ARFL BANNED BOOK CLUB

Returning to Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye: A Conversation with Dr. Charlotte Teague

One conversation wasn’t enough. Join us as we return to Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye for a deeper exploration of this powerful, challenging, and enduring novel. This intimate book club gathering will invite us to look beyond the surface of the story and consider the forces that shape how we see ourselves, one another, and the world around us.

We are honored to welcome Dr. Charlotte Teague, scholar, writer, associate professor, and chair of the Department of English & Modern Languages at Alabama A&M University. Her scholarly interests include Black women’s literature, and her work engages deeply with the ways literature illuminates identity, family, community, power, and belonging.

Dr. Teague’s scholarship includes the chapter “Spatiality in Morrison Contexts: Mapping Racialized Spaces in The Bluest Eye,” published in Salem Press’s Critical Insights: The Bluest Eye in October 2025. Her dissertation combined original fiction with critical scholarship on Morrison, Alice Walker, and Tayari Jones, examining family relationships and the spatial dimensions of power. Through her teaching and research, she explores how Morrison challenges us to confront the relationships among identity, beauty, community, and belonging.

Together, we will explore the novel’s complex themes, including internalized racism, colorism, beauty standards, childhood vulnerability, trauma, family relationships, community responsibility, and the devastating consequences of a society that teaches some people they are less worthy of love and belonging than others. We will consider how Morrison’s use of symbolism, narrative perspective, and the social spaces her characters inhabit deepens our understanding of these issues—and why her work continues to speak so powerfully to our present moment.

Expect an intimate, open-hearted discussion grounded in curiosity, careful reading, and a willingness to sit with difficult questions. With Dr. Teague’s scholarly insight and our collective reflections, we hope to leave with a richer understanding of Morrison’s artistry, a deeper appreciation of the novel’s enduring relevance, and meaningful insights that stay with us long after the conversation ends.

Come ready to listen, reflect, question, and discover something new in a book that rewards every return.