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The Bluest Eye

799 Words4 Pages

The Bluest Eye is about the life of a young, black girl name Pecola and her desires to have blue eyes. Pecola begins to believe that if she could change her physical beauty, her life would become better. Almost all of the characters are busy with the idea of; and in some way attempt to conform to a standard of beauty. This standard of beauty is accepted by the society in which they live. Messages that white beauty is superior are everywhere, including the white baby doll given to Claudia, the idealization of Shirley Temple, the consensus that light-skinned Maureen is cuter than the other black girls, and even the idealization of white beauty in the movies. The fact that a certain type of standard is established, and all of the members of the …show more content…

Beauty is having blond hair, blue eyes, being rich, and having a perfect family. Not only the parents as well, but the children are invisible in that society and are seen as nothing. The idea that the color of your skin make you less of a person was well read by both whites and blacks and also The idea that the color of your skin somehow made you less of a person poisoned black people's lives in many different ways. The Bluest Eye provides a depiction of the ways in which white beauty standards are the only beauty standard and that being black is unattractive. Black characters were being taught or shown images that white is the only definition of beauty. Characters also see white beauty through magazines, movies, and advertisements. Pecola and Frieda talked about how much they loved Shirley Temple's beauty, and Pecola would drink milk out of their Shirley Temple cup just to see her face. Mrs. Breedlove would also go to the movies just to see the white actress and wishing she could be in their …show more content…

For months Pecola prayed that her eyes could turn blue. She thinks that getting blue eyes will make all her problems go away. Because she is black and doesn't have blue eyes, she starts to hate herself and would even look in the mirror to see where the ugliness came from. The idea pushed by the media that blue eyes are beautiful builds up a strong destructive desire in Pecola. Pecola longs for blue eyes, she thinks, ".if those eyes of her were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different” Pecola has fallen into a misconception that blue eyes can make someone beautiful and be liked more. After she finds out that was pregnant with her father's baby she went to Soaphead Church for help. Her desire for blue eyes eventually leads her to go crazy. She starts to have a double personality and actually thinks that she does have blue

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However, they would leave Pecola alone when they see her with Maureen Peal, described with “springtime eyes so wide with interest” (Morrison 66-67). 2) African Americans perceive that white Americans have a better lifestyle. According to the African American’s schema, “a white American ideal of the family unit [is] cohesive, happy, with love enough to spare to pets…it is desirable, but for man, particularly the black man, it is unattainable” (Ogunyemi 354). Pecola feels that if she had blue eyes, she could see the world the way white Americans do.

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