Existentialism, Beloved, and The Bluest Eye Essay

Existentialism, Beloved, and The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison has written several novels, many of which show the influence of existentialist thinking; however, Beloved and The Bluest Eye both strongly illustrate all of the major existential themes. Beloved is a novel about a woman, Sethe, who escapes from slavery with her children. She is haunted both physically and psychologically by her experience, as evidenced by the scars she carries on her back from a severe beating, and the scars she carries in her mind from the horrible treatment she suffered. A few weeks after her escape, Sethes owner hunted her down to reclaim her as his property. Under the fear of capture, Sethe decided that for her children, death†¦show more content†¦She thought that if she had blue eyes, the blue eyes of the accepted white ideal, she would be beautiful and therefore loved. The acquisition of the blue eyes she so fiercely covets signifies Pecolas step into madness. It was a safe place, where she could have her blue eyes, and where she could be accepted. It is within these novels that Morrison probes black life through the themes of existentialism. Existentialism itself is a difficult concept to understand. As a movement, it asks: What does it mean to exist? and it seeks to provide some answers. Existentialists believe that man is the only creature born with the ability to think and reason; therefore, he has free will, which is considered one reason for existence. Existentialism seeks to explain the significance of the freedom of an individual being within their time on earth (Existentialism). Existentialists believe that man is born into a void, or into the mud. They believe that he has the freedom and the liberty to remain in the mud, in a passive, supine existence. However, it is believed that in this state one is not self-aware, and therefore life has no meaning. Existentialists also believe, though, that man has the freedom to drag himself out of the mud, and to choose to exist. Only through exercising this power of choice can h e give meaning to his life. This is the first major theme of existentialism (Eiermann). This principle theme of existentialism is the idea that