Comparative Essay on The Bluest Eye and Sea Hearts
Thesis: Both novels, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Margo Lanagan’s Sea Hearts, convey the negative impact of perceptions of beauty on protagonists in their respective conformist societies. EXPAND
Introduction
Set in the 1940s, The Bluest Eye, explores the psychological impact of an eleven-year-old African-American, Pecola Breedlove, in the predominantly Caucasian society of Lorain, Ohio, whilst Sea Hearts, a fantasy based on the Selkie legend from the Orkney Islands of Scotland and Ireland depicts/reveals Misskaella Prout’s discovery of her differences in nature and appearance. Both protagonists, misfits in their respective contexts, experience the negative impact of stereotyped perceptions of beauty in their society, which differentiate/judge/value/create MAIN POINTS OF COMPARISON
(social hierarchy, discrimination & lack of love and self-loathing)
Idea 1: Social hierarchy
In both novels, the formation of a strong social hierarchy based on their respective …show more content…
Her distinctive appearance identified and criticised by her grandma “she’s a bit slanted, a bit mixed… she harks back … she’ll be hard to marry” led Misskaella into doubting her appearance and identity. However the remark “she harks back” possesses a foretelling meaning, revealing Misskaella’s unusual seal ancestry nature. Her connection with seals further criticised by siblings’ use of simile “For all the rest of her roundness, she does come down to tiny feet, like a seal”. Through the perspectives of future child generation Daniel Mallet, Misskaella is portrayed as a symbol of ugliness and in addition, fear. The author’s use of imagery “She was fixed on us, the face of our night-horrors, white and creased and greedy” further emphasises the protagonist’s (fearsome) character and her unsightly
Thesis: Both novels, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Margo Lanagan’s Sea Hearts, convey the negative impact of perceptions of beauty on protagonists in their respective conformist societies. EXPAND
Introduction
Set in the 1940s, The Bluest Eye, explores the psychological impact of an eleven-year-old African-American, Pecola Breedlove, in the predominantly Caucasian society of Lorain, Ohio, whilst Sea Hearts, a fantasy based on the Selkie legend from the Orkney Islands of Scotland and Ireland depicts/reveals Misskaella Prout’s discovery of her differences in nature and appearance. Both protagonists, misfits in their respective contexts, experience the negative impact of stereotyped perceptions of beauty in their society, which differentiate/judge/value/create MAIN POINTS OF COMPARISON
(social hierarchy, discrimination & lack of love and self-loathing)
Idea 1: Social hierarchy
In both novels, the formation of a strong social hierarchy based on their respective …show more content…
Her distinctive appearance identified and criticised by her grandma “she’s a bit slanted, a bit mixed… she harks back … she’ll be hard to marry” led Misskaella into doubting her appearance and identity. However the remark “she harks back” possesses a foretelling meaning, revealing Misskaella’s unusual seal ancestry nature. Her connection with seals further criticised by siblings’ use of simile “For all the rest of her roundness, she does come down to tiny feet, like a seal”. Through the perspectives of future child generation Daniel Mallet, Misskaella is portrayed as a symbol of ugliness and in addition, fear. The author’s use of imagery “She was fixed on us, the face of our night-horrors, white and creased and greedy” further emphasises the protagonist’s (fearsome) character and her unsightly