Discrimination and Isolation within The Bluest Eye There has always been discrimination in the world. Some people face discrimination once or twice in their lives while others face it every day. This idea of focusing on what separates society and discriminating against "the other" is discussed within Audre Lorde's essay "Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference." as well as Renata Salecl's "See No Evil, Speak No Evil: Hate Speech and Human Rights". Lorde focuses more on how white women may receive discrimination by men, but black women have many difficulties that white women do not. They need to worry about not only being discriminated against by people of other races but by men and women of their own race.
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Pecola and her mother both exhibit this by escaping reality through fantasy and desire. Pecola escapes by praying to God and anyone else listening for blue eyes. Her mother was self conscious of herself ever since the move up North with Cholly, with the other black women being "amuse by her because she did not straighten her hair" (118). Here is when she began to become a movie and film addict, trying to hold onto her fading beauty by adapting the trends of the white women she sees within the films. During the 1940s when The Bluest Eye takes place, black women were never seen in Hollywood films. Even if they did manage to get some exposure, actors who were white played them using black face making the exposure less than flattering. This could be a possible reason why Pauline resorts to copying white actresses' hairstyles. In her pursuit to get closer to what is seen as the ideal, she rejects herself and her natural appearance. While not the main cause, Pecola seeing her own mother rejecting her natural state could have affected her perception of herself. Both Pauline and Pecola work hard to try and conform to the ideas of beauty that they witness through media, though only succeed in trying to erase themselves. Pauline even goes as far as to take her anger and …show more content…
Instead of handling it together, each member of the family separates and resort to using outside means as coping mechanisms. These methods of dealing with their lives backfires and ends up being their ultimate downfall. Raping Pecola was a choice Cholly made due to his abusive and reckless nature caused by outside anger and rage. He used his status as a man to abuse a person within his own culture and family because of his lack of power when dealing with white men. Pauline opted to ignore and belittle her daughter, even denying that the rape ever happened and leaving Pecola's only connection to reality non-existent. She used her stance as a black woman to sway her daughter into hating herself but only due to her own self consciousness. As a mother figure, she should have controlled her feelings rather than let them guide her actions but fell into the cycle of learned helplessness. Pecola, in the end, lost her own sanity and was seen as pitiful with no sense of sympathy coming from anyone within the neighborhood. They talked about her, laughed, and some were even frightened by her due to the controversy around her family. In a world that fed the Breedlove family white culture as the higher class and social norm, they were all unable to cope and lost everything. Pauline and Pecola return to their fantasy worlds as a way of
Pecola and her mother both exhibit this by escaping reality through fantasy and desire. Pecola escapes by praying to God and anyone else listening for blue eyes. Her mother was self conscious of herself ever since the move up North with Cholly, with the other black women being "amuse by her because she did not straighten her hair" (118). Here is when she began to become a movie and film addict, trying to hold onto her fading beauty by adapting the trends of the white women she sees within the films. During the 1940s when The Bluest Eye takes place, black women were never seen in Hollywood films. Even if they did manage to get some exposure, actors who were white played them using black face making the exposure less than flattering. This could be a possible reason why Pauline resorts to copying white actresses' hairstyles. In her pursuit to get closer to what is seen as the ideal, she rejects herself and her natural appearance. While not the main cause, Pecola seeing her own mother rejecting her natural state could have affected her perception of herself. Both Pauline and Pecola work hard to try and conform to the ideas of beauty that they witness through media, though only succeed in trying to erase themselves. Pauline even goes as far as to take her anger and …show more content…
Instead of handling it together, each member of the family separates and resort to using outside means as coping mechanisms. These methods of dealing with their lives backfires and ends up being their ultimate downfall. Raping Pecola was a choice Cholly made due to his abusive and reckless nature caused by outside anger and rage. He used his status as a man to abuse a person within his own culture and family because of his lack of power when dealing with white men. Pauline opted to ignore and belittle her daughter, even denying that the rape ever happened and leaving Pecola's only connection to reality non-existent. She used her stance as a black woman to sway her daughter into hating herself but only due to her own self consciousness. As a mother figure, she should have controlled her feelings rather than let them guide her actions but fell into the cycle of learned helplessness. Pecola, in the end, lost her own sanity and was seen as pitiful with no sense of sympathy coming from anyone within the neighborhood. They talked about her, laughed, and some were even frightened by her due to the controversy around her family. In a world that fed the Breedlove family white culture as the higher class and social norm, they were all unable to cope and lost everything. Pauline and Pecola return to their fantasy worlds as a way of