Use Of Pecola In The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison

In the novel The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison, the author, is able to convey a series of potent and important points across to the reader throughout her realistic depictions of the struggles of her characters. The Bluest Eye follows many characters who are both morally questionable and sympathizable. She presents characters such as Pecola, who is meant to invoke many emotions in the reader, and characters such as Cholly, who she wants the reader to dislike, but only after careful consideration. Topics that she focuses on in the novel are self-image and self-worth. While many of the characters in this novel struggle with these problems, Pecola is undoubtedly the most affected of them all, she is victimized by the popularized view that being white,

Both Shirley Temple and Mary Jane are white girls with blonde hair and blue eyes. This is what the standard of beauty was, with no exceptions, just the main requirement being born white. To little girls like Pecola and Claudia, and even adults such as Pauline, this image is damaging and discouraging. For Pecola and Claudia, they see these two white girls being idolized for essentially being little white girls that the public believes are cute, and they never have to suffer hardships. The damaging effects are that young girls such as Pecola find it necessary to become Mary Jane. Morrison exemplifies Pecola’s obsession with Mary Jane in this quote, “To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane.” (55). The language used in this quote is used to express Pecola’s need to transform herself into someone who is good and someone who is beautiful, because those are the traits she associated Mary Jane with. This quote is said with such innocence that it is heartbreaking to watch Pecola’s spiral. Mary Jane is plastered on candy that is sold probably all over her town, so many little girls suffer the same self-worth struggle that she does. This is a glimpse