The+Bluest+Eye


 * Kiley Kapuscinski**
 * Novel Study Part A**
 * 15 November 2010**
 * EN 3051**

** Teaching Toni Morrison’s //The Bluest Eye// ** The Bluest Eye is a touching and tragic novel that centers on the abuse and destruction of Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl who endures a troubled relationship with her mother, father, and the society that surrounds her. The novel is set in 1940 and narrated primarily by Claudia MacTeer, one of Pecola’s few friends. As a black girl in a white-dominated world, Pecola begins to believe that her life would be more fulfilled if she were white, and she view blue eyes are the paradigmatic symbol of whiteness. She watches her father, Cholly Breedlove, as he becomes increasingly cynical about, and frustrated with, his life (characterized as a constant enduring of societal humiliation and personal disappointments), and her mother, Pauline, as she escapes into the clean and orderly life of a maid for a privileged white family. One spring afternoon, Pecola is raped by her father after he returns home drunk and he finds Pecola alone washing dishes. She is impregnated by her father after he rapes her a second time. Traumatized by the attacks, Pecola begins to lose her grasp on reality and visits the false-minister Micah Elihue Whitcomb (“Soaphead Church”), requesting that he give her blue eyes. Soaphead agrees to this miracle, for a fee and a favor: he tells Pecola he must feed a piece of meat to an old sick dog (Pecola is unaware that this dog has been aggravating Soaphead, and that the meat she feeds the dog is poisoned). Pecola watches, horrified, as the dog dies a painful death. The combination of her societal rejection, rape, being tricked by Soaphead Church forces Pecola into madness, evident in her losing touch completely with reality. Pecola believes that she has at last gained blue eyes and invents an imaginary friend, who is perpetually willing to reassure her that her blue eyes are the bluest eyes in the world.
 * //i. __The Bluest Eye__ Synopsis//**


 * //ii. Personal Reflection on Teaching __The Bluest Eye__//**

Teaching Toni Morrison’s //The Bluest Eye// (1970) as a white, middle class, female teacher can perhaps best be described as a literary-political activity. Given that my social identities are selfsame with those that are critiqued, deconstructed, and re-imagined in the novel, it would be easy for me to feel ashamed of my social self when teaching this novel to the class. Specifically, to the extent that Morrison’s novel destabilizes white society’s standards of beauty and propriety, the middle class sense of moral superiority and women’s proclivity towards self-imposed martyrdom in North America, my social identities will, in many ways, be on display for critique in addressing the novel’s concerns. With regards to my white, middle class background, my social identity reflects that of the master narrative that, in the novel, works to destroy the lives of vulnerable characters. With these thoughts in mind, I wonder: Will the students trust a teacher who emblematizes the social identities that are associated with distrust in the novel? Will class conversations be inhibited if/when students suspect that I am judging them due to their social identities? However, I must remember that students and teachers alike bring to the classroom a number of social identities that are examined and scrutinized when addressing socially-engaged works of literature, and that this shared experience of reflecting on one’s social positions—their advantages, disadvantages, stereotypes, and intersections with one’s other social identities—will make the experience of reading such literature all the more profound and resonant. If the class lessons are successful, students will leave the lessons unable to look at themselves and their social identities in the same way again. Moreover, my identity as teacher who has undergone extensive studies in literature will benefit me in the teaching of this novel. In particular, I have taught courses on Women’s Writing, which have examined the diverse ways in which notions of gender and their accompanying social expectations influenced the writing of women during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. While these courses allowed me to examine women writers from various countries across the world, they also allowed me to consider the ways in which gender considerations are impacted by other powerful social forces in North American contexts, a consideration which is given much attention in Morrison’s novel. In addition, I have worked as a teaching assistant for American Literature courses, and Contemporary Literature courses, both of which will help me to contextualize for students the politically-volatile time period in which the novel was written, and to situate Morrison’s writing strategies as influenced by the tradition of black American writers that precedes her. My helping to teach courses on Form and Content in Literature, and Effective Writing will, as well, assist me when instructing the students on the many formalistic considerations of the novel. While many students would prefer to move past formal aspects of writing without giving them due consideration, I am confident that I can make these integral elements of writing appealing to students by connecting them to larger meanings. Finally, through all of my teaching experiences, I have gained an understanding of the necessity for classroom safety, and of the need for students to feel comfortable entering into, and contributing to, difficult conversations with their peers. The appearance of Morrison’s novel in North American classrooms has been highly contested due to the explicit and difficult topics that Morrison addresses, including incest, domestic violence, pedophilia, rape and racism. Some or all of these issues may be extremely difficult and personally relevant to some students, and I will ensure that students engage in class discussions in a considerate and respectable manner, and that I maintain a non-partisan stance on controversial issues.


