Internalized Racism & Unconscious: The Psychoanalytic Reading of Trauma in The Bluest Eye

Ms. Reshma Begum R.

Assistant Professor, Arjun College of Technology, Coimbatore.

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the psychological trauma and the internalized racism in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison through a psychological lens. It draws upon the Freudian concepts of repression and the unconscious, along with the trauma theory, to examine the psychic fragmentation of Pecola Breedlove and the unresolved childhood trauma of her father, Cholly Breedlove. This study argues that trauma experienced by an individual does not rely solely on the psychological wounds of the past, but is viewed as a culturally inherited condition, shaped by systematic racial oppression and beauty standards. It explores how idealizing white culture has a significant impact on the human psyche and the unconscious, which further creates an existential crisis. This paper studies the passing of the inter-generational trauma, creating devastating consequences of trauma, self-harm and self-hatred, thereby situating literature as a powerful medium to study the sufferings of the marginalized and the under privileged communities. 

Keywords: Racial oppression, Identity crisis, Existentialism, Trauma studies, Human psyche.