In society, every culture has different beliefs and views. Some of these include beauty standards. Today, many different people are considered beautiful. People with different shapes, sizes, and colors can all be considered beautiful. In The Bluest Eye, the standard of being beautiful and respected is being white. In the society of African Americans, they all believe in the need to be more white in order to be wanted, loved, or respected. Pecola Breedlove, a young African American girl, find herself wishing for blue eyes with an obsession with Shirley Temple. In class, we discuss many topics relating to generalizations of race and class, and how different cultures view and approach these topics. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison addresses the
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In the book, many of characters struggle to figure out their identities, or have a hard time accepting their identities. Characters such as Pecola and Pauline try to conform to white standards and change their racial identities to those of white people. They use the white ideals to change their cultural and personal identities as well. With the idea that whiteness is good and beautiful, they begin to be an outsider of their original culture. They try to belong to the same group as the white people such as the Fishers, where Pauline pretends that their kitchen is hers, and their child is hers. Pecola changes her personal identity when she believes she has blue eyes. Her belief in these changes cause her to change the way she views herself. Pecola’s need for blue eyes is expressed many times throughout the novel: “It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes … were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different… If she looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too” (Morrison 46). Once she feels that she has blue eyes and can be seen differently, she feels that she will be able to view the world in a different light. This delusion is what causes her personal identity to …show more content…
Most of the members of the African American community in Lorain are working class. In this community there is a clear separation between the more middle class and lower class black people. The middle class relate and identify to white middle class people, and feel a strong need to be on a separate level from the lower class black citizens. The lower class citizens are considered lazy and criminal. Within their own community and racial group, there are still class barriers and societal issues within them. Junior’s mother is strict in the way that he is raised, and while he wants to play with the black children, he is not allowed: “His mother did not like him to play with niggers. She had explained to him the difference between colored people and niggers. They were easily identifiable. Colored people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud” (Morrison 87). Throughout the story, being white is related to being clean, and Junior’s mother is obsessed with everything staying clean, which matches her feelings towards the lower class black people in the community. Geraldine and many others in the community associate the lower class blacks with dirtiness, and cleanliness with being white or lighter skinned. As she introduces these ideas to Junior, he messes with Pecola, and this cycle of beliefs is continued causing an even larger divide in the class structure in
In the book, many of characters struggle to figure out their identities, or have a hard time accepting their identities. Characters such as Pecola and Pauline try to conform to white standards and change their racial identities to those of white people. They use the white ideals to change their cultural and personal identities as well. With the idea that whiteness is good and beautiful, they begin to be an outsider of their original culture. They try to belong to the same group as the white people such as the Fishers, where Pauline pretends that their kitchen is hers, and their child is hers. Pecola changes her personal identity when she believes she has blue eyes. Her belief in these changes cause her to change the way she views herself. Pecola’s need for blue eyes is expressed many times throughout the novel: “It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes … were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different… If she looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too” (Morrison 46). Once she feels that she has blue eyes and can be seen differently, she feels that she will be able to view the world in a different light. This delusion is what causes her personal identity to …show more content…
Most of the members of the African American community in Lorain are working class. In this community there is a clear separation between the more middle class and lower class black people. The middle class relate and identify to white middle class people, and feel a strong need to be on a separate level from the lower class black citizens. The lower class citizens are considered lazy and criminal. Within their own community and racial group, there are still class barriers and societal issues within them. Junior’s mother is strict in the way that he is raised, and while he wants to play with the black children, he is not allowed: “His mother did not like him to play with niggers. She had explained to him the difference between colored people and niggers. They were easily identifiable. Colored people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud” (Morrison 87). Throughout the story, being white is related to being clean, and Junior’s mother is obsessed with everything staying clean, which matches her feelings towards the lower class black people in the community. Geraldine and many others in the community associate the lower class blacks with dirtiness, and cleanliness with being white or lighter skinned. As she introduces these ideas to Junior, he messes with Pecola, and this cycle of beliefs is continued causing an even larger divide in the class structure in