Rac Race Stereotypes

Besides the inherent self-confident issue, the outside voice from community is also affecting Pecola’s view. For example, in the “accident” when Pecola went into Junior’s house, Junior killed the cat and impute to Pecola. His mother, Geraldine, saw Pecola was holding the dead cat. Without any thought and didn’t even ask for the truth, Geraldine simply called Pecola a “nastylittle black bitch.” This event, again, reinforces Pecola’s view of what beauty means.

Toni Morrison, the author of The Bluest Eye, centers her novel around two things: beauty and wealth in their relation to race and a brutal rape of a young girl by her father. Morrison explores and exposes these themes in relation to the underlying factors of black society: racism and sexism. Every character has a problem to deal with and it involves racism and/or sexism. Whether the characters are the victim or the aggressor, they can do nothing about their problem or condition, especially when concerning gender and race. Morrison's characters are clearly at the mercy of preconceived notions maintained by society. Because of these preconceived notions, the racism found in The Bluest Eye is not whites against blacks. Morrison writes about

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison takes place in Ohio in the 1940s. The novel is written from the perspective of African Americans and how they view themselves. Focusing on identity, Morrison uses rhetorical devices such as imagery, dictation, and symbolism to help stress her point of view on identity. In the novel the author argues that society influences an individual's perception on beauty, which she supports through characters like Pecola and Mrs. Breedlove. Furthermore, the novel explains how society shapes an individual's character by instilling beauty expectations. Morrison is effective in relaying her message about the various impacts that society has on an individual's character through imagery, diction, and symbolism by showing that

The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, demonstrates the internal struggles that plagued the African American working class due to the socioeconomic conditions during the early 1940s. These external pressures shaped the lifestyles of the characters both in their internal struggles and their physical surroundings. Pauline Breedlove unknowingly displays her own internal conflicts through the way in which she keeps her own home. Additionally, she further demonstrates her battle with acceptance and her obsession with beauty in the way she cares for the home of the Fishers. Another character, Geraldine, keeps her home clean with an obsessive determination. However,

This jumps out at me because it accentuates the correlation between her upbringing and the way she views herself now. For example, Pecola has no access to such teachings as Geraldine, indicating that this now may make her more inferior to her due to her lack of social mannerisms. Because of this, Pecola views herself as

Junior, Geraldine’s son, loathes this cat, as the text states, “[as Junior] grew older, he learned how to direct his hatred of his mother to the cat, and spent some happy moments watching it suffer” (Morrison 86). This section not only serves as another example of projection from a developing, young, black character, but more importantly, it also sets up the expectation for this cat to be loved. Later in the text, Pecola finally goes to Junior’s home to see the cat, and Junior promptly throws the cat in her face and locks them both in a room (89-90). But as Pecola stays in the sealed room, something odd begins to happen. She looks down at the cat, and the text gives us a description of the cat as “black all over, deep silky black, and his eyes, pointing down toward his nose, were bluish green” (90). Originally, then, the cat’s eyes are described as bluish green—until Pecola sees the light hit them in a certain way, then they shift to blue. The text continues, “The light made them shine like blue ice. Pecola rubbed the cat’s head; he whined, his tongue flicking with pleasure. The blue eyes in the black face held her” (90). Notably, the moment that the light changes the eyes of the cat to blue, Pecola begins to show it affection, and the cat begins to show signs of happiness.

The boys shout slurs at her about her father and her skin tone, completely disregarding “that they themselves were black, or that their father had similarly relaxed habits” (65) In regards to internalized racism, Morrison states that “they seemed to have taken all of their smoothly cultivated ignorance, their exquisitely learned self-hatred, their elaborately designed hopelessness and sucked it all up into a fiery cone of scorn that had burned for ages in the hollows of their minds.” (65) Maureen stands idly by while Claudia and Frieda help in saving Pecola from the ruthlessness of the African American boys who hate her for something they all have in common, but the boys finish their taunting because of the stigma surrounding Maureen and her light skin. Maureen takes this time to console Pecola, walking the girls towards the ice cream parlor, and pretending to be anything but sinister. The gears switch, Maureen starts bombarding Pecola with questions of her naked father, and in the end regards Pecola as black and ugly while regarding herself as light and cute. Exposing the African American community of a deep seeded hatred in their community towards the “blackest sheep.”

In doing so, she rejected the needs of her family entirely, not even her own daughter could call her “mother” instead she was forced to call her “Mrs. Breedlove”, a symbol of the unfamiliarity of the connection that should be filled with love, but was only filled with hatred and rejection. This increased when Pecola was raped by her father, followed by her mother beating her until the baby died. This final blow, the hopelessness of rejection caused by both the internal and external racism, was what drove Pecola insane, and would drive any person to madness, because the pain that this racism caused is the pain of being alone, a pain which no human can bear. The abuse from racism is never forgotten, it leaves a scar; the pain may recede after time, but the scar remains.

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.

Mr. Yacobowski is unable to look past her “blackness” which is “static and dread.” Pecola cannot escape the preconceived notions and stereotypes associated with her skin color, despite her dynamic and emotional personality. Furthermore, the scene when Mr. Yacobowski could not see Pecola’s point of view and “see her view” literally and metaphorically demonstrated the difference between the two. While he could literally not see what she was pointing at, he figuratively also could not see from her point of view as he was a white immigrant man while Pecola is a child, black, and a girl. This is the first example of how cultural norms and values begin to shape Pecola’s perception of both herself and her world.

Geraldine only looks at Pecola’s appearance for Pecola’s judgement which is not the right way to judge a person. This is another problem that is present in the black community. People tend to not look past the person’s appearance than at their character. Geraldine even screams to Pecola that she is a “Nasty little black bitch” (92). Geraldine does not even question her son as to how the cat died, she quickly blamed Pecola for this unfortunate accident.

The Bluest Eye is a novel written by Toni Morrison that reveals many lessons and conflicts between young and adult characters of color. The setting takes place during the 1940s in Lorain, Ohio. The dominant speaker of this book is a nine year old girl named Claudia MacTeer who gets to know many of her neighbors. As a result of this, Claudia learns numerous lessons from her experience with the citizens of Lorain. Besides Claudia, The Bluest Eye is also told through many characters for readers to understand the connection between each of the adults and children. Many parents in the novel like Geraldine and Pauline Breedlove clearly show readers how adults change their own children. Furthermore, other adult characters like Cholly Breedlove

Pecola Breedlove is a young black girl who is constantly defined by her race and how society perceives her. Even members of her own race discriminate against Pecola because her skin is darker than theirs. This is seen when “A group of boys [were] circling and holding at bay a victim, Pecola Breedlove... It was their contempt for their own blackness that gave the first insult its own teeth” (54). This encounter allows the reader to notice how hard it is for Pecola to not be defined by the color of her skin.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison narrates the lives of two families, the MacTeer family and the Breedlove family. The novel digs into the themes of love, envy, and weakness, while maintaining a thick and interesting plotline. These themes are conveyed thoroughly through Morrison’s literary style. Toni Morrison’s powerful writing and structural techniques add depth to the novel, enhancing certain emotions while developing a riveting plot.

The reader first sees Pecola encountered with racism from a white man with Mr. Yacobowski. She goes to the store to buy Mary Janes and "He does not see her, because for him there is nothing to see." The narrator emphasizes the fact that "their ugliness was unique." She does not state this because it is her opinion, or anyone else's for that matter, but because "No one could have convinced them that they were not relentlessly and aggressively ugly.