Morrison's Bluest Eye: MigrationMorrison depicts much of African American culture when she places the characters in an urban area. The change in environment from north to south plays a key role in the loss of community ties. African Americans are extremely affected as they are displaced and attempt to conform to the cultural norms of the North. In the north, the emphasis is on material wealth and beauty, while the south is more family oriented. Migration may have displaced many people, but it provides employment opportunities as well as economic gains. Pauline and Cholly were migrants from small rural towns. After her marriage, Cholly suggested moving “all the way north…where the steel mills were begging for workers” (92). The influx of industrial workers created a strong working class, allowing African Americans to purchase homes. The open job market made home ownership accessible to many African Americans. New wages and job opportunities have improved the quality of life for new residents. Purchasing power has become more important in the African-American household, and love is replaced by material objects. Love is replaced by gifts, and gifts must conform to white ideals. Claudia experiences this phenomenon at Christmas when she receives a "big doll with blue eyes" (19). Claudia reflected on how she felt about the doll, stating, “All I wanted was to dismember it. See what it was made of, discover the dear, find the beauty” (20). In Susan Willis's critical essay "I Shop Because I Am", she discusses the reasoning behind Claudia's anger towards the doll. In receiving the doll, Claudia's main goal is to uncover the roots of white domination. The only... middle of paper ... asshole citizens in white America, given that they were brought as slaves. The enslavement of African Americans by whites severed all cultural ties and dehumanized the slaves. The masters convinced African Americans that they were incapable of cultivating themselves to create a fatherly relationship. The loss of identity forced slaves to act as their masters saw fit. The migration of African Americans to the North supports this concept: they must conform to the norms of white culture that they are trained to obey. Identifying with their own culture in a new environment is difficult, as conformity is essential to integrating into white society. Migration from the South to the North commodified African American values ​​of community, destroying cultural bonds. Works Cited: Morrison, Toni. The bluest eye. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc..., 1993.