The Bluest Eye
Pecola Breedlove's mind is preoccupied by the idea of whiteness. This idea was originally gained from her mother, Pauline, who envisions everything good in the world to have blonde hair and blue eyes, therefore setting a white scenario in her home. It is here in the "white" home, that Pauline takes the new identity, Polly. She separates from her self, physically, and enters into a world of the white person, where she forgets her family, characterized by disorder, and blackness (ugliness). She sees the "white" world with vivid colors, while she sees the "black" world, where she comes from, in plain ugly black and white. In her "black" wor
This dilemma is offset by the attention received from loving parents, but this is a love of support that was never present in Pecola's life. This lack of parental support causes Pecola to, "search painfully for self-esteem as a means of imposing order on the chaos of her world" [pg. The real damage to her family lies within the "white" world. Shirley Temple and Jean Harlow in movies; the figure of a little blonde Mary Jane, on the candy she eats, and the blonde baby dolls she receives as gifts, are all ways of reinforcing the stereotype of beauty and goodness that a black child could never hope to achieve. In this fantasy, she seeks her blue eyes. Unlike Claudia, Pecola does not have the family support to draw strength from and realize her own black identity. ld, she sees no possibility of order or color. She gets no positive input from her parents because they are trying to realize their own identities. It is with these eyes that she believes she will become beautiful and will be accepted by society. She is also unaware that she is not a part of this world.
Common topics in this essay:
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Claudia Pecola,
Mary Jane,
Jean Harlow,
blue eyes,
white world,
black world,
realize own,
life pecola,
bluest eyes,
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Acceptance Essays
