The Importance Of Whiteness In The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison

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Passing is an ability that not all people possess. To be able to pass as something you are not takes a lot of time and effort, sadly some people never reach to pass along and those who do find themselves field with more self-loathing as they are loathed. We live in such a judgmental society where individuals have no self-acceptance. Where the majority crave to be the stander of beauty, which is white. In this society minorities are taught to believe that whiteness is the paragon of beauty, that being white will assure a better qualified life and define better values in society and the community. Characters in “The Bluest Eyes” by Toni Morrison establish their sense of self-worth based on these ideas of beauty. The protagonist of the novel, Pecola Breedlove, an eleven year old black girl who believes that she is ugly and that having not …show more content…
Early in the novel Pecola and Frieda spoke about Shirley Temple’s beauty “Frieda and she had a long conversation about how cu-ute Shirley Temple was. I couldn’t join them in their adoration because I hated Shirley” (Morison 1.1.35). Claudia uses the example of Shirley Temple to show the difference between her and the other girls. Unlike Pecola and Frieda, Claudia tries to resist popular beauty icons, to the extent that when she receives a white baby doll for charismas she completely resists taking it, something very admirable about her. Pocola however is very dissimilar, she as other Americans had agreed to the idea that whiteness should be desired “Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window sings-all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink skinned doll was what every girl child treasured” (Morrison 1.1.39). Pecola was contempt and wanted these characteristics, believing this would help her pass though live

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