Upon further review, the “biracial” aspect of a person is considered a part of “beauty” standards in a way. Despite there being only two biracial citizens in The Bluest Eye, they are seen as beautiful compared to other African-Americans. Despite being a man Frieda and Claudia have to steer clear from, Soaphead Church is a biracial character whose ancestry he is proud of despite the fact that it is a high probability that their White ancestor – Sir Whitcomb – raped a slave. In fact, his family is so proud of the ancestry gained from Sir Whitcomb that “they transferred this Anglophilia to their six children and sixteen grandchildren, [and] except for an occasional and unaccountable insurgent who chose a restive black, they married “up,” lightening
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Compared to people such as Maureen Peal and even Soaphead Church, the Breedloves are seen to have accepted who they are inside and out. When the readers first meet the Breedloves, Morrison claims that “they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it; dealing with it each according to his way” (Morrison 39). This means that the Breedloves did not care about what they thought about their appearances (as the readers will see later through Cholly and Pauline’s backstories) and even figured out ways to deal with it. Making it worse is the fact that the “beauty” standards of their society is probably what drove them to accepting their ugliness (again, sans Pecola). The main goal for Pecola, of course, is to gain blue eyes, the bluest of them all. This, as stated before, is due to how she is treated by her peers, which resulted in her hating how she looks. In Morrison’s foreword, she admits that it was based on a true event (minus the rape and insanity), and “[she] knew that some victims of powerful self-loathing turn out to be dangerous, violent, reproducing the enemy who has humiliated them over and over; others surrender their identity” (Morrison iv-x). Here, she states that the meaning behind the novel surrounds how self-loathing can turn someone into something different: violent or otherwise. In Pecola’s …show more content…
This psychological effect on Pecola is the result of the “beauty” standards that African Americans and Whites have set in the early 1900s. The former, however, derives from the fact that their ancestors were forced into learning Anglo-Americans’ beliefs and ideals. One of these things, this author believes, happens to be “beauty” standards, as in the United States – especially in the South – White women were depicted as the purest and most innocent person, and thus made laws in order to protect them. While the “White gaze” focuses on the expectations that White people have on African-Americans, it seems that the African-Americans in The Bluest Eye reflects this. From the White baby doll Claudia receives to how her peers act around Maureen Peal, African-Americans in the community seem to have inherited not only the “White gaze,” but class hierarchy, as well. As a result, African-Americans in The Bluest Eye deemed certain beauty standards of White Americans as “beauty standards,” the main one being appearances i.e. skin and eye color. While the readers are supposed to focus on Pecola, they see her through the eyes of Claudia MacTeer because they see her as trying to break this problem in the community, not make it worse just as Pecola did. In the end, it seems to have failed, as Pecola has gone insane all while the people in the community
Compared to people such as Maureen Peal and even Soaphead Church, the Breedloves are seen to have accepted who they are inside and out. When the readers first meet the Breedloves, Morrison claims that “they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it; dealing with it each according to his way” (Morrison 39). This means that the Breedloves did not care about what they thought about their appearances (as the readers will see later through Cholly and Pauline’s backstories) and even figured out ways to deal with it. Making it worse is the fact that the “beauty” standards of their society is probably what drove them to accepting their ugliness (again, sans Pecola). The main goal for Pecola, of course, is to gain blue eyes, the bluest of them all. This, as stated before, is due to how she is treated by her peers, which resulted in her hating how she looks. In Morrison’s foreword, she admits that it was based on a true event (minus the rape and insanity), and “[she] knew that some victims of powerful self-loathing turn out to be dangerous, violent, reproducing the enemy who has humiliated them over and over; others surrender their identity” (Morrison iv-x). Here, she states that the meaning behind the novel surrounds how self-loathing can turn someone into something different: violent or otherwise. In Pecola’s …show more content…
This psychological effect on Pecola is the result of the “beauty” standards that African Americans and Whites have set in the early 1900s. The former, however, derives from the fact that their ancestors were forced into learning Anglo-Americans’ beliefs and ideals. One of these things, this author believes, happens to be “beauty” standards, as in the United States – especially in the South – White women were depicted as the purest and most innocent person, and thus made laws in order to protect them. While the “White gaze” focuses on the expectations that White people have on African-Americans, it seems that the African-Americans in The Bluest Eye reflects this. From the White baby doll Claudia receives to how her peers act around Maureen Peal, African-Americans in the community seem to have inherited not only the “White gaze,” but class hierarchy, as well. As a result, African-Americans in The Bluest Eye deemed certain beauty standards of White Americans as “beauty standards,” the main one being appearances i.e. skin and eye color. While the readers are supposed to focus on Pecola, they see her through the eyes of Claudia MacTeer because they see her as trying to break this problem in the community, not make it worse just as Pecola did. In the end, it seems to have failed, as Pecola has gone insane all while the people in the community