Comparison Of Skin Color In The Bluest Eye And Dark Girls By Toni Morrison

The nature of human often have specific expectations as to what makes a woman beautiful and what doesn't. One major feature that often affects the definition of beauty is skin color. Many believe that those of darker complexion are more despised over those of lighter complexion. This idea was further discussed in the film Imitation of Life, which includes the story of a young black girl who struggles with her racial identity in hopes to be white. Similarly, in the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and the documentary Dark Girls, we see how many different black women feel that skin color strongly affected how they treat themselves and how others treat them.
In the context of all these sources, one can see how black women of darker complexion …show more content…
Throughout the novel, Pecola aimed to get blue eyes in hopes to change her appearance. By the end of the book, she eventually loses her sanity and sees an imaginary person in the mirror who has Pecola’s ideal look. On the other hand, one can see how Claudia and Frieda were able to accept themselves more because they were able to satisfy themselves aside from the resentment of others’ expectations. They both believed that there was beauty in blackness, which was why they knew Pecola’s baby would be beautiful even though others wished for it to die. As for Sarah Jane, she was self-destructive because she loved her mother very much, but she didn’t want to admit she was the daughter of her black mother, Annie, which was why she fled away from her numerously. Therefore, she was never there for her sick mother, but towards the end of the film, Sarah Jane realizes it was too late as she ran towards her mother’s coffin in regret. In both cases, Pecola and Sarah Jane both decided that they would rather torment themselves than to accept their own race, which led to insanity and regret. Likewise, in Dark Girls, multiple women mentioned how black women attempted to bleach their skin or use skin-lightening cream to make themselves lighter. Not only that, but some even attempted to scrub themselves harshly because they …show more content…
Characters like Pecola and Sarah Jane both failed to survive against society’s standards as they chose a self-destructive path to cope with how others view them. On the flip side, Claudia and Frieda were both able to maintain themselves because they never let society define them. In Dark Girls, women were exposed to internalized racism when they realized people of their own kind were more racist towards each other than races. They hurt each other when they told others how they preferred lighter complexions or how relieving it was to that their children were not dark. Towards the end of all these sources, audiences realize that complexion and skin color doesn’t matter; it is the way one handles others’ opinions that