Quest for self
Morrison begins the novel with reference to the "Dick and Jane" reading primer. As the story-progresses, Morrison repeats the passage from the primer, first without punctuation, then without spacing between the words. This shows that while the words remain the same in the passage, there are missing elements creating a dysfunction of sorts. This example carries over to the main text. The reader finds a family; mother, father, sister and brother, but key elements are missing. Father is a drunk, and mother is self-loathing. Pecola's only recourse to escape a tragic world without love is to go insane.
Pecola experiences damage from her abusive and negligent parents. The reader is told that even Pecola's mother thought she was ugly …show more content…
She struggles to find herself in infertile soil, leading to the analysis of a life of sterility.Like the marigolds planted that year, Pecola never grew.
Both beauty and racism, not synonymous but perhaps running parallel, create anger, shame, and self-loathing, and most importantly, they limit freedom. In the text, racist attitude toward blacks is shown as a lack of recognition, a perspective in which the idea of blackness removes human identity. A white shopkeeper literally does not see Pecola-"his eyes drawback, hesitate, and hover" (Morrison 46) and also does not see her as containing the identity of a person. In place of her personhood, there is a "vacuum" (Morrison 48), a
"vacuum where curiosity ought to lodge" (Morrison 47), which she has noticed "lurking in the eyes of all white people" (Morrison 48). This is not his choice. It is his view of reality.
"He does not saner, because for him there is nothing to see" (Morrison 48).
Pecola's self, her presence as a subject, remains unrecognized by those who have absorbed white standard of visual attractiveness. When Pecola goes to buy Mary Jane candy there …show more content…
But the parallel between beauty and racism is most interesting in their shared effects. Pecola, after experiencing the perspective of the shopkeeper, a perspective in which she does not exist, goes through the same rationalization as the girls after Maureen, the same process as her mother after the movies. First there is envy. Pecola, before experiencing the perspective of the shopkeeper, a perspective in which she does not exist, prays for blue eyes. She goes to the store for Mary Janes, a symbol of whiteness. When the separateness is noticed, when no longer is "the world a part of her" (Morrison 48), a loss of love occurs. She looks to dandelions, which are now separate entities, and tries to love them.
"But they do not look at her," of course, as the shopkeeper did not-"and do not second love back" (Morrison 50).
This can be thought of as self-loathing, as she had previously identified herself with the dandelions. She becomes angry, which gives her an "awareness of worth" (Morrison 50), but this fades to disillusion, as the anger has no
Morrison begins the novel with reference to the "Dick and Jane" reading primer. As the story-progresses, Morrison repeats the passage from the primer, first without punctuation, then without spacing between the words. This shows that while the words remain the same in the passage, there are missing elements creating a dysfunction of sorts. This example carries over to the main text. The reader finds a family; mother, father, sister and brother, but key elements are missing. Father is a drunk, and mother is self-loathing. Pecola's only recourse to escape a tragic world without love is to go insane.
Pecola experiences damage from her abusive and negligent parents. The reader is told that even Pecola's mother thought she was ugly …show more content…
She struggles to find herself in infertile soil, leading to the analysis of a life of sterility.Like the marigolds planted that year, Pecola never grew.
Both beauty and racism, not synonymous but perhaps running parallel, create anger, shame, and self-loathing, and most importantly, they limit freedom. In the text, racist attitude toward blacks is shown as a lack of recognition, a perspective in which the idea of blackness removes human identity. A white shopkeeper literally does not see Pecola-"his eyes drawback, hesitate, and hover" (Morrison 46) and also does not see her as containing the identity of a person. In place of her personhood, there is a "vacuum" (Morrison 48), a
"vacuum where curiosity ought to lodge" (Morrison 47), which she has noticed "lurking in the eyes of all white people" (Morrison 48). This is not his choice. It is his view of reality.
"He does not saner, because for him there is nothing to see" (Morrison 48).
Pecola's self, her presence as a subject, remains unrecognized by those who have absorbed white standard of visual attractiveness. When Pecola goes to buy Mary Jane candy there …show more content…
But the parallel between beauty and racism is most interesting in their shared effects. Pecola, after experiencing the perspective of the shopkeeper, a perspective in which she does not exist, goes through the same rationalization as the girls after Maureen, the same process as her mother after the movies. First there is envy. Pecola, before experiencing the perspective of the shopkeeper, a perspective in which she does not exist, prays for blue eyes. She goes to the store for Mary Janes, a symbol of whiteness. When the separateness is noticed, when no longer is "the world a part of her" (Morrison 48), a loss of love occurs. She looks to dandelions, which are now separate entities, and tries to love them.
"But they do not look at her," of course, as the shopkeeper did not-"and do not second love back" (Morrison 50).
This can be thought of as self-loathing, as she had previously identified herself with the dandelions. She becomes angry, which gives her an "awareness of worth" (Morrison 50), but this fades to disillusion, as the anger has no