Beauty and Racism in The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison presents ideas of racism, and how that affects those of color in the society at the time. The idea of anger from the set ideals is expressed in different ways is clear and comes up many times within the novel, as well as the idea of ugliness, and what that’s perceived to be. On page 174 in the novel, one of the main characters in the novel, Pecola, goes to Soaphead, a psychic of sorts in the community, to try and get blue eyes. The request within itself is an attempt to make her beautiful, and through that, fix the various problems that arise in her life. Through the small section of the novel, the reader is given a taste of all the racist ideals and views that seep into every day life that the book presents, and the main character, Pecola, is especially plagued with.
Pecola goes to meet with Soaphead and ends up “asking for beauty” (174) because of the the racist views presented in the novel. Written in 1941 the ideals of beauty were even …show more content…
Given the title of the book, The Bluest Eye, focuses on the idea of eyes being the window to something. Just as in the scene with the Mary Janes, eyes are used more than once as a calming mechanism of sorts for Pecola. When describing the things that happen in her house, especially the abusive environment that she’s forced to live in, it’s described how she tries to make herself disappear. When doing so, she is able to feel successful with the entirety of her body other than her eyes. It’s stated that “they were always left” (45) forcing her to still have to see not only the scene carried out in front of her on a daily, but also the world as a whole. The issue that affected her the most was the one that centered around the color of her skin, and without sight, and other people being able to see how ”ugly” she was, her life would be
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison presents ideas of racism, and how that affects those of color in the society at the time. The idea of anger from the set ideals is expressed in different ways is clear and comes up many times within the novel, as well as the idea of ugliness, and what that’s perceived to be. On page 174 in the novel, one of the main characters in the novel, Pecola, goes to Soaphead, a psychic of sorts in the community, to try and get blue eyes. The request within itself is an attempt to make her beautiful, and through that, fix the various problems that arise in her life. Through the small section of the novel, the reader is given a taste of all the racist ideals and views that seep into every day life that the book presents, and the main character, Pecola, is especially plagued with.
Pecola goes to meet with Soaphead and ends up “asking for beauty” (174) because of the the racist views presented in the novel. Written in 1941 the ideals of beauty were even …show more content…
Given the title of the book, The Bluest Eye, focuses on the idea of eyes being the window to something. Just as in the scene with the Mary Janes, eyes are used more than once as a calming mechanism of sorts for Pecola. When describing the things that happen in her house, especially the abusive environment that she’s forced to live in, it’s described how she tries to make herself disappear. When doing so, she is able to feel successful with the entirety of her body other than her eyes. It’s stated that “they were always left” (45) forcing her to still have to see not only the scene carried out in front of her on a daily, but also the world as a whole. The issue that affected her the most was the one that centered around the color of her skin, and without sight, and other people being able to see how ”ugly” she was, her life would be