Analysis Of Tony Morrison 's ' The Bluest Eye '

Claudia, another character who goes through a similar situation compared to Pecola. She is a young girl who came out from a loving family and is intrusive, yet sensitive.

Pecola evaluated herself ugly, and wanted to have a pair of blue eyes so that every problem could be solved. Pecola was an African-American and lived in a family with problems. Her father ran away because of crime, her brother left because of their fighting parents, and was discriminated simply because she has dark-skin. Pecola is a passive person. She is almost destroyed because of her violent father, Cholly Breedlove, who raped her own daughter after drinking. Because of this, Pecola kept thinking about her goal- to reach the standard of beauty. However, she was never satisfied with it. Pecola believed once she become beautiful, fighting between her parents would no longer happen, her brother would come back, and her father would no long be a rapist. No problem would exist anymore.

Throughout Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye, she captures, with vivid insight, the plight of a young African American girl and what she would be subjected to in a media contrived society that places its ideal of beauty on the e quintessential blue-eyed, blonde woman. The idea of what is beautiful has been stereotyped in the mass media since the beginning and creates a mental and emotional damage to self and soul. This oppression to the soul creates a socio-economic displacement causing a cycle of dysfunction and abuses. Morrison takes us through the agonizing story of just such a young girl, Pecola Breedlove, and her aching desire to have what is considered beautiful - blue eyes. Racial stereotypes of beauty contrived and nourished by

In this quotation, Morrison uses the Mary Jane candy to represent white beauty. When Pecola explains the sweetness, simplicity, and love that is identified with the Mary Jane candy, she is actually explaining the attributes of the white culture. The quotation also emphasizes Pecola’s desire to be white rather than black when she ends with, “Be Mary Jane”, which highlights the theme of beauty and how it affects the young black girls.

“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, is a story about the life of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who is growing up during post World War I. She prays for the bluest eyes, which will “make her beautiful” and in turn make her accepted by her family and peers. The major issue in the book, the idea of ugliness, was the belief that “blackness” was not valuable or beautiful. This view, handed down to them at birth, was a cultural hindrance to the black race.

This scene can be interpreted through the argument Bernstein makes in Racial Innocence Performing Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights, which is that innocence becomes a tool for dividing children into valued and not valued with race playing a large role in the deciding factor. Bernstein claims, “White children became constructed as tender angels while black children were libeled as unfeeling, noninnocent nonchildren” (33). We can see Mr. Yacobowski subscribing to a similar ideology where innocence is raced in the way that he is an implementer of pain for Pecola. He doesn’t see Pecola due to a set of beliefs that justify the exploitation of black children and in this instance Pecola, a little girl simply wanting to buy candy is deemed not worthy of respect and kindness. The perception of Pecola as not-innocent opens the door for Yacobowski to be a wielder of hurt. Pecola takes this hurtful treatment to be a direct result of the fact that she lacks blue eyes and is ugly. Pecola’s self-perceived ugliness allows her to identify

Toni Morrison’s early novels, The Bluest Eye, and, Song of Solomon, focus on the struggles African Americans have in society. Both novels took place during the mid-1900s. Around these times, society looked down on African Americans, while Caucasians were praised. African Americans were teased and ridiculed for the color of their skin. Skin bleachers and hair straighteners were popular products within the black community.

A standard of beauty is established by the society in which a person lives and then supported by its members in the community. In the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, we are given an extensive understanding of how whiteness is the standard of beauty through messages throughout the novel that whiteness is superior. Morrison emphasizes how this ideality distorts the minds and lives of African-American women and children. He emphasizes that in order for African-American women to survive in a white racist society, they must love their own race. The theme of race and that white skin is more beautiful is portrayed through the lives and stories told by the characters in the novel, especially the three girls Claudia, Pecola and Frieda. Through the struggles these characters have endured, Morrison shows us the destructive effect of this internalized idea of white beauty on the individual and on society.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrision deals with the struggle of colored women in the 1930 's dealing with the ideals of beauty. The standard of beauty can be described as a community standard that if the women of this story do not live up too, they will be deemed ugly. This standard of beauty can be perpetuated through the treatment of certain characters based on how they look. There are three main symbols that the book and author convey. The first is the standard of beauty. The second is the concept of self-image that is warped to fit white standard of beauty, instead of cultivating a woman 's individuality. Self-image describes how a person perceives themselves through their own actions and internalized emotions. Many things can contribute to a person 's self-image such as, how they are treated by others, how their parents treat them, and how do they treat themselves through life experiences. The third concept of self worth and it is related to self-image. Self-worth is an understanding of personal satisfaction with who you are and the choices you make. For example, as we are first introduced to Pecola. We find that she moves into the Macteer 's house hold because her father is in jail for setting her house on fire. As she lives in this house hold, she falls in love with Shirley temple. This was the standard of beauty for young girls at the time. Pecola love to drink milk out of her Shirley Temple mug. I believe that Morrison added this detail to the story to symbolize her

Morrison portrays Pecola as an ugly, little, rejected, black girl '' who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes'' (Morriison,174), for she is mistreated by her society and even her family. Even though wishing for blue eyes might seem awkward and meaningless, it actually makes sense when one looks at Pecola's circumstances.

Pecola represents everything that Geraldine despises: disorder, black poverty, and filthy ugliness which illustrates her outcast status. Pecola's humiliation takes place in the pretty house with the pretty lady's ugly words calls her a "nasty little black bitch". The last image Pecola sees as she is absorbed into the cold March wind is the sad and unsurprised gaze of Jesus The same Jesus whom she prays to every night, begging for blue eyes. (page 91-93)

The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, depicts characters desperately seeking to attain love through a predetermined standard of beauty established and substantiated by society. Morrison intertwines the histories of several characters portraying the delusions of the ‘perfect’ family and what motivates their quest for love and beauty. Ultimately, this pursuit for love and beauty has overwhelming effects on their relationships and their identity.

The novel The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison is subjected on a young girl, Pecola Breedlove and her experiences growing up in a poor black family. The life depicted is one of poverty, ridicule, and dissatisfaction of self. Pecola feels ugly because of her social status as a poor young black girl and longs to have blue eyes, the pinnacle of beauty and worth. Throughout the book, Morrison touches on controversial subjects, such as the depicting of Pecola's father raping her, Mrs. Breedlove's sexual feelings toward her husband, and Pecola's menstruation. The book's content is controversial on many levels and it has bred conflict among its readers.

The concept of "the bluest eye" symbolizes unattainable beauty based on the blonde-haired, blue-eyed model that permeates 1940s Lorain, Ohio. Morrison initially presents the concept with a literary

     In the novel, The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison incorporates various techniques, such as her use of metaphors, the ironic use of names, and the visual images that she uses. The theme of The Bluest Eye, revolves around African Americans’ conformity to white standards. A woman may whiten her skin, straighten her hair and change its color, but she can not change the color of her eyes. The desire to transform one’s identity, itself becomes an inverted desire, becomes the desire for blues eye, which is the symptom of Pecola’s instability.