Though her pregnancy is a critical detail in the story, Pecola’s disfavor with her appearance is pronounced in the way she dreams of having white skin and especially blue eyes. Claudia, one of young girls that narrates describes Pecola’s love for Shirley Temple as she states, “Frieda and she had a long conversation about how cu-ute Shirley Temple was. I couldn't join them in their adoration because I hated Shirley” (Morrison 35). Pecola’s idolization of Shirley Temple indicates how culture, controlled by the dominant race, created the desire in young black girls to achieve the image of “whiteness”. Prejudice reigns in the means in which these young girls see beauty. Carolyn Gerald comments on this interaction between the young girls and societies …show more content…
As resources including food and shelter become ever more limited due to isolation, crime becomes eminent to survival and soon it manifests itself as a culture. Many carry the assumption that “black on black” crime is a bigger issue when comparing it to lethal police encounters. However, unlike the causes of police brutality, “black on black” crime is attributed primarily to limited access to quality food and healthcare (Chang 4). Bringing up a greater issue especially relevant to today, the issue of police brutality is a critical detail when analyzing such institutionalized oppression. These early political establishments such as slavery and eventually segregation created the idea of racism, however when blacks began to acquire civil rights, the white man’s control was being lost and was regained with unwarranted police brutality. Essentially slavery defined being black as a slave while Jim Crow defined being black as a second class citizen. Now, mass incarceration defines being black as being a criminal (Alexander …show more content…
Pecola Breedlove’s family and how they view themselves and Pecola, is another factor that contributes to the way she develops her low self esteem. Morrison describes the family writing, “They lived there because they were poor and black, and they stayed there because they believed they were ugly. Although their poverty was traditional and stultifying, it was not unique. But their ugliness was unique. No one could have convinced them that they were not relentlessly and aggressively ugly”(33). Regardless of whether or not this belief was true, the Breedlove’s internalized their misfortune of poverty and prejudice as being their own
The brutality of the police force has been a long worldwide problem, but especially between the years of 2012-2016. Black people are being unjustly beaten and shot in plain sight for doing nothing while being unarmed. Journal of African American Studies “Blacks are viewed as deserving of harsh treatment in the criminal justice system” (482). “Black males with more “Afrocentric” features may receive longer sentences than blacks with less Afrocentric features like lighter skin and straighter hair”(482). Nowadays it is important to know about the police force. It’s important to know our rights as citizens and be careful around cops. Not everybody is good, but not everybody is bad also. In The New York Amsterdam News 21 people were killed by Chicago police in 2008. Entire families were being attacked. They believe it’s because of their skin color and how they are different. The year of racism started off with the world seeing the police murder of Oscar Grant. “The media have pushed people away from hearing the issue of police brutality, and it has fallen off of the radar screen.”(2) “You can’t give in. They will try to make an example out of you, try to break your spirit!”(2) African Americans say do not trust the cops with anything. “They will ruin you.”(2)
As we know Shirley Temple was a young prodigy with a lot of money. Jing mei mom wanted her to be a prodigy so that she could make money for their household because they were kind of low class. Jing Mei mom worked for different people to clean their houses so that she could get money for her household. She also wanted Jing Mei’ to be a prodigy just so she could have some type of talent because her siblings daughters all had a type of talent and they parents were always bragging, so Jing Mei’s mom wanted her to be a prodigy like Shirley Temple whom of course made a good amount of money for it, and was very
Over the past five centuries, black people have endured violence in many different ways. Today, police officers use deadly, excessive force that leads to inexcusable assaults, beatings and shootings. This demonstrates the governmentТs role in initiating and prolonging racial suppression and provides the explanation for police brutality to become a federal crime(Black Radical Congress, 3). In history, racist violence, police brutality, has been used to suppress the racial blacks and to preserve power and privileges for the white race. This was done for five primary purposes. First, it has forced black people into slavery or low wage situations. Secondly, to steal land and other resources. A 3-rd was to maintain social control. A fourth
Despite the important racial progresss our society has made since Emmett Till’s death, from the civil rights era, to present increase of police brutality has still left the Black/African American community in shadows of segregation. The second most recent shooting of teenager Michael Brown has left citizens in ongoing battles with law enforcement officers of Ferguson, Missouri. New Statement (2014) reports, Missouri police similarly attempted to retain control of the narrative, claiming Brown had stolen cigars, and then paying for them, and then claiming he was a bad child and attacked the officer who shot him” (New Statement, 21). Brown autopsy reveals he was gun less and shot six times. Police brutality is not solely about Ferguson, Emmett Till, or the civil rights movement, but it is simply about the history of capitalism and police brutality in America and having many forms of it.
