The Bluest Eye Racism Essay

Pecola evaluated herself ugly, and wanted to have a pair of blue eyes so that every problem could be solved. Pecola was an African-American and lived in a family with problems. Her father ran away because of crime, her brother left because of their fighting parents, and was discriminated simply because she has dark-skin. Pecola is a passive person. She is almost destroyed because of her violent father, Cholly Breedlove, who raped her own daughter after drinking. Because of this, Pecola kept thinking about her goal- to reach the standard of beauty. However, she was never satisfied with it. Pecola believed once she become beautiful, fighting between her parents would no longer happen, her brother would come back, and her father would no long be a rapist. No problem would exist anymore.

1. “It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the picture, and knew the sights— if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say beautiful, she herself would be different.” (The bluest eye 46) This quote is significant because it introduces us to Pecola’s desire for blue eyes. These three lines found in chapter 3 of the Autumn section of the novel, show clearly the complexity of Pecola’s desire—she doesn’t want blue eyes simply because they are conformed to white beauty standard, but because those blue eyes will give her a different picture and sight.

Toni Morrison, the author of The Bluest Eye, centers her novel around two things: beauty and wealth in their relation to race and a brutal rape of a young girl by her father. Morrison explores and exposes these themes in relation to the underlying factors of black society: racism and sexism. Every character has a problem to deal with and it involves racism and/or sexism. Whether the characters are the victim or the aggressor, they can do nothing about their problem or condition, especially when concerning gender and race. Morrison's characters are clearly at the mercy of preconceived notions maintained by society. Because of these preconceived notions, the racism found in The Bluest Eye is not whites against blacks. Morrison writes about

Throughout all of history there has been an ideal beauty that most have tried to obtain. But what if that beauty was impossible to grasp because something was holding one back. There was nothing one could do to be ‘beautiful’. Growing up and being convinced that one was ugly, useless, and dirty. For Pecola Breedlove, this state of longing was reality. Blue eyes, blonde hair, and pale white skin was the definition of beauty. Pecola was a black girl with the dream to be beautiful. Toni Morrison takes the reader into the life of a young girl through Morrison’s exceptional novel, The Bluest Eye. The novel displays the battles that Pecola struggles with each and every day. Morrison takes the reader through the themes of whiteness and beauty,

In The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove is a young african-american who wishes at a very young age to be blessed with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her natural skin tone is dark, which leads to her being constantly mocked by other children. Pecola believes that by having blonde hair and blue eyes, she will be accepted, and will no longer be isolated and disregarded. Later in the novel, Pecola was raped. While some people believe that Pecola was to blame for her rape, and while others think that Cholly was the one to blame, Morrison shows how society is to blame for Pecola’s rape, due to placing racial beauty and western aesthetics standards on her.

In Toni Morrison’s novels, The Bluest Eye and God Help the Child, the main characters, Pecola and Bride, both display elements and the fetishization of whiteness within the black community. Pecola and Bride’s propensity to embrace whiteness and mask their blackness speaks to the pervasive nature of white culture over that of others. The use of masks, disguises, and dreams of being more white to attain society’s view of what is beautiful is a major theme that two texts share and the primary characters strive to achieve, while one character questions the infatuation with whiteness and its pervasive dominance over all other cultures within the United States. The fetishization of whiteness by those in minority communities within the U.S. damages minority’s in many ways, from many sides, and has traditionally forced the black community into compliance with white standards at their own expense.

Toni Morrison is America’s most prominent contemporary authors, that published her first breathtaking novel “The Bluest Eye” in 1970’s, right after the peak of the African-American movement in the late 1960’s. The mass popular movement was indeed a poignant reminder of the passing of time. As the novel has gained increasing attention from literary critics around the world, it has set the very definition of black standard beauty and its conformity to white standards. Morrison gives the audience an insight of how Pecola Breedlove, a passive and impressionable 11- year old, views her own standard of beauty amongst the cruelty of the white society. For Pecola, there are two things in this world; beauty and ugliness. Beauty is varied through different

In order to fulfill her greatest desire of having blue eyes, Pecola decided to seek out Soaphead Church for help. Growing up “ugly” resulted in Pecola having internalized self-hatred. She often sat wondering and “trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored and despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike.” To Pecola, eyes were everything; “everything was there, in them” (Morrison 45). Because her eyes were so important, she thought that if her eyes were different– she would be different, too. Pecola thought that this was the key to obtaining the respect that her peers had. Although she did not understand that she was pressured into believing her non-white features, her low self-esteem resulted from these predominantly white beauty standards. Being surrounded by the idealization of white girls with blond hair and blue eyes as the definition of beauty, Pecola began to pray for those blue eyes that were often idolized by whites and blacks alike. In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, through a marxist point of view, Pecola’s wish for blue eyes depicts beauty as unattainable as long as European beauty standards continue to be idealized.

