Much Madness Is Divinest Sense Analysis

Knowing certain societal constructs and expectations can be a major burden on every individual within that society. In Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” we see a young girl named Pecola Breedlove struggling with her community’s beauty standards, causing her to consistently beg for blue eyes. While the poem “Much Madness is divinest Sense” by Emily Dickinson shows that while the majority who follow all of the “rules” may be the truly be the ones that are mad, the ones who go against the grain are the ones who are seen negatively. Overall, we are showed that societal constructs are the foundation of how certain people are treated certain ways. And in both works I believe that the knowledge of these structures leaves a sense of powerlessness. While reading “The Bluest Eye”, I could not help but to feel a looming sense of sadness and desperation. Pecola Breedlove, a young woman of …show more content…
Both works also show the destructiveness on ones’ individual power in knowing these societal standards. A perfect quote Dickinson uses is when she states “To a discerning Eye-- / Much Sense--the starkest Madness” (Dickinson 2-3). This shows that many can see behind the illusion of societal norms, while this should be an enlightening remark, the weary truth is that straying from these norms will deem one as an unsatisfactory character. Dickinson herself directly explains, “Demur—you’re straightaway dangerous-- / And handled with a Chain—“ (Dickinson 7-8). The sad fact of the matter is that then, and even now, people are expected to mold to a certain societal norm. And if the people do not conform to these norms they are branded as “strange” or “weird.” People should be encouraged to be different, but because of their knowledge of societal normality, they are restricted and left powerless, just as Pecola Breedlove