The Bluest Eye: Analysis, Discuss Beauty and Race and How They are Portrayed
This paper will look at race relations in the South in the 1940s, and Pecola's idea that if she were white, she would somehow be "better" or "beautiful." At the heart of this novel is Pecola's self-esteem and how race relations erase self-esteem and empowerment, and how the blacks of the story allow white ideas to color their very existence. Toward the opening of the novel, Morrison writes of the Breedlove's "home," a miserable storefront, "They lived there because they were poor and black, and they stayed there because they believed they were ugly" (Morrison 38). Later, Morrison writes, "Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike. She was the only member of her class who sat alone at a double desk" (Morrison 45). Already the theme of ugliness is apparent, and Morrison explores this throughout the novel, finally allowing the three girl protagonists to fully understand what is really beautiful, and what is really ugly. Critic Harold Bloom notes, "Pecola, certainly, is expunged from human society even before she has awakened to a consciousness of self. Pecola stands for the triple indemnity
" What is truly ugly was how people view her, and how the world simply dismisses her existence because of her family and race. She faces the worst kind of prejudice - that of her own family, and it colors her entire life. In conclusion, "The Bluest Eye" illustrates one of the greatest lessons society has to offer. An important aspect of the research will be into Morrison's own background, which she used in writing this novel, and how the novel has gained in popularity since its publication in 1970. She uses many of her own experiences in this work, and that may be one reason it is so memorable for the reader. They create false expectations because of what white culture says is beautiful. Her family cannot help, or inspire beauty in her because they are horrible themselves and only see themselves in ugly, unattractive terms. Pecola is never astute enough to see around this flaw, and so her life is always very much like a scene in a film. They allow white society to deeply shade their own thoughts and ideas. Pecola's life turns inside out because her family cannot throw off the thought they are ugly, and they live their lives stooped under the weight of their repulsiveness. Morrison's novel shows that even the most classically beautiful people (in society's eyes, at least), can be evil and ugly inside, and that is what really matters. Pecola, Frieda, Pauline, and Maureen all establish their thoughts about beauty on the white film stars they admire, and they all sport blond hair and blue eyes. Because Pecola is a unattractive little black child, humanity always tells her she is "ugly. The girls look up to these flawless models, and in doing so, they cannot recognize or acknowledge their own beauty and grace. Morrison writes, "A little black girl yearns for the blue eyes of a little white girl, and the horror at the heart of her yearning is exceeded only by the evil of fulfillment" (Morrison 204).
Common topics in this essay:
Harold Bloom,
,
Pauline Maureen,
Bluest Eye,
blue eyes,
morrison writes,
beauty grace,
own beauty,
ugly inside matters,
white girl,
little black,
live lives,
black child,
allow white,
ugly inside,
|
Acceptance Essays