 * //iii. Target Grade Level and Course(s)//**

Morrison’s novel is best suited to students enrolled in “Studies in Literature, Grade 12 University Preparation” (ETS4U), given the novel’s mature content matter, shifting point of view and time frame, and the many formalistic considerations that can be raised in studying this novel. However, this novel is also suitable for “English, Grade 12 University Preparation” (ENG4U) as well as “Studies in Literature, Grade 12 College Preparation” (ETS4C) and “English, Grade 12 College Preparation” (ENG4C). Note, however, that teaching Morrison’s novel in the latter two courses may require modification of the below teaching topics in order to match student abilities. When preparing this lesson for upper year English classes, the following films and websites may be useful: 1. An overall site with a range of resources: [|http://www.webenglishteacher.com/morrison.html] 2. //A Girl Like Me// (a documentary short about young black women in America struggling with concepts of black beauty): [] 3. //Shadeism// (a 2010 Toronto-based documentary short about the discriminatory and destructive concept that light skin is better than dark skin. This film focuses on the impact of shadeism on five young women and one young girl): http://www.regentparkfilmfestival.com/filmlist.html. 4. A site that focuses on a gendered reading of Morrison’s text and the concept of the “master narrative”: []
 * //iv. Knowledge Possibilities//**


 * //A. Textual Knowledge//**

· __Shifting Narrative Point of View__. Morrison relies on multiple narrators to relate her story, including: the adult Claudia (who narrates all chapters without headings), the childhood Claudia, an omniscient narrator (who tells the story of the Breedlove family and most chapters without headings), Mrs. Breedlove (who offers first person narration in chapter 7), Pecola (who offers first person narration in chapter 11) and Pecola’s imaginary and unnamed friend (who offers first person narration in chapter 11). This shifting narrative voice can create a sense of narrative confusion and awkwardness (perhaps a sign of Morrison’s yet undeveloped sense of authorial ability), but also suggests something of the many voices (heteroglossia) necessary to approximate the truth of past events. · __Non-Linear Time Frame.__ The novel begins (with the second preface) and ends in the present tense with Claudia’s reflection about the inability of marigolds to grow in Loraine, Ohio, suggesting the circular time structures of the novel. However, this circular structure (of beginning in the present, then moving back to a period in time from which the narrator moves forward) is disrupted by frequent disruptions of linear sequencing. This will likely require the teacher to frame/contextualize certain confusing chapters for students, or to create with the students a time line sequence of major events in the novel. · __Literary Genres.__ The novel is primarily a work of narrative fiction, but incorporates numerous other genres throughout the course of the novel, including: private letters/epistolary tradition (p.176), the children’s reading primer (prologue), religious hymns (p. 114), blues songs (p. 51) and embedded narratives (//mis-en-abyme// stories), such as the stories of Blue Jack (ch.8) and Claudia (ch.10). This inclusion of numerous literary genres suggest the dynamic nature of the text, and the students’ gaining exposure to a wide variety of writing types through the study of a single work. · __Voice__. The novel is playful in its use of both standard English (primarily through the omniscient narrator and the grown/adult Claudia) and small town black vernacular (seen most clearly in the voice of Polly in ch. 7 and in the gossiping women of ch. 10), allowing the characters to come alive on the page. To the grown Claudia, this black vernacular sounds like “fragments of talk” that “ran” on (188).