From the very beginning of Pecola’s life, her mother ingrains in her the idea that she is ugly—a concept that Mrs. Breedlove herself is viewed as due to her missing front tooth and her skin color. After her birth, she refers to Pecola as being “a right smart baby” but “a cross between a puppy and a dying man. But I knowed she was ugly. Head full of pretty hair, but Lord she was ugly” (Morrison 126). Mrs. Breedlove acknowledges that Pecola is a smart girl, but doesn’t view it as an impressive quality. Instead, she focuses on the fact that her daughter is unattractive. As Spies mentions, “even by her own mother, Pecola has been denied the slightest notion of being valuable or worthy of love” (Spies 15). By denying value and love to her daughter, Mrs. Breedlove is instilling in Pecola the same self-hatred that Cholly and society has instilled in herself. Mrs. Breedlove’s unhappiness is unquestionably the reason for Pecola’s own dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
In recent years’ police departments have been brought into the public eye based on the public belief that police brutality has become a norm within the police system in recent years. Yet this has occurred for decades in police departments, not only that but there are multiple forms of brutality to take account of in the criminal justice system specifically towards African-Americans. The criminal justice system has become accustomed to creating a system of racial control after the ending of the Jim Crow Era. Causing every level of the system to work in a way that limits the freedom of African-Americans the most common being that of police misusing
If I could choose to live in any time period I would choose to live the United States while police brutality against african americans. But first, what exactly does police brutality define as? Police brutality is the wanton use of excessive force, usually physical, but also common in forms of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer. This paper will talk about various examples of police brutality that is directed towards civilians, and then the side of police officers themselves. In particular, the cases of white cops on black victims. These will include those against Eric Garner, Mike Brown, Rodney King, and Malice Rose. The paper will also provide insight and examples on
The police are pronouncing a campaign of domination and restraint of populations and that movement has the understood endorsement of every citizen within their precincts. This is not a reprobate officer difficulty; this is a cad society crisis (Russell, 2000). Police brutality is the manifestation of a race issue that has been growing over an extensive period of time. Police brutality cannot be fought without addressing the core issue of racism and proper measures of reform through the auspices of the law. It is important that we as a nation set aside time to really discuss the issues that surround institutional racism and institutional bias that creates the stigma that surrounds the African-American population. The police are simply mediums
At this time black people weren’t treated with respect and were constantly discriminated against in all types of ways. Pecola grew up in a rough environment with her dad abusing her mother constantly and constantly getting in fights “Cholly and Mrs. Breedlove fought each other with a darkly brutal formalism”(Morrison 43). Pecola decided to surround herself with people that can help her like the Macteer’s. In addition Pecola believed she was ugly and reason for this was because she didn’t have blue eyes like the Shirley Temple doll that everyone adored. Pecola never tried to persevere through the tough times and make people believe that she isn’t ugly but had just settled to believing that she was granted blue eyes and just felt sorry for herself “Here was an ugly little girl asking for beauty.
Initially, as I read this quote, I began to sympathize with Pecola and the plight she faces as an African American female. This is the first time in the novel we are exposed to the desire Pecola vehemently prays for daily, this desire being blue eyes. The reason I sympathized for the girl beyond the fact that attaining blue eyes for her would be impossible, is because she blames her blue-lacking eye color, or her ugliness as she classifies it as, as a way to justify everything that has gone wrong in her life. Take, for instance, Cholly, her dad, and her mother, Mrs. Breedlove’s fights. Even though their fights arise from the problems they have between themselves, Pecola continues to believe that her ugliness has struck her with not only undesirable
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
In her society she is seen as an outcast, and feels as if she is undesirable. With her only true friends being Claudia and Frieda, she begins to wonder what her life could be like if she wasn’t African American. The tarnished love she acquires from her household and family leads her to believe that she will not be accepted by her community as well. Her life did not meet the ideal standards she set in her head and she believed “If those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different” (Morrison 46). This quote shows Pecola’s desire to be white, and have the bluest of eyes so she can be different and completely unlike what she is now.
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.
Pecola Breedlove is one of the main characters in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eyes. Pecola is a young black girl growing up in the 1940s, in northern Ohio, a dominantly white world. She idolizes the young, white movie actress Shirley Temple and wants to be like her. Pecola never realizes how unattainable this dream is and the hardships she faces makes it even more impossible. Some of the hardships Pecola faces in her life include being bullied at school, an unstable home life, and the feeling of ugliness. Pecola is constantly called ugly by classmates, strangers, and even her own mother. She has been called ugly so much she believes that she is truly ugly but, Pecola thinks if she had blue eyes then all of her problems would be solved. She would be pretty if she had blue eyes. People would not make fun of her and call her ugly if she had blue eyes. Blue eyes may even be able to prevent her parents from fighting so vigorously. She believes blue eyes are the solution to all of her problems. However, blue eyes are metaphor for something much more powerful than a genetic trait, love.
The setting and imagery are all based around hate,cruelty and irresponsibility of black people among themselves. These people feel no sort of compassion for Pecola’s plight, there is no love for the black baby in contrast to the love and care that is being bestowed on the “White baby dolls.” The writer Toni Morrison uses words like “the flared nose, kissing-thick lips, and the living, breathing silk of black skin,” to describe the baby, although the baby shares the same features with the same people who surround it without any form of pity or positive emotion for it and it’s mother. This shows that it is not the white community that destroys pecola but her parents and the black people around her.