White Skin, Blue Eyes: Racial self-hatred in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison constructs in the Bluest Eye a tale about the search of beauty amid the restrictions of life, both from the social environment and from within one’s self. Through describing the experiences of black girls growing up in a culture where features of whiteness are the epitome of beauty, she develops a link between the self and the Other. The characters in the novel constantly define themselves in relation to their otherness; their blackness is shaped by white perspectives. Their identities emerge within a racist societal context and in the case of Pecola, it is constructed around her wish for blue eyes. This paper will discuss how black women define themselves …show more content…
Pecola enters the store to buy some Mary Janes, the penny candy with the picture of a blonde, blue-eyed girl on its wrapper. But, the dehumanizing exchange with the shop owner, Mr.Yacobowski who he himself has blue eyes, confuses her and awakes within her racial shame. “She looks up at him and sees the vacuum where curiosity ought to lodge. And something more. The total absence of human recognition—the glazed separateness” (Morrison 48). Mr.Yacobowski does not see Pecola, he does not acknowledge her as a human being. He reads her body as a text that requires merely a glance to tell him all that he needs to know. The young girl senses the store owner’s distaste for her. “He hesitates, not wanting to touch her hand.” (Morrison 49) He sees her as a material annoyance that disturbs his peace, something that he does not have or want to engage with. Pecola understands that he doesn’t want to touch her, to acknowledge her because she is black. “It is the blackness that accounts for, that creates, the vacuum edged with distaste in white eyes.” she thinks and inexplicable shame grows inside her for her black identity (Morrison 49). Her dark body, objectified by the white gaze is “the indelible and indubitable mark of her existential and ontological compatibility” (Yancy
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's first novel The Bluest Eye takes place in Loraine Ohio in the 1940's, it is the story being told by Claudia MacTeer of an event that took place when she was child. The story centers around Pecola a 11year old young girl who is not seen or recognized due to her feature characteristics, she is described as black and ugly, when Pecola is raped and impregnated by her father the girls believe that no Marigolds bloomed that autumn because of the tragedy that drove their
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison helps reflect how beauty is always evolving, showing how the standards of beauty change. Ultimately, the desire of beauty led to Pecola’s demise, revealing the consequences of deficient beauty. Furthermore, beauty has been transformed but is still considered unattainable today, as it was in the novel and this is exposed through superior inspirations, race and racism, and shameful self-hatred, proving how beauty is essential for women and is judged on the eye of the
Pecola Breedlove: A Dumping Ground for Soaphead and Geraldine Throughout Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, many characters, including Soaphead Church and Geraldine, use Pecola Breedlove to make themselves feel better. Using Pecola as a scapegoat, the other characters justify their shortcomings by comparing themselves to her. When they think about Pecola, the other characters in the book feel superior and thus boost their egos. Soaphead Church uses Pecola to do his dirty work and to feel better about
Because "The Bluest Eye" crystallizes the negative affect society can have on people, specifically African American girls in this novel, it is a teachable book for kids to determine the difference between what society wants and what is right. In the novel, Claudia says “We looked hard for flaws to restore equilibrium” (Morrison 68.) Claudia was referring to a white girl in her school. This is significant because society lead these African American girls to drool over white girls because they are
are neglected by both your parents and harassed by people who are socially more powerful than you. This can arguably cause psychological effects on those who experience these events. This is one of the many settings in Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye. Cholly Breedlove is the husband of Pauline Breedlove and father to Sam and Pecola Breedlove. He has had a rough upbringing and is one of the antagonists because of his aggressive behavior and alcoholism. Furthermore, Morrison develops Cholly Breedlove
superior than the non-whites in Northern America. During the time of the writing of The Bluest Eye, there was still inequality between whites and blacks. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison was written in 1970. This book is about a young girl who wants to be loved, no one will because everyone is afraid of being hurt again. Racial discrimination of the young African American girl, who suffers the most, Pecola. In the Bluest Eye, Toni will discuss not only the racial problems, but how Pecola goes through the
The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison, depicts how African American women are affected by the American setting. The book shows how whiteness is superior in the community, which poses a divergent thinking of black women’s beauty. The setting and time in the book predispose Precola as being the bottom of the ladder, in being a minority and a women. Claudia was given a white doll, which symbolized the white being superior. The merchandises sold and advertisements of white beauty at the time period
In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, fantasies are the result of a desire to escape poverty and limiting circumstances of the characters social conditions. Elaborate fantasies consume characters and take them away from their struggles, but the standards they attempt to meet set by society are unattainable. Although this common feeling among the characters in the novel is alleviating at first, it is ultimately, in the long run unhealthy. Characters in The Bluest Eye fall victim to the master narratives
In the book The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, there are many main themes and central ideas that the plot follows. The theme that I chose is the aspect of love and how it is displayed through the characters. In The Bluest Eye, the perception of love is viewed in different ways. Throughout the book, love is one thing that remained constant. Some instances it was the lack of love; other situations there were characters who showed love for someone or something, but in a way that is not normal or accepted
insecure of their body; these adolescent girls would often wish they had the body of a model. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is about a young girl named Pecola, who is obsessed with blue eyes because she is insecure about hers. The novel points out how beauty can shatter the mind of an innocent young girl, Pecola, for instance, who has been abused by mostly everyone about her looks. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison explains how beauty can ruin lower one’s self-esteem, cause one to become self-obsessed
Many people can think back to their childhood and be reminded of many happy memories. They lived a life full of innocence and purity; however, in The Bluest Eye the young girls did not get that same experience. Children lead different lives, some of which deal with rape and abuse. The young black girls that Toni Morrison writes about face many hardships that no young child should encounter. These hardships take away the innocence of their childhood. The topic of rape is prominent during most of
novel The Bluest Eye, she teaches readers the many problems that occur in Lorain, Ohio. We see many instances in this novel where people are discriminated, based only on their appearance. In many cases, Morrison uses the themes “Whiteness as standard of beauty” as well as “The power of stories” to address the many problems that plague the black community of Lorain, Ohio. In every culture, the people always have their definition of beauty. It can span from the color of a person’s eyes to how plump
In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye the purpose of this essay is to examine the cycle of abuse. The Bluest Eye is associated with violence, humiliation and immorality. It is about the pleasures and the sexual initiation. Sexual initiation is particularly violent, hatred and humiliating, leaving a last effect on characters. Parents blames their children for the traumatic sexual abuse. The Bluest Eye through an impact theoretical framework regarding Pecola, Frieda and Cholly. The point of all this is
that we live in, beauty is defined as a quality someone has, that brings pleasure to the senses of others. The true meaning of beauty, however, is very unclear, but it’s often used to describe physical characteristics. In Toni Morrison’s book The Bluest Eye, an African American girl named Claudia MacTeer tries to grasp the concept of beauty as she witnesses tragic situations that happen to Pecola Breedlove, her dark skinned African American friend. Throughout the book, we learn what the different characters
Pecola Breedlove struggles to find beauty in herself and the world around her due to her race. With the beauty standards reinforced to her since birth through the media and the society she lives in, she sees no option but to conform to them. In “The Bluest Eye”, Toni Morrison uses the characterization of the black women in her novel to show how society has caused the black community to internalize white beauty standards. Through the perspectives of Pecola and Claudia, Morrison shows the difficulties of