 * //B. Social Knowledge//**

· __Race Relations.__ While Morrison’s novel is set decades after the emancipation of black slaves in America, race relations between black and white individuals continue to be troubled in Morrison’s Loraine, Ohio. Such troubled race relations are evident in subtle ways, infused in the social practices of Morrison’s characters, yet these practices have a profound impact on characters. Specifically, readers can look to: Mr. Yacobowski’s disgust with Pecola when she visits his store (ch.3), Pecola’s mother’s internalization of racist practices when she beats her own daughter for a minor transgression, while comforting the Fisher’s white daughter (ch.6), Claudia’s encounter of “Lake Shore Park” (a whites-only park) (ch.6), Polly’s white doctor telling his medical students that black women feel no pain, “//Just like horses//” (125), or the local black women’s blaming Pecola for her father’s raping her—a likely sign that they, like Polly, have internalized black hatred (ch. 10). The destructive effects of these race relations is most apparent in the devastating self-image that black characters develop. Yet these race relations are ultimately complicated in the novel as a love-hate relationship to the extent that black characters often internalize white ideals, such as Pecola’s drinking white milk out of a Shirley Temple cup, desiring blue eyes (ch.1), and consuming candy with images of a white “Mary Jane” on their wrapper (ch.3).

//Shirley Temple and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson in The Little Colonel// (1935)

· __Class Structure in Capitalism.__ Morrison’s class consciousness is explicit in her opening the novel with a description of the poverty that shapes the lives and home of the MacTeer family, and that has helped to break the relationships amongst the Breedlove family (ch.1). Henry’s magic trick of showing the MacTeer girls a coin, only to then make it disappear, symbolizes the community’s awareness of middle class ideals, and the ways in which these ideals are, literally and figuratively, out of reach (ch.1). As well, students can focus on the examples of Claudia’s fear of homelessness—such as that which has victimized Pecola after her father put her family “outdoors” (17)— Geraldine’s refusal to let Junior play with lower-class black “niggers” (ch.5) and Polly and Cholly’s seemingly instant poverty once they moved away from their family home (ch.7). Moreover, students should pay particular attention to the subtle hierarchies that exist within the “have-nots”/working class, thereby indicating that there is as much difference within social classes as there is between them.

· __Gender Oppression.__ While less obvious than the racial dynamics of the novel, the gender dynamics between Morrison’s characters suggest their being situated in a patriarchal society. Here, students will benefit by exploring the examples of: young women, such as Frieda and Claudia, gaining a sense of fear after their first menstrual period due to their being vulnerable to being impregnated through acts of non-consensual sex (ch.1), Della Jones being abandoned by her husband for a more attractive woman (ch. 1), Cholly’s physical abuse of Polly (ch. 1,7), Mrs. MacTeer’s blues about men leaving their women (ch. 1), and Pecola’s being blamed for luring the sexual attentions of her father (ch. 10). From these examples, it appears that no women are exempt from conditions of oppression, although the novel does highlight the oppression of black women primarily. This social knowledge topic should be addressed alongside a discussion of the ways in which female characters engage in acts of social protest, and of the intersections of social oppressions, thereby ensuring that readers do not interpret that the female characters have been thoroughly victimized and incapacitated by their experiences, and that readers understand how social forces do not act in isolation of one another.

· __Social Protest/Resistance.__ After reading through the many instances of abuse and oppression in Morrison’s novel, it can be easy for students to imagine that each of the characters in the novel have been hollowed of their agency and capacity to fight back. However, students will notice moments of resistance in: Claudia’s ripping apart her white doll, seeking the non-tangible source of its beauty (ch.1), the sex workers’ anger towards men who have injusticed them (ch.3), Freida’s brave intervention when a group of local boys taunt and mock Pecola (ch.4), Aunt Jimmy’s reprimanding Cholly’s mother for abandoning him, and then taking Cholly as her own (ch.8), and Claudia’s magic incantations for Pecola’s baby to live despite her community’s wish for the child to die (ch.10). While such acts of resistance may appear small and isolated in the face of the novel’s omnipresent violations, these acts are central to the novel’s redeeming sense of hope for the community’s betterment.

