Morrison's Identity In William Morrison, Pecola, By Toni Morrison

Pecola obsesses over all things white because the town makes fun of her blackness. Pecola is alone due to her lack of beauty. In one scene Pecola is laughed at called “e mo” and other names as other black children make fun of her blackness. Morrisons uses collective voice to show the racial segregation at the time was not only white people, but it was the different shades of black. Something that someone cannot control. The boy bullying Pecola “had extemporized a verse made up of two insults about matters over which the victim had no control: the color of her skin”(Morrison, check page#). Pecola, only a young girl begins to become outcasted from society especially after

No matter how ugly, mean, pitiful one can be, the family is always meant to support, raise, guide, nurture and be a means of inspiration in anyone’s life. In the novel, this isn’t the case for Pecola, which is why she gets mentally unstable as she couldn’t bear the torture of ugliness of not having blue eyes. Blue eyes are the one and only reason she could blame as per to her ability and thought process. In fact, she doesn’t get the real ugliness of how her father rapes her, the ugliness of how the mother choose the white girl over her, the ugliness of the fights between her parents is coming from their unpleasant past. After all, she doesn’t have that mentor in her life to explain what was happening. Everybody in her family is occupied with their own mindset. She is very young to understand and analyze on her own. The narrator Claudia even gets to compare between her and Pecola and starts accepting life and feel blessed for having a supportive family, which she doesn’t feel until Pecola enters in her life. So, this shows how young kids psychology is totally built upon the type of family environment she/he gets. There is a saying that young kids are like a raw clay ready to be shaped into the different form of objects by the potter. Undoubtedly, it stands so true. Indeed, kids shape themselves according to the type of environment they grow up with. By all means, Pecola’s family is the

Morrison contrasts Pecola’s home life is "crippled and crippling" (Morrison 210): her mother is cold and distant, her father is an alcoholic who rapes her and impregnates her when she is barely twelve years old. Although Claudia’s family is neither rich nor terribly close, her provide for and protect her and her elder sister Frieda. Claudia finds

By contrasting the homes of Claudia and Pecola throughout the entire novel, Morrison stresses the importance of home in defending against a predatory, racist society. In Claudia’s home, her parents truly care for her and her sister. In one instance, her father took out a gun to fend off a tenant that touched Freida’s breast. This completely contrasts with Pecola’s home, where her parents are both hateful and self-hating, and her father actually raped her. Even though both households are

Finding a self-identity is often a sign of maturing and growing up. This becomes the main issue in Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eyes. Pecola Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove, and Pauline Breedlove are such characters that search for their identity through others that has influenced them and by the lifestyles that they have. First, Pecola Breedlove struggles to get accepted into society due to the beauty factor that the norm has. Cholly Breedlove, her father, is a drunk who has problems that he takes out of Pecola sexually and Pauline physically. Pauline is Cholly’s wife that is never there for her daughters.

The second narrator then talked about the memories of Pecola’s family. They described the house where the Breedlove’s lived (before Cholly burned it down), they were poor and they believed they were ugly. They also pointed out the horrible relationship between Pecola’s parents. Pecola also has a fourteen year old brother, Sammy, who kept

She is raped and impregnated by her father, Cholly and this wrong is never truly righted. Her mother decided at the time of her birth that Pecola was ugly. Pecola’s mother either ignores and neglects her or abuses her. Pecola, Frieda, and Claudia visit her mother, whom she calls Mrs. Breedlove, at work where she is the nanny and housekeeper to a young white girl. While visiting her, she knocks over a blueberry pie and burns her legs.

Pecola is first introduced as a foster child coming to live with McTeer family after her father burned down the Breedlove house. She arrives with nothing but the clothes on her back, exhibiting a shy demeanor. The effects of years of abuse and neglect are immediately evident through her interactions with Claudia and Frieda. She is compliant with whatever they do, trying her best not to draw attention to herself: “When we discovered that she clearly did not want to dominate us, we liked her. She laughed when I clowned for her, and smiled and gracefully accepted the food gifts my sister gave her” (Morrison 19). As the three girls stay together, Pecola’s insecurities are unveiled. She is aware that others dub her as ‘ugly’, and believes she is

