Reification
...he root of hatred. Hatred describes a projection of superiority and dehumanization of a person in order to hate them. In this sense, the process of dehumanizing them opposes their cosmic liberties for free think as well as their cosmic significance and self-worth. Reification, therefore, ties in hand in hand with hatred because in order to hate, one must “thingify” a person or remove them from all human associations; their freedoms of being must be eliminated. In the Bluest Eyes, a novel by Toni Morrison, a tale of racism and hatred is told in the perspective of a black girl in 1930s America. As a whole, the American society at the time believed that black people were inferior and, therefore, were denied basic rights and privileges that were granted to white people. This extreme detestation was a part of American culture since the country was formed and was consequently where the hatred developed from. Because of the general belief that obscured the reality of racism, the children of this novel suffered the repercussions of a stolen freedom. There were certain daily routines that could not be performed just because their skin was a different color. An example in the book that illustrates this was when the girls go to buy candy from the corner market. The store clerk wouldn’t even look at the girl and when she reached to pay for the candy, the store clerk made exceptional effort to not touch her hand. The girls’ freedom of being just another customer was taken from her. Pecola Breedlove, the protagonist, had it worse than any other black girl. Daughter to a drunkard and living in an extremely violent household made her the focus of childish taunts. She was ostracized by her peers; thus, her freedom of having a friend or being treated normally was deprived. Another intriguing aspect of the novel was the depiction of a self versus an identity in the presence of a little girls mind. Pecola had a self when around her schoolmates; however, subcutaneously she had a desire so deep that it engulfed her sanity and forced her into a world of depression and self-loathing—the desire for blue eyes. This novel ties in all aspects of reification: stating the psychological origins of racism, illustrating a stolen freedom of the black people, and exemplifying a self versus identity. Now that a well developed definition of reification has been understood, discussion on issues and topics related to reification will ensue. For example, situated and limited freedom. Situated freedom describes being deprived of liberties for a set period of time; whereas, limited freedom illustrates having lost freedom for a lifetime. Case in point, a person can be deprived of their situated freedom when an ethnic remark is made that categorizes them into a stereotyped group. A person may assume something about another person, such as they’re geniuses and good with math if they’re Asian, when in reality this may not be true. In limited freedom, a perfect example is segregation. Separating a social order into classes based on race is denying the inferior race of its basic freedoms that are granted to the superior race. Limited freedom continues throughout the lifespan of the victim and, in most cases, the superior group doesn’t realize the effects of such treatment. For example, in Unit 9 discussion of gender oppression illustrates that it is the responsibility of the oppressed to teach the oppressors. Females must teach males, blacks must teach whites, gays and lesbians must teach the heterosexuals; for without a counteraction, history will reinvent itself in a circuitous wheel of reification. Another issue that pertains to reification is “willing the unwillable”. In other words, the act of wishing for something that entirely could never happen—naiveté. A prime example exists in the novel, The Bluest Eyes. Pecola desires more than anything else to have blue eyes. This desire raptures her being entirely, so much so that when she eats a certain candy, Mary Janes, which has a blonde haired, blue eyed girl on the label, she’s immersed into a trance like state where for “three pennies [she] had bought her nine lovely orgasms with Mary Jane” (Morrison, 50). Pecola reveals her envy for the blue eyed girl and loses her sanity over her longing to look liker her. In this sense, she reflects a strong naiveté considering she could never have blue eyes. Response to anxieties is a direct catalyst to why people feel the way they do towards others. A person in emotional and psychological distress who has experienced across a spectrum of malevolent episodes will feel a sense of overwhelmed reification. For instance, the oppression of women caused a massive societal revolution in order to gain equal rights for women. The Women’s Movement occurred because it was a response to the anxieties of their role as the house wife slaving in the kitchen to cook dinner for the male when he comes home from work. Women had to break out of this role and many felt a strong sense of abhorrence towards men. Lastly on issues related to reification is the illogic of logic. A crucial example is the racism that was illustrated in the movie “American History X.” The main character gives a speech on why his hatred for non-whites was justifiable; however, hate can not be explained as justifiable or morally correct in any way. There’s an illogical manner to, in this example, the logic that he describes as to reasons to hate non-white people. The ability to logic ...