· __Confluence of Social Forces.__ Teachers should encourage students to perceive the connections between social forces that can create layers of oppression and privilege in the narrative. Specifically, students can examine the rich and white neighborhood that the Fisher’s live in (ch.6), Maureen’s privilege as a beautiful, light-skinned, middle class figure (ch.4) and Pecola’s relative disadvantage as a dark-skinned, poor girl, an identity made explicit when the local boys taunt Pecola as “Black e mo. Black e mo. Yadaddsleepsnekked” (65).


 * //C. Cultural Knowledge//**

· __Standards of Beauty__. As one of the prevailing focal points of the novel, the white middle class standards of beauty examined in the novel are constructed as an imaginary set of ideals that are used to reinforce and perpetuate white cultural domination. These standards and their effects can be explored through: Claudia’s attraction to and repulsion for her beautiful white doll (ch.1), Pecola’s adoration of Shirley Temple (ch.1), Pecola’s belief that having blue eyes would make her a different person (signaling the cultural myth of parallel states whereby a beautiful exteriority will automatically create a beautiful interiority) (ch. 3), other’s perception of Maureen as beautiful because she had light-colored skin (ch.4), Freida’s and Claudia’s fear of becoming “fat” (which they associate with becoming “ruined”) (ch. 6), and Pecola’s persistent fear that her imaginary blue eyes are never blue enough (ch.11). When discussing this topic, teachers can address standards as a means by which the ideals of the ruling class are enforced, and how ugliness, like beauty, is an internalized set of beliefs about oneself that can lead to destructive ends. · __Media Perpetuation of Stereotypes.__ The prevalence of media forms in Morrison’s novel suggests the means by which standards and stereotypes are created and disseminated. The attractive and utterly persuasive films, posters, and advertisements advocating the attractiveness, happiness, and authority of white culture—and the relative absence of black individuals (//pace// the unidimensional and highly stereotyped Bill Bo jangles in Shirley Temple films)—suggests that the idealized lifestyle and identity which all are striving to emulate is that of white culture. Particularly, students can examine: the reproduction of Shirley Temple’s face of children’s cups (ch.1), Maureen’s discussion of the film //Imitation of Life//, in which a mulatto girl rejects her mother “cause she is black and ugly” (67), and Polly’s regular attendance of films after becoming pregnant and losing her front tooth, seeking to immerse herself in an imagined world of beauty: “//Them pictures gave me a lot of pleasure, but it made coming home hard, and looking at Cholly hard//” (123). Interestingly, Polly’s description of her cinematic experiences suggests that both men and women are subjected to the unattainable ideals projected in media images, and deemed ugly in comparison: “It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question. The master had said, “You are ugly people.” They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact, support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance” (39). · __Small Town America in the Mid-Nineteenth Century.__ Set in Loraine, Ohio, in 1941, //The Bluest Eye// offers readers a glimpse into the world of small town America and the social interactions that characterize this form of community. Marked primarily by the working class individuals that live within the town, Loraine residents can also be described as adhering to traditional gender roles, being continually influenced by media images (that alleviate the isolation created from living at a distance from city centers), focusing primarily on matters of the home and the family’s private life (ch.5), being attentive to the arrival of newcomers (such as Maureen Peal) and to the gossip of others (which is a substitute for an active public life) (ch.6, 10), and identifying themselves as distinct from “country folk” (ch.7).


