Hey everyone, I hope all is well!
One of the Booktubers I watch, ReadswithRachel, is doing a banned books book club this year (you can read more about it here). She also recently posted a video about The Bluest Eye if you want to check it out.
For January, the book The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison was on my TBR for a while. While reading this novel, I also read The Will to Change by bell hooks. Reading both books simultaneously created some interesting overlap with The Bluest Eye as The Will to Change, which discusses men’s issues under patriarchy and how that plays out with their interactions with women. It also covers how women’s idea of masculinity under patriarchy also impacts how men define and put masculinity into practice.
Although The Bluest Eye covers difficult topics and has moments that made me physically feel uncomfortable, that doesn’t mean it should be banned or that high school students shouldn’t read this book.
Just like with any book taught in an English or History class, what matters is the discussions teachers lead when assigning this book. The Bluest Eye brings up important conversations about the intersection of racism, beauty standards, and patriarchy, and these are conversations that students should be having in the classroom as well as outside the classroom.
Also, Toni Morrison is a great writer, and students should have the opportunity to experience her work in a space, like a classroom, where they can get a deeper understanding of why she wrote The Bluest Eye the way it is, including the POV changes, the inclusion of the “Jane” passage, and how the story is divided into different sections based on the seasons.
Overall, The Bluest Eye shouldn’t be banned simply because it contains difficult topics to discuss. In fact, that’s what makes it so important. It brings up relevant issues in society today and provides a safe place for students to explore the novel’s themes.
“You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. 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 mast 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. “Yes,” they had said. “You are right.”
-Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
I’ve written about the history of The Bluest Eye book bannings/challenges, which you can read here, but the post is from 2022, so I’m going to include updated information about the challenges and bans it faced in 2023 and 2024.
According to Marshall Libraries, Wikipedia (citing the Anchorage Daily News), and the Texas Freedom to Read Project in 2023 and 2024, The Bluest Eye was banned or challenged due to content depicting rape, incest, EDI content (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion), and is considered sexually explicit.
| 2023 | September 2023: In the Matanuska-Sustina Borough School District (AK), The Bluest Eye, along with 56 other titles, was challenged by the newly created District Wide Library Committee. The committee’s task was to find “…specific titles on a list and additional book titles for banning. The committee incorrectly identified Toni Morrison’s prize-winning book, along with others, as violating a state statute for distributing “indecent material” that is “harmful to minors” age 16 and under.” The school board will review the books and give a final verdict about which titles were banned. According to the Alaska Beacon, in August 2024, all but 7 titles from this ban were to return to bookshelves, pending a trial this year. The Bluest Eye is one of the titles to be reshelved. October 25th: The Chief Academic Officer for Broward County Schools (FL) had all principals within the district remove 11 titles, such as The Bluest Eye, due to complaints from Moms for Liberty which included any picture books, sex education materials, or AP English novels that contained sexually explicit or LGBTQIA+ content [Marshall Libraries]. In Ohio, Chuck Bartsche (who ran a failed campaign for a board seat within this district) challenged The Bluest Eye in the Rocky River City Schools district to have it removed. However, the book was retained and is still a part of the AP English curriculum [Marshall Libraries]. |
| 2024 | April 2024: In Katy, Texas, The Bluest Eye, along with 33 other titles, was banned from Katy ISD following a school board meeting attended by the Remnant Alliance, an affiliate of the extremist, pro-censorship group Citizens Defending Freedom. For a specific timeline of which books were removed and when visit the Texas Freedom to Read Project’s page. October 25th: The Chief Academic Officer for Broward County Schools (FL) had all principals within the district remove 11 titles, such as The Bluest Eye, due to complaints from Moms for Liberty, which included any picture books, sex education materials, or AP English novels that contained sexually explicit or LGBTQIA+ content [Marshall Libraries]. In Ohio, Chuck Bartsche (who ran a failed campaign for a board seat within this district) challenged The Bluest Eye in the Rocky River City Schools district to have it removed. However, the book was retained and is still a part of the AP English curriculum [Marshall Libraries]. |
That’s all I have for today’s post. If you want to stay current on what’s going on with book banning and challenges across the United States, follow PEN America and the American Library Association. Also, if you know of local book challenges, don’t be afraid of getting involved by attending school board meetings or joining your local “Friend’s of the Library” chapter.
On that note, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next post! 🦥
-Erin(:
Eclectic Erin 