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Nam, Sung-sook. “The Characteristics and Meaning of Laughter in The Bluest Eye.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 37.3 (2011): 89-108. Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, describes the tragedy of self identity having been lost, through the dominance of social values and the white standards of beauty. All Afro-American characters in this novel are affected by a white society that both violates and denies black culture. Characters, susceptible to dominant social definition, are inclined to give up ‘Funk’, which is black culture’s prime quality: they are ashamed of ‘Funk’, of spontaneous feeling. Such characters only respect proper manners, and discourage loud laughter because it is regarded by dominant Western culture as inferior. But this novel emphasizes the positive quality of laughter. Characters who do not give in to dominant cultural norms and so do not give up their laughter, have a more subjectively positive life. Spontaneous, positive laughter opens minds, expresses the subjective self and is free of any artificial system. In this novel, this kind of laughter is found in three whores who are marginal characters in society. Through their free and healthy laughter, Morrison exposes the wrong of binary thought and requires readers to acknowledge the peculiar value of a different culture. (Hannam University)