 * //D. Topic Knowledge//**


 * D1. Gender Studies**

· __Fraught Maternal Connections.__ Exemplifying the cycles of abuse and neglect that can endlessly repeat themselves if not halted and corrected, Morrison’s novel highlights several broken mother-child relationships that contribute to the unstable and disrupted development of generations of characters. In particular, this fraught maternal connection is found in examining: Geraldine’s cold relationship with her son, Junior, who clearly understands that his mother prefers the company of her cat to him (ch.5), Ada Williams’s necessary distance from her young daughter, Polly, due to her taking on work across town and thereby forcing Polly to “never [feel] at home anywhere” (111) and to prefer “stillness and isolation” (112), Polly’s adult preference for spending time with and nurturing the needs of her employer’s daughter, while treating her own daughter as an employee/co-worker (ch.6), and Cholly’s mother’s abandoning him in a “junk heap by the railroad” (132). While Aunt Jimmy adopts Cholly following his mother’s cruel abandonment, Aunt Jimmy’s masculine name suggests she is an exception to the neglectful maternal practices of the women around her.

· __Women’s Conceptions of Nasty vs. Cleanliness.__ Many women in //The Bluest Eye// develop anxiety over the concept of filth and “nastiness”, which they associate with black culture and the body, while seeking to maintain/achieve an environment of cleanliness and purity, which they associate with white culture and the life of the mind/contemplation. This obsession with, and fear of, “nastiness” manifests in Rosemary Villanucci’s tattling on Frieda, Claudia, and Pecola for “playing nasty” (30) after they discuss how to help Pecola with her unexpected menstruation, Geraldine’s obsession with maintaining a clean house for her family and getting rid of the “dreadful funkiness of passion, the funkiness of nature” (83), and Mrs. MacTeer’s obsessive cleaning in order to compensate for Henry’s molestation of her daughter, Freida (ch.6). It is likely that this connection between cleanliness, white culture, and a denial of the body emerged from many black women being employed as domestic workers for white families in the novel. Moreover, teachers may want to point out that men and many children in Morison’s novel do not make the same symbolic associations with cleanliness, or hold cleanliness as an ideal; for example, Cholly takes great pleasure in the messy indulgence of watermelon (ch. 8), and Miss Jones’ husband leaves her on account of her being too clean (ch.1).
 * D2. History**

· __American Slavery and the Partial Fulfillment of the Emancipation Proclamation.__ The novel raises a plethora of historical topics related to social justice and equality, two of which are the history of black slavery in America and the partial success of the Emancipation Proclamation. Specifically, students will benefit from learning about the history of race relations amidst slavery in America, which dates back to the early seventeenth-century and the beginnings of the American nation, and which ostensibly ended with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 and its succeeding constitutional amendment in 1863. While Morrison’s novel is set decades after these formative historic moments and the official end of slavery, the effects of slavery linger on in the narrative through troubled race relations, both between racial communities and within them. · __Civil Rights Movement.__ Published in the midst of the Civil Rights movement in America, //The Bluest Eye// documents many of the central concerns voiced by the Movement, including the ongoing oppression of, racial prejudice towards, and limited opportunities of black people in America. In the same way that African Americans during the 1960s viewed “whites” as their primary oppressor, the black characters in Morrison’s novel are victimized by the hegemonies of white culture and valuations based on color. However, the novel can also be read as a testament to the conditions and racial tensions that //gave birth// to the Movement, and that, in ways, continue to plague black communities today. Read this way, //The Bluest Eye// is a testament to the collective shame of North American communities for their oppressive treatment of black individuals, and to the need for imaginative understanding in order to begin repairing this broken relationship.


 * D3. Sociology**

· __Scapegoat.__ One of the most pressing topics raised by Morrison’s novel is the widely-destructive use of socially-marginal figures as scapegoats in order to purge the angers and frustrations of a community. Pecola, in particular, is configured as a scapegoat when the local boys taunt her to forget, and alleviate the frustrations of, their own self-hatred due to their skin color (ch.4), when Junior viciously throws this mother’s cat at Pecola to vent his anger over his mother’s callous relationship with him (ch.5), and when Polly beats up Pecola after learning that her husband has raped their daughter (ch.10). As Claudia observes, “All of our waste … we dumped on her” (205). However, other female characters are configured as scapegoats, for example, when Cholly acts hatefully towards Darlene after there are exposed and exploited by two white men (ch.8). In this way, the novel’s characters cleanse themselves by casting their anger, hatred, and frustrations onto women, who tend to absorb this hatred, and carry it back with them to the margins of society. Readers are left to wonder, however, if this process of purification is successful at the end of the novel. Has black self-hatred truly been eliminated and purged?
 * D4. Psychology**

· __Entrance into Adulthood/Maturity.__ The process of growing up is, in many ways, the focus of Morrison’ novel. The liminal period of adolescence is repeatedly examined in the novel, suggesting the importance of this period in forming one’s world view of oneself and others. Specifically, this developmental stage is one of curiosity and excitement for some characters, such as Claudia, who is fascinated with female and male sexuality, and with female menstruation (ch. 1, 4, 6). For others, such as Freida, Pecola, and Polly, it is a period of growth and maturity that is forced upon them. For example, when Henry molests Freida by touching her breast, Freida is forcibly made aware of her attractiveness to men, and of the uncertainty of whether she had grown up, or become “ruined” (ch. 6). Similarly, Pecola is forced to recognize her own sexualized body when she, at age eleven, is raped and impregnated by her father (ch. 10). While not forced into her sexuality like Frieda and Pecola, Polly, as a young women, is forced into the domestic obligations associated with womanhood when she is forced to take over the maternal responsibilities of her many younger siblings (ch. 7). Understood in this light, growing up in the novel becomes associated with a movement into victimhood and a gaining of threatening knowledge, both of which work to distance the characters from their previous state of innocence.

· __Escapism.__ Given the difficult, and, at times, unbearable, circumstances that are forced upon the novel’s characters, it is not surprising that many attempt to engage in forms of escapism. In particular, Sammy Breedlove, when faced with the violent disputes of his parents, attempts to run away from his home (ch. 3), and Pecola attempts to lose herself in the fantasy of gaining blue eyes, which, she believes, will allow her to see, and be seen, differently (ch. 3, 11). As well, Polly, contending with her confining domestic responsibilities, dreams of a fantasy man who will come and take her away (ch.7) and later immerses herself in the imaginary world of the cinema to forget her pregnant body and missing tooth (ch. 7). Likewise, Cholly runs away after suspecting that he has impregnated Darlene (ch.8). These efforts to obtain, or immerse oneself, in an alternate reality ultimately fail the novel’s characters, forcing them to face the unbearable and difficult conditions that have come to characterize their lives. Where these efforts succeed, however, is in suggesting each character’s capacity of hope for movement beyond their oppressive and frightening circumstances.


 * //v. Issues and Challenges of the Text//**

Morrison’s novel has been challenged and censored in many educational contexts since its publication forty years ago due to the controversial and, at times, taboo topics raised in the novel. Specifically, students may struggle with the repeated use of the word “nigger” in the novel, which Morrison adopts to convey an authenticity of the racially-loaded language of the time period, and to suggest the racial tensions that pervade small town America in the 1940s. Teachers should address Morrison’s use of this term before students begin reading the novel, and suggest a framework within which to read and understand this term. As well, students will likely be uncomfortable with the explicitly sexual and violent events described in the novel. The novel’s sexual events include: the sexual intercourse of Pecola’s parents which sharing a room with their children (ch. 3), Henry’s sexual molestation of Frieda (ch. 6), and Cholly’s exploited sexual experience with Darlene (ch. 8). Moreover, the spectrum of violence showcased in Morrion’s novel appears in Mr. Breedlove’s abuse of his wife (ch. 3) and rape of his daughter (ch. 8), and the potential pedophilia of Soaphead Church (ch. 9). While these scenes may entice some adolescent readers to continue reading, for others, they may stifle classroom discussion and contributions. As such, it is of utmost importance that teachers create and maintain a “safe” and mature classroom environment while discussing this novel. Moreover, to the extent that some students may personally identify with the violent experiences detailed in //The Bluest Eye//, teachers should permit students to “pass” during class discussions, or to leave the class if they are personally unsettled during discussions. Despite this, however, the value of teaching this novel in secondary school classes is that it exposes students to difficult social and cultural issues that, to a large extent, define America’s past history. As well, the novel brings to light the kind of despair that can exist in the lives of black and white adolescents who are struggle to gain a footing in the adult world while struggling with the oppressive conditions that define their world.


 * //vi. Suitable Assignment://** **The Shadow Puppet Adaptation**

__Overall:__ //Analyzing Texts//. Respond to and analyze literary texts to develop and extend their understanding of how content, forms, and style in combination communicate meaning and enhance a text’s effectiveness. //The Role of Literature in Society.// Assess the importance of literature as a social and cultural force. __Specific:__ //Responding to Texts.// Respond to texts in a variety of ways before, during, and after reading to extend their understanding of the ideas, themes, language, and issues in the text. //Fostering Social, Cultural, and Political Awareness.// Explain how texts raise awareness about a range of topics, issues, ideas, cultures, events and people. //Promoting Personal and Social Change.// Identify ways in which literary texts might promote social and personal change. Before attempting this exercise, students should have completed their reading of the novel and discussed in class the above-listed “social knowledge” and “cultural knowledge” aspects of the novel. As well, students should be offered a clear definition of what an “adaptation” is, and its social purpose. This activity is a summative assessment that requires students to select one of the following four scenes from Morrison’s novel, each of which is focused on social justice issues (students can also propose their own scene from the novel, provided that the scene focuses on social justice issues, and is approved by the teacher beforehand): a. Claudia and Freida’s visit to the Fisher house, and Pecola’s mother scolding Pecola for accidently dropping the berry cobbler while comforting her employer’s daughter (p. 108-110). b. Pecola’s encounter with Junior, and his violently throwing the cat at Pecola’s face (p. 88-90). c. Pecola’s being mocked on her way home from school one day by a group of young boys (p. 64-66). d. the local women of Loraine gossiping about Pecola’s circumstances, and blaming Pecola for her father’s abuse (p. 188-190). Students will write an adaptation of their selected scene in order to propose how the novel’s events of social injustice might have unfolded in a more socially-conscious, equitable and fair way. In writing their adaptations, students should include all of the characters originally in the text (including the narrator’s) but can also add in characters not originally in each scene in order to adapt the scene to a different outcome. Students will be required to create the shadow puppets and perform a shadow puppet performance of their scene adaptation. As well, students will write a 2-3 page reflection on their adaptation (to be handed in the day of the adaptation performance). In this reflection, students can consider: · the social injustice originally presented in the selected scene · how their scene changed the social relations between the novel’s characters · why they decided to include additional characters not originally included in the scene (if applicable) · how this changed event might subsequently influence later events in the novel Make a three-part, hinged frame (4' x 3' - main frame and 2" x 3' - side frames). Stretch a cheap shower curtain over the frame and staple gun it into place. Alternately, you can use a piece of cardboard approximately 34 inches by 18 inches in size. Make 9-inch folds on the 34-inch side at each end. Fold these fold at a 45 degree angle to form the sides of the stage. Cut out a large window in the center panel of your stage with an exacto knife and cover the opening with a shower curtain.
 * Curriculum Expectations:**
 * Prior Knowledge:**
 * Assignment Description:**
 * How to Set Up a Shadow Puppet Stage: (a reference for teachers)**

