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The Bluest Eye Gender

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“The Standard of Beauty to a Broken Identity”: An African American Analyzation of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison begins with the “perfect” story of Dick and Jane as the primer of the novel. This flawless picture of a family that resides in this green and white house was nothing compared to Pecola’s family. The Bluest Eye centers on the life of an eleven year old African American girl that has endured countless psychological and physical tragedies while growing up. Pecola, the protagonist in the novel, experiences a challenge within her own self and society. The backdrop of this novel derives in 1940- 1941, which remains vastly significant to what soon occurs. The setting of the novel is in Lorain, Ohio, right …show more content…

In To Kill a Mockingbird, blacks are simply oppressed due to the color of their skin. Pecola, hated for issues that she had absolutely no control over and could not adjust. Just like Cholly, some victims of powerful self-loathing turn out to be dangerous, violent, reproducing the same demon that has humiliated them over and over. In the text Feminism is for Everybody, Bell Hooks says “All white women in this nation know that whiteness is a privilege.”(55) Hooks references race in comparison to gender in the chapter called “Race and Gender”. Enlightened how white women may prefer to ignore that statement, nevertheless they are just in denial of its truth. Bell Hooks also has a chapter in the novel called “Double Consciousness”, which is a concept that W.E.B DuBois studies in 1903. In the publication, The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois explains how it is difficult or impossible to have one unified identity. “…Between vision and view, his eyes draw back, hesitate, and hover. At some point in time and space he senses that he need not waste the effort of a glance.” (48) Pecola comes to Mr. Yacobrowski’s Fresh Veggie Meat and Sundries store and he does not even bother to gaze directly at her. “The total absence of human recognition-the glazed separateness.” (49) Pecola does not understand what is causing the store owner to treat her this way. She believes the reason may be because he is a grown man and she is a little girl. Pecola soon discovers that it is on account of her blackness in the view of his white eyes. Unfortunately, they cannot even communicate with each other effectively to handle business, but Pecola gets her Mary Janes. Respect should not be diminished by cruelty and judgement of an individual’s skin tone; it does not hurt to be cordial and

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