In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison tells the story of a black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who wishes for her eyes to turn blue so that she can look like all the light-skinned, blond and blue-eyed girls that are so beautiful. In the novel Morrison explores the ideas of where Pecola gets this notion of being ugly, and secondly, what the influences are of thinking this way. One question that is raised throughout the novel is whether Pecola is responsible for her victimization.
             To begin with, there are many reasons, that Morrison shows us, as to why Pecola thinks she is so ugly. From the moment she is born her mother tells her how ugly she is. Instead of comforting her child and telling her that she is beautiful the way she is, right from the start she incessantly tells her that she is ugly. She shows her no warmth or love as a mother should do and the only thing she presents her with is negativity. The fact that Pecola doesn't even refer to her as "mother" and instead calls her "Mrs. Breedlove" shows the distance between the two. Then, there is also the same case with her father, Cholly. He is basically drunk all the time and doesn't pay any attention to her or give her the father figure that she needs. At the end of the novel is the one time he gives her some attention, yet in a very horrible way, when he rapes her. This breaks her down even more and doesn't do anything positive for her confidence. Perhaps this is an attempt to show his love for her, yet it is a horrible and disgusting way to do so. Basically, she has no sense of what real parents are like because her mom and dad are not affectionate with her and don't express their love for her one bit. This probably has the most severe result because her parents are the first people she saw when coming into the world and are the most influential people in her childhood. Therefore, when all she gets from them is negative remarks an...