"The Bluest Eye" (page 87)

" Junior used to long to play with the black boys... more than anything in the world he wanted to play king of the mountain... he wanted to feel their hardness pressing on him, smell their wild blackness, and say fuck you with that lovely casualness.) this scene in the story stood out to me. There is a very deep message behind it. Junior's character is an  insecure little boy who has no idea who he is, thanks to his mother. He is unhappy with himself. His mother controls the way he views people, they judge ones skin color and family dynamics. Junior is confused. He wants to play with the black boys and girls in his neighborhood, which he does but he competes with them. This makes him feel like he's better than them. Maybe stronger, smarter, and more powerful.  I believe he does this only to justify his mothers beliefs about black kids. even though he may feel otherwise. He uses them, their time and temporary friendship to take what he can get/use from them. He than treats them like their nothing so beneath him, to make himself feel powerful. This scene also points out a question that's frequently asked "are people born races?" Most of us have our own beliefs, however this scene can be used as an example. Junior was not born races, his mother taught him to hate people. The saddest part about it is, she taught him to hate his own kind. When in reality, she's teaching him to hate himself.