The Bluest Eye, By Toni Morrison

Pauline Breedlove’s racial self-loathing began when she was a young girl. Pauline first perceives herself as ugly when she is left with a limp foot after impaling it on a nail. This limp foot sets the basis for her feelings of “separateness and unworthiness” as a child (Morrison 111). Pauline’s family then moves from Alabama to Kentucky to look for employment, therefore exposing her to even more isolation. Because Pauline is often alone, she develops a love for organizing and cleaning her house. Arranging items gave Pauline a sense of control and “when by some accident somebody scattered her rows” Pauline was delighted and “never angry” because it “gave her a chance to rearrange them again” (111). As she grew older, Pauline fantasized about men and fell in love with Cholly Breedlove. Pauline’s sense of worth and beauty soon became defined by Cholly’s perception of her, as she finally felt as if “her bad foot was an asset” (116). Pauline’s obsession with beauty and order stays with her throughout her adulthood. She constantly escapes from her dysfunctional life and enters a fantasy when watching movies starring beautiful white actresses. However, Pauline faces a reality check when her tooth falls out after biting into a piece of candy at the movies. This incident causes Pauline to accept her ugliness, which intensifies her self-loathing.

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

Toni Morrison is America’s most prominent contemporary authors, that published her first breathtaking novel “The Bluest Eye” in 1970’s, right after the peak of the African-American movement in the late 1960’s. The mass popular movement was indeed a poignant reminder of the passing of time. As the novel has gained increasing attention from literary critics around the world, it has set the very definition of black standard beauty and its conformity to white standards. Morrison gives the audience an insight of how Pecola Breedlove, a passive and impressionable 11- year old, views her own standard of beauty amongst the cruelty of the white society. For Pecola, there are two things in this world; beauty and ugliness. Beauty is varied through different

After watching the movies, Polly begins to consume whiteness, which reinforces the existence of internalized racism among African Americans. She measures absolute beauty of what she has seen on the silver screen. “She learned all there was to love and all there was to hate” (122). She believes that what she sees is the way things should be, which an example of internalized racism is. Polly admired how the white men took care of the white women, how white people dressed, and how their houses looked on the movie screen. Therefore, when she began to work for the Fishers, she revealed how much she loved whiteness as compared to blackness. In addition, she consumes whiteness as she works for the Fishers. Polly is able to have order, love, family, and happiness in the Fisher home, which is an example of internalized racism and the Eurocentricism idea. Society dictates how a typical home should be, which is why Polly thought highly of how she took care of the Fisher household, rather than her own. “More and more she neglected her house, her children, and her man—they were afterthoughts,” and “the dark edges that made the daily life with the Fishers lighter, more delicate, more lovely” (127). On another occasion, Polly loses a tooth, while at the movies. Losing her tooth was significant in that she felt as though she has lost her whiteness. “Everything went then” (123). The loss of whiteness, her tooth, meant a loss of beauty and a loss of power. The white family giving Pauline a nickname is a symbol of her being white. When she goes to the store on behalf of the Fishers, the respect that she receives portrays her power and respect, because she represents the whiteness. Unlike, when she goes to the store for her family, they intimidate her. She has more respect and love for the white family than her family. She accepted only the best for them, but she always accepted lesser quality for her own family.

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.

Pecola's life away from her family is no better. She is often picked on and called ugly by those around her. Claudia and Frieda realize that the entire neighborhood agrees with Pecola that white features are beautiful.

Throughout all of history there has been an ideal beauty that most have tried to obtain. But what if that beauty was impossible to grasp because something was holding one back. There was nothing one could do to be ‘beautiful’. Growing up and being convinced that one was ugly, useless, and dirty. For Pecola Breedlove, this state of longing was reality. Blue eyes, blonde hair, and pale white skin was the definition of beauty. Pecola was a black girl with the dream to be beautiful. Toni Morrison takes the reader into the life of a young girl through Morrison’s exceptional novel, The Bluest Eye. The novel displays the battles that Pecola struggles with each and every day. Morrison takes the reader through the themes of whiteness and beauty,

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison introduces readers to the life of Pecola Breedlove living in Lorain, Ohio during the end of Great Depression. Pecola and her friend, Frieda Macteer, experience early on neglective parents who are overly concerned with pleasing themselves rather than directing attention upon their daughters. This creates a sense of underlying hate and instability within and outside their homes. Looking for love and attention, Pecola turns to superficial things such as dolls. Pecola wants to feel beautiful in a world where a blue-eyed, pale skin Shirley Temple doll is idolized by all colors alike. Her goal in life is to attain white beauty, a standard of her culture she believes she does not have. The effects of colorism and racism tear the African-American culture apart in this novel because they try so hard to fit into the graces of white society. The characters in The Bluest Eye hate their skin color so much that that are forced to feel shame for their own culture. The desires to be beautiful create a sense of self-loathing and self-hate within most, if not all, of the characters, which pass from generation to generation producing an on-going cycle of negativity.

