permissible or Impermissible? Abortion can be defined as a means of terminating a pregnancy by removing or expelling a fetus from the uterus before viability. Abortion has been, and will always be, a controversial issue in today’s society and in the future. People have always struggled to determine whether it is ethical to abort a fetus; morally permissible (acceptable) or morally impermissible (unacceptable). The polarizing views that are associated with abortion makes thisRead MoreWhy Should Sex Selection Abortions Are Morally Permissible?923 Words   |  4 Pagessex-selection abortions are morally permissible?† No, I do not think they are morally permissible. Not so much because of the utilitarian’s belief, which I will get into later, but because I do think a fetus is a person. And like Kantians who believe fetuses are persons, the fetus has all the rights and due all the respect that any other person has. To abort that fetus because it’s a girl (or a boy) does not give any righ ts to the fetus. With that said however, that doesn’t mean I think abortions themselvesRead MoreMarquis vs. Warren in the Case Against Abortion1298 Words   |  6 Pagesdetermining if abortion is morally permissible, or wrong including; sentience of the fetus, the fetuses right to life, the difference between adult human beings and fetuses, the autonomy of the pregnant woman, and the legality of abortion. Don Marquis argues that abortion is always morally wrong, excluding cases in which the woman is threatened by pregnancy, or abortion after rape, because fetuses have a valuable future. Mary Anne Warren contends that late term abortions are morally permissible becauseRead MoreA Defense Of Abortion By Judith Thomson1678 Words   |  7 PagesWhat takes precedence; an unborn fetus’ life or its mother’s right to her body? Anti-abortionist argue that the life of an unborn fetus has priority, and thus abortion is morally impermissible as it violates the fetus’ right to life. I n her article â€Å"A Defense of Abortion†, Judith Thomson argues that abortion is morally permissible under the certain conditions where the rights of the fetus fail to surpass a mother’s right of choice. For the sake of her argument, Thomson allows the assumption that

Defining Security Free Essays

Defining Security â€Å"Security† comes from a broader subject referred to International Relations which is the study of all political cooperation that occurs between states that have their own government, international organizations with or without government influence, and some wealthy separate individuals. â€Å"Security Studies concerns itself with a sub-set of those political interactions marked by their particular importance in terms of maintaining the security of actor† (Hough 2008: 2). Depending on the emergency of security of an actor will depend how a government or country will act on the security measure. We will write a custom essay sample on Defining Security or any similar topic only for you Order Now For example, concerns relating to health and rights of the people will be at top on the global political agenda compare to other events such as natural disasters or mass killings are rarely seen as security concerns. It might be of importance to the people that these events are happening to, but not to the people not being affected. There are four main paradigms of International Relations that affect issues in security. Those paradigms are Realism, Pluralism, Marxism, and Social Constructivism. Realism is the idea that states should be self-centered, competitive, and should look after themselves and not trust any other states. The state should do anything within its reach to expand its power in wherever possible being in military or economic sectors in order to secure themselves and be at the top. Realists tend to favor governments that separate the high and low politics and best serve the national interest. Low politics such as health issues, welfare, and other issues of that sort should be dealt at a domestic level and is separate from high politics, such as war. The idea globalization in the 60’s and 70’s took International Relations to a different perspective because not only did they have to deal with military power issues but now they had economic power issues to worry about. That’s where Neo-Realism developed. Neo-realism still maintained the self-centered approach on the states but also included the idea to expand their powers beyond the sector of military and focus on to the state’s economy. In addition to Realism, another paradigm that affected issues in security was Pluralism. Pluralism was developed from a group of scholars that believed that Neo-realism had developed far enough from Realism. Pluralists believed that the pursuit of military power and economic power by a state, which was the idea derived from the thinking of Realism was too simple. â€Å"Pluralists, as the term implies, consider that a plurality of actors, rather than just states, exert influence on the world stage† (Hough 2008: 4). Pluralism, which was built from the idea of liberalism, stated that the interests of individuals would be better served in an environment where their own governments would stop controlling their lives. Unlike realism, pluralists thought of â€Å"low politic† concerns as priorities for International Relations. The paradigm of Marxism focused more on economic concerns rather than military or any other power. Marxism viewed globalization to an idea of the past; there was nothing new in the idea of globalization. Globalization was just a different way to demonstrate that the states with large economies would exploit the smaller ones. sort of like the bigger kid bullying the smaller kid. In a Marxist perspective, wars were fought for economic purposes which indicated that military power was used for economic gain instead for security. Social constructivism came into play in the 1990’s after there were many unsatisfied in the other paradigms. Social constructivism â€Å"favors a more sociological approach and advocates a greater appreciation of the cultural dimension of policy making† (Hough 2008: 6). It argued that â€Å"world stage actors† did not follow any type of rational script rather, â€Å"foreign policy reflects parochial ideological or moral guidelines rather than objective gains† (Hough 2008:6). In the wide and narrow conceptions of security, the varied range of threats to humans have changed the whole perspective of international security, which previously had been based just on military based issues. Ullman described that a threat to security was solely based on two factors: the first, any threat that lowered the quality of a states’ people and second, any threat that narrowed the policy choices of any actor of the state. After the Cold War, some traditionalist suggested for security studies to go ‘back to basics’ instead of widening their security measures to â€Å"low politics† issues, they should stick to â€Å"high politics† issues such military threat. â€Å"The widening of security did not undermine the realist logic of conventional security studies. The focus was still on the state system and seeing relationships between states governed by power. Widening was simply extending the range of factors that affect state power beyond the confines of military and trade affairs† (Hough 2008: 8). As for the realist, the ideology stayed the same. The main focus was still in the state’s issues and its people, but as for the widening it, it was just the extension of some issues that affected state’s power, beyond military issues. The deepening of security was driven by pluralists and social constructivists which believed that the concept of â€Å"human security† should be based on the individual’s need that makes up the different groups that exist and not the ‘actors’ issues. With that being said, the Copenhagen School philosophy cannot be resolved by the thought of the pluralists and the social constructivists which shifts the idea of security from the states to the people. â€Å"While accepting the idea that non-military issues can be securitized and that the referent object of this can be something other than a state, maintains the logic that only the state can be the securitizing actor† (Hough 2008: 9). The state would be the only one to determine if the issue that is being securitized is an existential threat and if needs to be acted upon. The securitization of issues must be determined by the state’s government and be prioritized by if it’s a ‘low or high politics’ issue. As mentioned in the book, South Africa was one of the first countries that shifted away from military priority to a health priority. â€Å"The proportion of South Africa’s (GDP) Gross Domestic Product spent on military defense is 1. 5 per cent and the overall proportion on health is 3. percent† (UNDP 2002). Today, military threats in some countries are still their priority but global leaders are still able to balance their military and health expense. In conclusion, â€Å"Security† comes from a broader subject referred to International Relations. The paradigms that affect issues in security are realism, pluralism, Marxism, and social constructivism, having realist b eing the one which has dominated the study of security focuses on military security and to serve the state’s best interest. Although the Marxist idea was to focus more on economic issues instead of military or any other issues, the pluralist and the social constructivist perspective changed the spectrum of international security from what was once solely based on military issues had broaden to other ‘low politics’ issues such as concerns relating to health and rights of the people, so basically shifting the idea of security from the states to the people. In the end, the securitization of issues must be determined by the state’s government and must be prioritized by if it’s a ‘low or high politics’ issue. Workcited Hough, Peter. 2008. Understanding Global Security (2nd Edition). New York: Routledge. â€Å"United Nations Development Programme† http://www. undp. org/ How to cite Defining Security, Essay examples