Essay on Search for Perfection in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

Despite knowing that they are "nicer, brighter," they cannot ignore "the honey voices of parents and aunts and the obedience in the eyes of [their] peers, the slippery light in the eyes of [their] teachers" when Maureen is around or the topic of conversation (74). The way Maureen dresses and behaves in front of adults is not the only way she affects Claudia and Frieda. With racist comments such as, "What do I care about her old black daddy...[and] you ugly! Black and ugly black e mos. I am cute," she infuriates the girls, for in their eyes Maureen is black too. Racist attitudes like Maureen's affect the poorer, darker blacks and can eventually lead them to think racist thoughts of their own.

When one feels protects in life, one cannot experience the benefits within life. For instance, Olive and Sarah Ann’s father holds both of them back from the opportunities in life. This is illustrated when Olive’s future husband, Mr. Dixon asks her, “Why do you wear your hair like that? You ought to shake it loose around your shoulders”. He surprises why Olive all the time makes braids in her hair instead of letting it loose or free. Mr. Dixon attempts to figure out why Olive allows her father to hold her back, much like the braids in her hair. This statement is motive because Olive starts to question her father about  confinement at home due to a man. Mr. Dixon Uses her hair as a metaphor, by his questioning, that without her job at the post office, she should give a look more in her life. By making braids and keeping her hair open, author tries to illustrate that she is a bit confused whether or not to stay at home which is like a prison by conforming her father’s rules or just get away from here and make her

In the beginning of the novel, Black introduces the concept of beauty, or lack thereof, through Emma Jean’s childhood. Emma Jean’s mother, Mae Helen clearly has a set image of what a beautiful black child should look like. Mae Helen believes that two of her three daughters are beautiful, but believes that Emma Jean is not and wishes that she would have named Emma Jean “Nobody” (20). She calls Emma Jean ugly directly to her faces and proceeds to mentally and physically abuse her throughout her childhood. To add insult to the abuse, Emma Jean watches as her sisters, who her mother believes are more beautiful, get treated with love and respect. The root Mae Helen’s hatred for Emma Jean is her skin tone. Mae Helen chose her male suitors based on the lightness of their skin, and once Emma Jean was not as white as her father Mae Helen instantly disliked her. Black is commenting on the societal ideal that whiteness is equitable to beauty. This preference is displayed when Emma Jean is thinking about why her mother

Marguerite’s feels a constant displacement from everyone. She feels she doesn’t fit in due to her looks. “If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult.”(page 4, introduction) This quote really shows how she feels about herself. She knows she is different which makes it harder for her. “Wouldn’t they be surprised when one day I woke out of my black ugly dream, and my real hair, which was long and blond, would take the place of the kinky mass that Momma wouldn’t let me straighten?” (page 2, introduction) Marguerite believes that the beautiful people are the white girls with long blond hair and blue eyes. Since she is the opposite she feels that she is ugly, “…who was understandingly jealous of my beauty turned me into a too-big Negro girl, with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth…” (page 3,introduction), therefore does not fit in. I believe

The affiliation between beauty and whiteness limits the concept of beauty only to the person’s exterior. The characters are constantly subjected to images and symbols of whiteness through movies, books, candy, magazines, baby dolls and advertisements. Another example of the images and symbols in the novel is when the black protagonist, Pecola, feasts on a ‘Mary Jane’ candy.

The mother/daughter relationship between Mrs. MacTeer and her two daughters, Claudia and Frieda, is loving and strong. They are taught their own self-worth through their mother’s strength and example, although this love isn’t fully appreciated by the girls until they are older. During Claudia’s illness, she is treated with a mixture of concern and anger. Although Claudia is scolded and her mother complains of cleaning her vomit, at the same time her mother is nursing her, giving her medicine, and checking on her throughout the night. Claudia discovers later that her mother’s anger is not directed at her, but at the world, as she must raise her black family in a world ruled by white culture. She protects her children and equips them for survival in a hostile environment.