Toni Morrison, the author of The Bluest Eye writes the book while she was teaching at Howard University. She decided to center the book around an eleven year old African American who is coming of age and accepting one’s beauty. Pecola’s family does not show her the love and affection that an eleven year old needs in a community full of people who are racist. In the world that Pecola grows up in she believes that she is ugly because she is not classified as a beautiful white girl with blue eyes. The racism that is shown in the book can affect the way she sees herself because the more Pecola hears what people are saying about her the more she is going to believe them. Throughout Pecola’s experiences she has taken her bad experience making them

The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is a novel born from the author’s experience with a little black girl who wanted blue eyes, an effect of “racial self-loathing” (Morrison 210). The novel explores a similar, but much more extreme story: the story of Pecola Breedlove. Pecola is a little black girl living not only in a world that divides itself by race and is prejudiced against black people, but also amidst a family that holds conflict and divisions within itself. Morrison’s novels are known for their themes of racial ideology, beauty standards, and identity (Lister), and The Bluest Eye is no different. Through the subject of its story and the author’s use of language, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye explores the dangers of racially-based beauty

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

Beloved is one of the most beautifully written books and Toni Morrison is one of the best authors in the world. After reading the Bluest Eye and seeing how captivating it is, it is not highly expectant to think that Beloved to be just as enchanting. Anyone who has read Beloved would read it again and those of us who have not should be dying to read it. Beloved is a historical fiction novel based on a true historical incident. Beloved is set during the time period of the Civil War . The American Civil War to be exact , which took place between the years of 1861 and 1865., As stated before it is based or should one say inspired by the life of the slave Margaret Garner, who was an African American slave . She attempts to escape in 1856 Kentucky by fleeing to Ohio, which was a free state. A mob of slave owners , planers and overseers arrived to repossess her and her children under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which gave slave owners the right to pursue slaves across state borders. Margaret killed her two-year-old daughter rather than allow her to be recaptured. Morrison links the middle passage with the plight of former black slaves. She links the supernatural and fantasy with historical times. She brings in that old slave religion that many African Americans have continued to used even after slavery. Toni Morrison honors those slaves who died in

Beloved is one of the most beautifully written books and Toni Morrison is one of the best authors in the world. After reading the Bluest Eye and seeing how captivating it is, it is not highly expectant to think that Beloved to be just as enchanting. Anyone who has read Beloved would read it again and those of us who have not should be dying to read it. Beloved is a historical fiction novel based on a true historical incident. Beloved is set during the time period of the Civil War . The American Civil War to be exact , which took place between the years of 1861 and 1865. According to Bonnie Angelo, “Beloved is dedicated to "Sixty Million and more," dedicated to the Africans and their descendants who died as a result of the Atlantic slave trade.” 1

When we came to this world, we all are innocent but throughout time we adopt the culture of this world and move forward to pursue the wisdom. Children’s mind is filled with lot of joy, happiness, and trustfulness. Some adults take this as an advantage to hurt the children. In the community, many children are expose to the negative consequence of child’s fall from innocence. Children’s mind is more open to observe and learn things quickly but if they live in the environment that does not nurture them, they can be expose for any danger and could lose their innocence.

“To GO BACK to the original hunger was impossible. Luckily for Denver, looking was food enough to last…it was breaking through her own skin to a place where hunger hadn’t been discovered. It didn’t have to happen often, because beloved seldom looked right at her…Beloved rested cheek on knuckles and looked at Denver with attention. It was lovely…being pulled into view by the interested, uncritical eyes of the other…Denver’s skin… become soft and bright like the lisle dress.” (139). The hunger that Morrison presents is not the literal hunger that humans feel but the hunger for love and attention that Denver lacked all those years living in 124 with her mother Sethe. Denver has always felt lonely because no one would come to their house because