Pecola’s ultimate goal is to find someone to love and care for her. This idea is demonstrated in the book when Pauline, who “regarded love as possessive mating, and romance as the goal of the spirit” expresses her values with Pecola (122). She convinces her that she must desire love and introduces her to “probably the most destructive idea in the history of human thought”, physical beauty (122). Feeling as though she cannot fulfill society’s standard of female beauty, Pecola feels hopeless in her search for love. Even the toys she plays with do not resemble her making her feel so much less than adequate or even worthwhile - she clearly believes that valuing the majority culture’s view is best. This is why Pecola becomes infatuated with the adoration the young television star Shirley Temple receives because of her beauty. Unlike Pecola, Claudia rejects the girls adoration for Shirley Temple valuing her own looks and feelings over what she represents. Her self esteem is clearly not as damaged as

Through the character of Pecola Breedlove, Toni Morrison illustrates that society has caused black people to lose their self-esteem and feel inferior to white people. All her life, Pecola is vulnerable to the messages society carries about black people because of who she is: a black girl in her youth. The narrator, Claudia (as an adult) described Pecola as the person that everyone compared themselves to in order to feel better about themselves. “Her simplicity decorated us, her guilt sanctified us, her pain made us glow with health, her awkwardness made us think we had a sense of humor.” (p. 205) Society had made black people feel less superior than white people, and as a result, the people in Pecola’s life used Pecola as a scapegoat. And

None of the parental figure are inspirational to her. Cholly, father of Pecola makes her more traumatizing. Because of his disoriented, undignified past, he rapes her own daughter. Perhaps, Cholly would not have done it if he hadn’t had to go through his gruesome haunting past. He is abused inhumanly by white men by making him expose his intimate activity.

Sisters Frieda and Claudia know they were getting a new sister. Well not exactly. Because Pecola’s father burnt down their home, she was sent to live with the MacTeer family until her family was able to take her back. Frieda and Claudia do not know what to make of Pecola. First off she is ugly, this little black girl, whom no one will ever call beauty. What she long for is blue eyes. The bluest eyes in the world, as if she was like all those blonde fair skin blue eye girls, her family would love her, and mend their broken home. Where Pecola very view times get to narrates her story, it is told from other perspective, including events to led to her home life. From Claudia’s point of view of Pecola, to how her parents were both raise and met,

Pecola is a little black ugly girl as Morrison states in the book The Bluest Eye. In Pecola’s society she’s surrounded by a ridiculous amount of racism and sadness. If the people weren’t light skinned they were automatically known to have a miserable life or be unhappy. This perspective in her society caused her to believe that the only way she will ever be beautiful if she were white and had blue eyes like them. Pecola seeked happiness and peace within herself, but with all that negativity suffocating her there was no way she could find it in that toxic environment. Pecola was affected tragically because everyone saw her ugly not only because of her complexion, but also her round belly that hold the child of her own father.

Claudia's strong beliefs engender difficult interactions with others. Although mocked for her bold actions, Claudia stands up for her friend Pecola Breedlove. She yells at Maureen Peal, the most revered girl in the community and calls her "Sixfingerdogtoothmeringuepie" (73) when Maureen thoughtlessly crushes the remaining shreds of Pecola's self worth. Claudia's harsh words will, if not change Maureen, at least leave a lasting impression on her. Due to the fierce criticism and painful implications of imperfection in Claudia's words, Maureen faces thoughts that have never crossed her mind. Maureen may actually begin to wonder if she is perfect or not. Pecola, due to her hard and painful life, lacks the strength that Claudia possesses. As Pecola buckles with pain and hurt from the chronic mocking, Claudia maintains her rocklike exterior. She never reveals defeat or even pain. She watches repulsed as Pecola lets down her guard and shows her weakness. To herself Claudia thinks, "Her pain antagonized me" (73). Claudia demonstrates her strength and strong will in a number of ways. Her strength is the reason she is repulsed by Pecola's weakness. It tears Claudia apart that Pecola could be defeated so easily. Pecola's weakness reflects the true strength and power within Claudia, which distance her even more from others and force her into greater strength and independence.

It is in the perspective of Cholly, Pecola’s father, that readers get a clear demonstration of the sexual exploitation and victimization of Pecola faces and the role men play in keeping her a suspended woman. The disturbing interaction between his father and daughter is a significant aspect into the shaping of the remainder of Pecola’s story as well as the shaping of Claudia and Freida’s thinking as we approach the end of the