Different from many other writings of American literature that discuss the periods of deep racism that took place, The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison, does not become involved directly with those events, instead, it focuses on exploring the remaining effects of race through self-hatred. Many characters from the novel who are African American are devastated with the cultural and already imposed notions of white perfection to the limit that they hate themselves for not being up to society`s standards. The best character that Morrison utilized to depict these outcomes is Pecola Breedlove, a passive, eleven-year old, black girl whose lack of parental guidance and self-hatred lead her to be absorbed by the imposed notions of beauty. Pecola
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Is both, the combination of the rejection of her own family and the lack of love that penetrates Pecola with the ideal that her situation will only improve if she becomes beautiful. Morrison is able to express this notion when she writes, “As long as she looked the way she did, she would have to stay with these people” (50). When Pecola realizes her necessity to become beautiful, she tries to develop the principle of white beauty into one of her only goals, thus making her focus on having blue eyes. This wish of blue eyes becomes more than an obsession to Pecola who later attempts to attain her beauty by becoming blind of reality. Using this, the novel points towards a black girl`s desires for white attributes, a girl who wishes blue eyes only because she believes that these will end the cruelty in her life. Morrison`s depiction of racial shame represented in Pecola`s character enables readers to observe the psychological effect of racial inferiority on African American. Using Pecola, Morrison is also enabling readers to comprehend the historical issues that black people faced, white offering revelations of race as a …show more content…
Furthermore, Stuarth claims that media tends to normalize cultural ideals by excluding everyone that is not white. The author claims that, “ Images of white women dominate all media – especially roles or depictions featuring “beautiful” or desirable women,. To think this does have a negative effect on females who rarely see images of their own races depicted in a positive manner is insane” (Stuath 2). This quote, once again, emphasizes the fact that women who are not white spend their time trying to fix their “flaws,” that do not allow them to be up to society`s standards for physical beauty. The same way, Morrison depicts how the principles of imposed beauty notions affect individuals in a community. At the very end, all of the society`s hatred towards Pecola was placed on her, stopping her from expressing her real beauty. Morrison expresses the same idea that Stuarth when she writes, “We were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness. Her simplicity decorated us, her guilt sanctified us, her pain made us glow with health, her awkwardness made us think we had a sense of humor” (97). Even when Pecola was passive, her community would try to make themselves feel better by arguing that it was Pecola the one ugly not them. Here, the idea that imposed beauty ideals
Is both, the combination of the rejection of her own family and the lack of love that penetrates Pecola with the ideal that her situation will only improve if she becomes beautiful. Morrison is able to express this notion when she writes, “As long as she looked the way she did, she would have to stay with these people” (50). When Pecola realizes her necessity to become beautiful, she tries to develop the principle of white beauty into one of her only goals, thus making her focus on having blue eyes. This wish of blue eyes becomes more than an obsession to Pecola who later attempts to attain her beauty by becoming blind of reality. Using this, the novel points towards a black girl`s desires for white attributes, a girl who wishes blue eyes only because she believes that these will end the cruelty in her life. Morrison`s depiction of racial shame represented in Pecola`s character enables readers to observe the psychological effect of racial inferiority on African American. Using Pecola, Morrison is also enabling readers to comprehend the historical issues that black people faced, white offering revelations of race as a …show more content…
Furthermore, Stuarth claims that media tends to normalize cultural ideals by excluding everyone that is not white. The author claims that, “ Images of white women dominate all media – especially roles or depictions featuring “beautiful” or desirable women,. To think this does have a negative effect on females who rarely see images of their own races depicted in a positive manner is insane” (Stuath 2). This quote, once again, emphasizes the fact that women who are not white spend their time trying to fix their “flaws,” that do not allow them to be up to society`s standards for physical beauty. The same way, Morrison depicts how the principles of imposed beauty notions affect individuals in a community. At the very end, all of the society`s hatred towards Pecola was placed on her, stopping her from expressing her real beauty. Morrison expresses the same idea that Stuarth when she writes, “We were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness. Her simplicity decorated us, her guilt sanctified us, her pain made us glow with health, her awkwardness made us think we had a sense of humor” (97). Even when Pecola was passive, her community would try to make themselves feel better by arguing that it was Pecola the one ugly not them. Here, the idea that imposed beauty ideals