The desire to feel beautiful has never been more in demand, yet so impossible to achieve. In the book “The Bluest Eye”, the author, Toni Morrison, tells the story of two black families that live during the mid-1900’s. Even though slavery is a thing of the past, discrimination and racism are still a big issue at this time. Through the whole book, characters struggle to feel beautiful and battle the curse of being ugly because of their skin color. Throughout the book Pecola feels ugly and does not like who she is because of her back skin. She believes the only thing that can ever make her beautiful is if she got blue eyes. Frieda, Pecola, Claudia, and other black characters have been taught that the key to being beautiful is by having white skin. So by being black, this makes them automatically ugly. In the final chapter of the book, the need to feel beautiful drives Pecola so crazy that she imagines that she has blue eyes. She thinks that people don’t want to look at her because they are jealous of her beauty, but the truth is they don’t look at her because she is pregnant. From the time these black girls are little, the belief that beauty comes from the color of their skin has been hammered into their mind. Mrs. Breedlove and Geraldine are also affected by the standards of beauty and the impossible goal to look and be accepted by white people. Throughout “The Bluest Eye” Toni Morrison uses the motif of beauty to portray its negative effect on characters.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” ~Martin Luther King. This quote sums up the meaning of a truly good person. There are certain characteristics that help to describe a truly good person. These are integrity, kindness and looking out and helping others.

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.

Maureen is the envy of Claudia, Pecola, and Frieda. Maureen represents the beauty and wealth of commodity culture's influences. Her appeal is based on the fact that her looks are synonymous with white beauty. She is not a threat to whites because she mirrors their own image, however the characters in the novel resent her for not carrying the stigma of African American features.

Junior is affected by the failure of his mother to parent well. Instead she worries about appearance, cleanliness, and her cat which brings separation between her and Junior. Because he is angry and hurt by this, he abuses his mother’s cat who receives all the affection he would like to have from Geraldine.

Frances doesn't agree with Michael that its natural for him to look at other women. When she catches him looking at the first woman, she says "She's not so pretty anyway,...Not pretty enough to take a chance breaking your neck looking at her." She thinks the reason that he is looking at the girl is because she's pretty, but he disagrees, saying "...She has a nice complexion. Country girl complexion." Her logic is, that she sees herself as just as pretty as any other girl. So why would her husband want to look at other women? But Michael's point of view is that he can't help but look at these women. That

Márquez’s tone in Lorenzo’s actions was violent to make his opposition vivid, while Fermina’s fear influenced her decision to do something out of societal norms. In retaliation to his controlling ways, she cuts off her braid, which in Latin culture, represents beauty in women, symbolizing that she neither wanted nor cared to be affiliated by generic beauty expected by society, but instead to be identified as an individual.

Natural forces are typically seen as feminine because they represented the generative powers of fertility and birth. Nature is bountiful, being a source of life. It feeds us, nourishes us, bringing us joy. Women are also a source of happiness; they nurse and breed the new generation with health and care. But, after colonization, both nature and women are violated. They are not seen as source of happiness any more but source of utility. They are misused and exploited by men to lead a sophisticated and selfish of black poverty, disability and accident of absolute self-image. In The Bluest Eye Pecola is represented as a pathetic figure who feels that darkness has blighted her to ugliness and neglect.

Connie is a pretty girl, and “her mother had been pretty once too”, but she is not so much anymore and almost anything Connie does aggravates her (Oates 369). This rigid relationship pushes Connie further away the older she gets. Everything about Connie has “two sides to it,” her shirt “would look one way at home and one way when she was away from home”, she was not fully herself anywhere she went (370). This act shows the way Connie lacks a sense of self. She feels as though she has to behave differently when she is with her family compared to when she is with her friends. The fact that Connie does not have a positive relationship with her mother has a direct effect on how she acts as a young woman. The lack of support and positive attention from a female role model leaves her seeking it out from other