International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences Vol-7, Issue-3; May-Jun, 2022 Journal Home Page Available: https://ijels.com/ Journal DOI: 10.22161/ijels IJELS-2022, 7(3), (ISSN: 2456-7620) https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.73.31 217 Racial Trauma and Microaggression in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye Dr. Deepshikha Routray 1 , Jayasmita Kuanr 2 1 Lecturer in English, Maharishi College of Natural Law, Bhubaneswar, India shikharoutray@gmail.com 2 Research Scholar, School of Humanities, KIIT, India j.jayasmita07@gmail.com Received: 30 May 2022; Received in revised form: 12 Jun 2022; Accepted: 19 Jun 2022; Available online: 26 Jun 2022 ©2022 The Author(s). Published by Infogain Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Abstract— Racial trauma is associated with the detrimental psychological impact of race-based discrimination having symptoms like those of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). With accounts of systemic racism across the globe, it is quite pertinent to discuss the distressing impact of living within a society of structural racism. Racial trauma involves exposure and re-exposure to race-based stress, which can be of different forms, microaggression being one of them. Microaggression shows how instances at a micro-level like insults and slights against black people, can have a detrimental effect on the mental health of those who experience it. The Bluest Eye (1970), the debut novel of Nobel prize-winning author Toni Morrison, is a tragic story of Pecola Breedlove, an African- American girl, longing for the socially constructed idea of beauty. A study of her character will highlight the effects of internalised racism based on the tragic events of discrimination and marginalisation in Pecola’s life and her psychological response to it. This paper will focus on racial trauma and Chester E. Pierce’s concept of microaggression to foreground the psychological distress that Pecola is grappling with, in the narrative and how apart from acts of violence, offensive and derogatory statements against the people of colour damages their psyche. Keywords— Racism, trauma, microaggression. INTRODUCTION In an article in the First Post on 'Black Americans' collective Racial Trauma' (April 18, 2021), Carlil Pittman, the co-founder of the Chicago-based youth organization GoodKids exposes us to the systemic racial trauma that plagues Black Americans. The article informs that there have been numerous instances of violence against black Americans at the hands of police. Pittman said that “We’re constantly turning on the TV, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and seeing people that look like us who are getting murdered with no repercussions…. It’s not normal to see someone get murdered by the click of a video on your phone, yet it has become the norm for our people, our Black and brown communities”. Pittman cites many instances in addition to George Floyd Memorial Day killing by a Minneapolis officer which sparked protests across the world. Such horrifying acts of violence against Black Americans are not new and it is extremely heart- wrenching to note the spiraling cases despite rigid policies and international laws against such discrimination. A study of racial trauma emerging from oppressive systems and racist practices helps us to understand the racist practices deeply embedded in the fabric of a nation. Stories are the best way to understand the cultural fabric of a nation. Stories make us experience, rich emotions and feelings of joy, sorrow, hardships, and failures. Virginia Hamilton, the author of The People Could Fly said that "storytelling was the first opportunity for black folks to represent themselves as anything other than property" (qtd. in Collier). Toni Morrison is one such