The Bluest Eye Comparison Essay

In the course of The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove has shown signs of low self esteem. She would always be the one to compare herself to something she admires to be beautiful. Perhaps, sometimes problems surround her get a little too much, she has not yet realized the fog will clear up. For example in the autumn chapter, a quote has said “Thrown, in this way, into the binding conviction that only a miracle could relieve her, she would never know her beauty. She would only see what there was to see: the eyes of other people.” There is no such thing as a “Pecola’s point of view”. She lives off of people's judgements and believe physical appearance is all there is to a person. Her desire to be beautiful is not having attractive long black hair and golden skin color, but blonde hair with a white pigmentation. Which causes her to dream and want even more.

The Bluest Eye tells a tragic story of a young girl named Pecola who desperately wishes for beautiful blue eyes. Pecola believes that the only way she will ever be beautiful is if she has blue eyes. This story takes place in the 1970’s, a time where African Americans were second class citizens in society. They were often exploited and dehumanized because of the way they looked, and this will leave a long lasting effect. Americans would often think that the only way to be beautiful is to have white characteristics like pale skin, blue eyes, and to be very feminine. Racism in the 1970 and in the setting of the Bluest Eye caused self hatred in the black community. The effects of self hatred and racism in the

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, planters and overseers arrived to repossess her and her children under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which gave slave owners the right to pursue

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,

The Color Purple by Alice Walker starts off with a rather graphic view of a young black woman denominated as Celie. Celie has to learn how to survive her abusive past. She also has to figure out a way she can release her past in search of the true meaning of love. Alice walker wrote this book as an epistolary novel to further emphasize Celie`s life events. From the beginning of the novel Alice Walker swiftly establishes an intimate contact with the reader. The book begins with a eloquent and lucid record of the physical abuse Celie`s father subjected her to. Even in Celie`s dark moments she is still able to find hope.

In The Bluest Eye, characters experience a variety of oppressive , that give rise to the never ending cycle of victimization in both the families and neighborhood. Throughout the novel, the black community accepts white beauty ideals, for example, judging Maureen’s light skin to be highly attractive in comparison to Pecola’s darker features. Racism is also apparent in other indirect ways. There is a general sense of worthlessness that certain colored characters subconsciously integrate into their daily lives, even without the constant reminder of their apparent “ugliness”. For example, “the Breedloves did not live in a storefront because they were having temporary difficulty adjusting to the cutbacks at the plant. They lived there because they were poor and black, and they stayed there because they believed they were ugly.

A woman’s race and the time period she lives in influences not only whether she will be a victim of sexual assault but also, the punishment of the offender. Toni Morrison, The author of The Bluest Eye, a victim of segregation, deals with sexual assault and segregation in her book. Chole Anthony Wofford, who goes by the name of Toni Morrison when writing her books, was born in Lorain, Ohio on February 18, 1931. Her father had several jobs to support their family, while her mother worked as a domestic worker. Toni lived in an integrated neighborhood. However, she did not become aware of segregation until she was a teenager. Her and her family eventually moved to the North to get away from

In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison strongly ties the contents of her novel to its structure and style through the presentation of chapter titles, dialogue, and the use of changing narrators. These structural assets highlight details and themes of the novel while eliciting strong responses and interpretations from readers. The structure of the novel also allows for creative and powerful presentations of information. Morrison is clever in her style, forcing readers to think deeply about the novel’s heavy content without using the structure to allow for vagueness.

In the 19th century, Alice Walker wrote about a young girl who was discovering her true strength and pushing through all of the obstacles presented to her. The novel describes Celie’s life and all of the dominant people she is introduced to. Celie represents the idea that no matter where someone is from, they can amount to anything they truly want. The Color Purple introduces the disruption of gender roles throughout the novel, and how they affect Celie’s growth as a person. During the 19th century, women typically had no say in society, especially in domestic situations.

Pauline eventually meets Cholly, who is Pecola’s biological father, and they fall in love. "He seemed to relish her company and even to enjoy her country ways and lack of knowledge about city things. He talked with her about her foot and asked, when they walked through the town or in the fields, if she were tired. Instead of ignoring her infirmity, pretending it was not there, he made it seem like something special and endearing. For the first time Pauline felt that her bad foot was an asset. And he did touch her, firmly but gently, just as she had dreamed. But minus the gloom of setting suns and lonely river banks. She was secure and grateful; he was kind and lively. She had not known there was so much laughter in the world." (Morrison, p. 115)

Toni Morrison’s novel “The Bluest Eye” deals with the gruesome subject of child abuse, neglect entangled with the unwillingness of characters to give a helping hand. Using different narratives, this story is both profound and devastating. The story is mostly told through the perspective of Claudia, a young girl who befriends Pecola. It is evident that there were supporters in Pecola’s life that were both unable and unwilling to help her. One instance in the novel in which hands were unable to help was when Pecola accidentally dropped the blueberry pie.

In the novel, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, love and the sense of self is a difficult concept for Celie, the main character, to grasp throughout the novel. The various relationships she has had, particularly with men, do not show her what authentic love is. For the majority of the novel, Celie’s sense of self is lost. The environments in which she is forced into shape her character. The time period of the novel puts into perspective the character change Celie goes through by having African Americans in general become more vocal.

The Bluest Eye is not one story, but rather different, some of the time opposing, interlocking stories. Characters recount stories to comprehend their lives, and these stories have enormous power for both great and malice. Claudia's stories, specifically, emerge for their positive power. As a matter of first importance, she discloses to Pecola's story, and however she doubts the precision and significance of her variant, to some degree her consideration and care recover the offensiveness of Pecola's life. Besides, when the grown-ups portray Pecola's pregnancy and expectation that the child passes on, Claudia and Frieda endeavor to revamp this story as a confident one, giving themselves a role as friends in need. At long last, Claudia opposes

The Bluest Eye explores racism by having her characters not only experience it externally but also exhibits the damaging psychological effect it has on defenseless characters like Pecola. Similar to Jim in Huckleberry Finn, Pecola experiences the privilege imbalance between blacks and whites when walking home from school with Maureen Peal. The character of Maureen Peal, takes refuge behind her lighter or almost white skin when she attacks and humiliates Pecola declaring herself to be cute against Pecola’s black and ugly. After Maureen’s departure, Pecola takes her insults to heart as “she folds into herself like a pleated wing”. Another racial prejudice scene in the novel is Pecola’s interaction with the store owner, