In the bluest eye a little girl receives a doll for Christmas that she doesn’t want. Throughout the story she complains about the expectations placed on her and rebels by treating the doll and others differently than the way people expect her to. Toni Morrison uses the Christmas gift, the doll, to highlight what she perceives to be proof that gender is socially constructed and is used to control women.
When the little girl receives the doll for Christmas she is unsure how to act towards it and wonders “What was I supposed to do with it?”. According to the girl the doll was to represent her “fondest wish.”. Here Morrison is pointing out that girls liking dolls is a social construct. This is even more evident when the little girls claim “that …show more content…
The little girl talks about how pictures were shown of little girls lying next to baby dolls. Being a mother is a role that Morrision believes that society forces on women. The advertising of little girls lying next to baby dolls shows one of the means that people force the role of motherhood on to little girls through propaganda. Morrison believes that through advertising corporations paint what little girls are to like, dolls, and what little are girls should aspire to be, mothers. The little girl was supposed to “rock it, fabricate storied situations around it [and] even sleep with it”. However the girl doesn’t do this. Later in the story she brags, “I destroyed that doll”. By the little girl doing opposite what she was supposed to do, Morrison highlights how women being gentle and caring is something put on women by society. The people are even shocked at how the little girl treats the doll because she doesn’t fit into their view of how the little girl is supposed to act towards the doll by angrily proclaiming “You-don’t-know-how-to-take-care-of-nothing. I-never-had-a-baby-doll-in-my-whole-life-and-used-to-cry-my-eyes-out…”.The little girl in the story also despises wearing dresses “that required a hateful bath in a …show more content…
Social constructs are good for the betterment of society, however, and there are good reasons why women have certain expectations placed on them. Social constructs are based on biology. This is why women are expected to be stay-at-home moms, not promiscuous, caring, gentle, and clean while men are expected to be the opposite of that. Women can get pregnant while men can’t and men are stronger. Also most men don’t like masculine women while most women don’t like feminine men. In In addition this is what the each sex finds attractive in the opposite sex. It seems like Morrison wants women to live in a world with no expectations but this is
When the little girl receives the doll for Christmas she is unsure how to act towards it and wonders “What was I supposed to do with it?”. According to the girl the doll was to represent her “fondest wish.”. Here Morrison is pointing out that girls liking dolls is a social construct. This is even more evident when the little girls claim “that …show more content…
The little girl talks about how pictures were shown of little girls lying next to baby dolls. Being a mother is a role that Morrision believes that society forces on women. The advertising of little girls lying next to baby dolls shows one of the means that people force the role of motherhood on to little girls through propaganda. Morrison believes that through advertising corporations paint what little girls are to like, dolls, and what little are girls should aspire to be, mothers. The little girl was supposed to “rock it, fabricate storied situations around it [and] even sleep with it”. However the girl doesn’t do this. Later in the story she brags, “I destroyed that doll”. By the little girl doing opposite what she was supposed to do, Morrison highlights how women being gentle and caring is something put on women by society. The people are even shocked at how the little girl treats the doll because she doesn’t fit into their view of how the little girl is supposed to act towards the doll by angrily proclaiming “You-don’t-know-how-to-take-care-of-nothing. I-never-had-a-baby-doll-in-my-whole-life-and-used-to-cry-my-eyes-out…”.The little girl in the story also despises wearing dresses “that required a hateful bath in a …show more content…
Social constructs are good for the betterment of society, however, and there are good reasons why women have certain expectations placed on them. Social constructs are based on biology. This is why women are expected to be stay-at-home moms, not promiscuous, caring, gentle, and clean while men are expected to be the opposite of that. Women can get pregnant while men can’t and men are stronger. Also most men don’t like masculine women while most women don’t like feminine men. In In addition this is what the each sex finds attractive in the opposite sex. It seems like Morrison wants women to live in a world with no expectations but this is