Guiding Questions For Text Analysis - The Bluest Eye - Practical - unit 4 PDF

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Comentario de Textos Literarios en Lengua Inglesa Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura Equipo Docente: Isabel Castelao, Jesús Cora, Dídac Llorens

Guiding Questions for Text Analysis Toni Morrison ‘s The Bluest Eye TEXT FRAGMENT Younger than both Frieda and Pecola, I had not yet arrived at the turning point in the development of my psyche which would allow me to love her. What I felt at that time was unsullied hatred. But before that I had felt a stranger, more frightening thing than hatred for all the Shirley Temples of the world. It had begun with Christmas and the gift of dolls. The big, the special, the loving gift was always a big, blue-eyed Baby Doll. From the clucking sounds of adults I knew that the doll represented what they thought was my fondest wish. I was bemused with the thing itself, and the way it looked. What was I supposed to do with it? Pretend I was its mother? I had no interest in babies or the concept of motherhood. I was interested only in humans my own age and size, and could not generate any enthusiasm at the prospect of being a mother. Motherhood was old age, and other remote possibilities. I learned quickly, however, what I was expected to do with the doll: rock it, fabricate storied situations around it, even sleep with it. Picture books were full of little girls sleeping with their dolls. Raggedy Ann dolls usually, but they were out of the question. I was physically revolted by and secretly frightened of those round moronic eyes, the pancake face, and orange worms hair. The other dolls, which were supposed to bring me great pleasure, succeeded in doing quite the opposite. When I took it to bed, its hard unyielding limbs resisted my flesh--the tapered fingertips on those dimpled hands scratched. If, in sleep, I turned, the bone-cold head collided with my own. It was a most uncomfortable, patently aggressive sleeping companion. To hold it was no more rewarding. The starched gauze or lace on the cotton dress irritated any embrace. I had only one desire: to dismember it. To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me. Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs--all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured.

I) CONTEXT (100 words) In order to situate the fragment/text in its context, you may need to consider some/all of the following aspects/questions:  The text’s author: Is the fragment/text directly connected with any events or experiences in the author’s life?  The title of the text the fragment belongs to: does it sum up or reflect the text’s content? Is it at odds with it?  The author’s nationality: Is it relevant in relation to the fragment/text?  Historical context: In what ways does the fragment/text reflect the historical circumstances in which it was composed/published? Is it related to a specific historical event?  Literary/cultural context: Did the author belong to a specific literary movement? Does the fragment/text exemplify the main characteristics of this movement? Is it related to a specific cultural event? Situating a narrative text in its context should not take up a lot of space ( 100 words) nor involve extensive research. You do not need to consider all the aspects above; only those relevant to the fragment at hand.

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Comentario de Textos Literarios en Lengua Inglesa Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura Equipo Docente: Isabel Castelao, Jesús Cora, Dídac Llorens

II) FORM/CONTENT (200 words) The analysis of fiction has many similarities to the analysis of poetry. As a rule, a work of fiction is a narrative, with characters, with a setting, told by a narrator, with some claim to represent 'the world' in some fashion. In order to discuss the main traits of the text (both form and content), you may need to consider some/all of the following aspects/questions:  The text’s genre: What is the text’s genre? Is the fragment/text a good example of the genre in question? Does it subvert any generic conventions?  The narrative voice/point of view/narrator: Who tells the story? From what perspective? Is the narration told by an omniscient narrator, by a character within the story or outside the story? Is this narrator reliable or unreliable?  Plot and Structure: What events or scenes are being described in the fragment? How has the author arranged the events of the story in order to create significance? How is the whole work structured? How does it contribute to the meaning of the fragment?  Characters: How are the characters defined, directly or indirectly? Does the character belong to a particular character type or represent a certain idea, value, quality or attitude? What is the social status of the character(s), and how can you tell from how they speak and what they do?  Settings: How are the temporal and spatial settings used? To create a sense of realism? To create mood? To reinforce themes and ideas conveyed by the story?  Imagery: What kind of images do we find? Are they recurrent images? Are they used in metaphors and figurative language?  Language: What kind of language is used? What areas of experience, feeling, and meaning are evoked? How is meaning created by the stresses on words, by the rhythm and length of the sentence, by the punctuation?  Discourse features: Are the sentences logically joined or disjointed? To what extent does the speaker use rhetorical devices such as irony?  Theme: Does the fragment/text have (a) clear theme(s)? Remember that a theme should be formulated in abstract terms.  World-view: What is the shape of the world that the text projects? What is the structure of values that underlie the fiction? What are the distances and similarities between the world of the fiction and the world that the reader inhabits? You do not need to consider all the aspects above; only those relevant to the fragment at hand. You should write about 200 words.

III) THEORY & CRITICISM (250 words) Taking into account the main tenets of Gender Studies, how would you approach this fragment from this perspective? How is Black female experience portrayed in the novel? Check the UNIT 4 Study Guide and the basic bibliography ( Beginning Theory), but use your own words. You should write about 250 words.

This exercise is for you to work autonomously and not to be submitted. Answers and guidelines will be given on aLF.

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