LITR 4332 American Minority Literature 2013 Student Midterm Samples midterm assignment #3. Web Highlights

Heather Schutmaat

3. The Color Code and The White Beauty Standard

            In a sample midterm response from 2004 (ID #1), the student states that “In the poem on page 111 of the Unsettling America Anthology, ‘Song No. 3’ by Sonia Sanchez, the author addresses the physical differences in African American girls that separate them from the dominant culture.” The student asserts that in this poem the author expresses that not only does she see herself differently from the dominant culture, she also views herself as ugly. However, she also explains that the author ends the poem on a positive note, hoping that one day she will see herself as “a pretty little black girl” and that the realization of her own beauty is her dream.

            In a student poetry presentation from 2005 on Patricia Smith’s poem “Blonde White Woman”, the student interprets the poem as an illustration of “the frustration of a young African American woman who lives in a society which causes her to wish to be someone else.” The student also points out, “From the very beginning of the poem, as she reads through Ebony magazine, she is confronted with advertisements for hair straightening and skin lightening concoctions” elucidating the prevalent desire among young black African American women to correspond with the white beauty standards. The student emphasizes this desire by taking note of how, as a child, the author would pretend to be white and blonde, and only then would she feel beautiful. However, the student also explains that (just as the poem by Sonia Sanchez hopes for) Patricia Smith’s view as an adult changes and she “comes to accept herself and to realize her own beauty.”  

            From what I have collected from the student responses to these poems, both poems run parallel to the notion of self-hatred, or a negative self-image, as a consequence of the Color Code and white beauty standards that were present in society, just as they are demonstrated in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. In a student midterm answer from 2008, the student points out that The Bluest Eye “contains multiple examples of the harm that the Color Code perpetuates. When Pecola is born, her mother Pauline sees her as just ‘a black ball of hair’ (124) and remarks, ‘…Lord was she ugly’ (126). She has bought into her oppression so much that she fails to recognize her daughter’s natural beauty.”

What I appreciate most about this student’s response is that although the student points out the existence of the Color Code in The Bluest Eye, the student also provides evidence that Toni Morrison is warning against the dangers of the Color Code. Furthermore, the student illuminates textual evidence that proves Toni Morrison has a very positive view of darkness. For example, the student states, “But while the characters in The Bluest Eye view black skin and features as ugly, the author clearly does not. The ‘dark sweetness’ of Ivy’s singing (113), the ‘soft black Georgia sky’ of Cholly’s youth (133), and the African violets that black women ‘nudged…into bloom’ (138) all represent a dark beauty.”

In each of these model assignments, students are identifying the theme of the Color Code as it was reinforced in the dominant culture of the society in which the authors lived. Furthermore, the students demonstrate the effects the white beauty standard has on African American women. And perhaps most importantly, each student successfully identifies the author’s notion of accepting, or hoping to accept, herself just as she is. Therefore, through these model assignments, I learned the expansiveness of the color code’s existence, as well as the collective hope for its demise.