Those who judge character through beauty are blind. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye determines how the individuals are alienated from their society through physical appearances. Throughout The Bluest Eye, the factors that determine, contribute, and provide an escape from, segregation are discussed. This novel emphasizes the unfortunate life of protagonist Pecola Breedlove by exhibiting her class conflict, mental state, physical attractiveness, and much more.

In the novel The Bluest Eye, Pecola is raped by her own father. After the rape the town shames her, accusing Pecola of enjoying the rape. After this Pecola's obsession for beauty takes a dark turn. In the quote, “Oh, yes. My eyes. My blue eyes. Let me look again. See how pretty they are?” (Morrison 216), Pecola falls into a deep depression that leads to her obsession with having blue eyes.

Pecola is a little black ugly girl as Morrison states in the book The Bluest Eye. In Pecola’s society she’s surrounded by a ridiculous amount of racism and sadness. If the people weren’t light skinned they were automatically known to have a miserable life or be unhappy. This perspective in her society caused her to believe that the only way she will ever be beautiful if she were white and had blue eyes like them. Pecola seeked happiness and peace within herself, but with all that negativity suffocating her there was no way she could find it in that toxic environment. Pecola was affected tragically because everyone saw her ugly not only because of her complexion, but also her round belly that hold the child of her own father.

Pecola believes that her skin is too dark and also that her skin color is not acceptable by others. In order for Pecola to be love she feels she must get blue eyes, like Shirley Temple. Shirley Temple was a young actress who everyone adored, she also had blue eyes. Pecola believes the only way to have a better scope out on life is to change the lens that she is looking out of which is to have blue eyes. In order for a child to grow up and function properly he or she must have loving and stable parents. Pecola was not feeling loved at home from her dad and most of all her mother. Mrs. Breedlove didn’t give her innocent, fragile- hearted daughter the most important essential that a child needs, which is love. More and more she neglected her house, her children, her man-they were like the afterthoughts one has just before sleep (Morrison 127). Pecola was mentally and physically abuse because she had to watch her parents fight, become intimate with each other and even become raped by her own

Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eyes is about a young adolescent girl named Pecola who made no attempt to fight back against those who mocked her or damaged her body and mentality. Pecola’s peculiarness caused the people around her to become aware of her difference, which made them hate her for the ugliness that reflected in themselves. My opinion of this novel is that Morrison inserted a society where they used Pecola as a punching bag, and a scapegoat to illuminate the superficialness of perceived beauty in the novel. I think Morrison was trying to highlight how beauty and love can go hand-in-hand; but the two factors can be destructive as well if one has neither of them. If someone is beautiful, then they will be loved more than a less beautiful person---Pecola is considered “ugly” and she wants to look like talented and beautiful Shirley Temple who is an idol among society. Pecola’s life was also lacking love as it did beauty---her household had no time for affection, and her parents were bitter and engrossed in their own reality. The lack of love and lack of beauty hurt Pecola along with the mockery and damage she received from society caused her to isolate herself by becoming insane so she could not be hurt ever again.

Because Pecola believed that she was the root of all the misfortune in her family, she thought it would be “cured” if she was “beautiful”, more specifically, if she had blue eyes. As a result of this radical idea, Pecola went crazy in search for blue eyes. Later in the novel, Pecola goes to Soaphead Church, a “Reader, Advisor, and Interpreter of Dreams” (The Bluest Eye 165), who “helps” Pecola obtain blue eyes, taking the job of God because he saw “A little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes” (The Bluest Eye

Whiteness manifests itself in The Bluest Eye as a symbol of desire or the standard of beauty. Symbols like Shirley Temple and blue eyes reflect society’s social acceptability. Likewise, this negatively effects characters like Pecola who then internalizes whiteness as beauty and her own complexion as ugly similar to the “doll test”. Pecola is also cursed out of Geraldine’s home because of her complexion while she reinforces whiteness as this standard of beauty that is unrealistically obtainable for Pecola and her self-worth. Sula’s depiction of whiteness manifests itself as antagonism to blackness.