The Bluest Eye Racism Essay

511 Words3 Pages

In the novel ‘The Bluest Eye’ by Toni Morrison, the author talks about Pecola frustration as she was going through a tough time dealing with her family. She often used to run away from home whenever her parents started to fight. On her way to the grocery store one day she admires the dandelion which she picked up from the street. It made her realize that the simplicity of beauty can be created by seeing rather than by being seen. She started to wonder if anything was wrong with her or how she is different from the other people living around. Soon she got her answer in a grocery store where the shopkeeper Mr. Yacobowski, who was a white immigrant behaved very intrusively with her. When Pecola asked for a candy from the shopkeeper, he looked at her with a tinged distaste face which made her feel quite uncomfortable. She thinks that because of her colored skin …show more content…

This clearly states that the social construct of racism has a powerful effect on the way one distinguish oneself and the rest of the world. Today this type of racism in the society is known as ‘Retail Redlining’ where the shopkeeper or the retailer refuses to serve certain communities due consumers racial composition. Although it wasn’t like this at the beginning. As the current economic growth is changing rapidly we can see that most people from america's upper-income minority group are trying to maintain a specific standard while working on retail stores. They think of themselves to be more literate and understanding so it doesn't matter how they interact or behave with other ethnic groups. Some native american’s also thinks that immigrants coming from around the world will soon take over all the small job industries. All these reasons are some of the few factors that make the entire white community hate on the colored ethnic