Get a table big enough to hold the folded-out stage, and cover the table with a table cloth that reaches the floor (this will allow the puppeteers to remain hidden as they perform). The puppeteers will stand behind the table with the back of the puppet stage in front of them. Make sure that you have an outlet nearby for your lights and that there is room enough for students to move behind the stage. The puppets will be lightly pressed against the back of the stage - too much and the stage will wobble, not enough and the colors used in the puppets will not be bright. Place a white flood light approximately 6 feet behind the stage and pointed directly at it (from a high angle so the light is shining down on the screen). Have puppeteers avoid wearing clothes that have floppy sleeves; they get caught in the puppets and can cause unwanted shadows. The classroom lights should be turned off, and only the flood light should remain on. Lay out the puppets in order of their appearance. Have students practice/rehearse their scripts ahead of time. Keep supplies handy for emergencies - Scotch tape, scissors, extras tissue paper and light bulbs (Woodburn). Bristol board (preferable black) Color Tissue Paper Exacto Knife Scissors Glue Tape Brass fasteners (1/4 inch) (optional) Wooden dowel (1/8 inch thick) (optional) Non-bending plastic straws 1. Sketch images of the novel’s characters you want to include in the scene (alternately, you can download images/figures from the internet). Your sketches can be as basic or as elaborate as your choose (see below images). 2. Cut out your images/figures and cut out any moving body parts as an entirely separate piece from the main body of the figure (moving body parts are not required, but do bring your characters to life during the performance). 3. Glue your figure (and any separate moving parts) on the bristol board. 4. Use the exacto knife to cut out sections of your figures that you want to be colored and then cover them over with colored tissue paper (see below images). For example, in order to make the colored spikes of the monster in the middle image show behind the screen, you have to cut the insides of the spikes and glue green tissue paper to the surrounding black Bristol board.
 * Shadow Puppet Instructions (an instruction sheet submitted to students**)
 * MATERIALS:**
 * CONSTRUCTION:**

BE CAREFUL! Use the exacto knife with caution; it is very sharp! Also, always cut your pattern with the exacto knife on a non-marking and hard surface. You don’t want to make your kitchen table full of scratches. 5. (Optional) Punch a hole through both moving parts (ie. arm, leg, or character prop) and use a ¼ or ½ inch brass paper fastener to join the moving parts (ie. to attach a moving arm to the body of a figure). 6. Take a long thin (non-bending) drinking straw - cut and splay the ending part in two. Attach this split end to your character cut-out (the Bristol board will slide between the split straw). On the other end of the straw, you can attach a thin dowel in order to extend the length of the straw (you don’t want your hand showing during the performance!). 7. Your puppet is ready to perform! (Kinsella and Zaragas)


 * Marking Rubric for Shadow Puppet Assignment:**

**A. Knowledge and Understanding**

A1. Understanding of Content: Level 1: demonstrates limited understanding of content. Level 2: demonstrates some understanding of content. Level 3: demonstrates considerable understanding of content. Level 4: demonstrates thorough understanding of content.

**B. Thinking** B1. Use of Processing Skills: Level 1: Uses processing skills with limited effectiveness. Level 2: Uses processing skills with some effectiveness. Level 3: Uses processing skills with considerable effectiveness. Level 4: Uses processing skills with a high degree of effectiveness. B2. Use of Critical/Creative Thinking Processes: Level 1: Uses critical/creative thinking processes with limited effectiveness. Level 2: Uses critical/creative thinking processes with some effectiveness. Level 3: Uses critical/creative thinking processes with considerable effectiveness. Level 4: Uses critical/creative thinking processes with a high degree of effectiveness.

**C. Communication** C1. Expression and Organization of Ideas and Information: Level 1: Expresses and organizes ideas and information with limited effectiveness. Level 2: Expresses and organizes ideas and information with some effectiveness. Level 3: Expresses and organizes ideas and information with considerable effectiveness. Level 4: Expresses and organizes ideas and information with a high degree of effectiveness.

**References** Drummond-Mbalia, Doreatha. //Toni Morrison’s Developing Class Consciousness//. Toronto: Associated UP, 1991. Kinsella, Marilyn, and Sophia Zaragas. //How to Make Shadow Puppets.// 20 October 2010 . Matus, Jill. //Toni Morrison: Contemporary World Writers//. New York: Manchester UP, 1998. Ministry of Education. //The Ontario Curriculum Grades 11 and 12 English//. Revised. 19 October 2010 . Morrison, Toni. //The Bluest Eye.// New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1970. Woodburn, Bill. “Shadow Puppets: Designing, Building and Performing.” //The Puppetry Home Page.// 20 October 2010 .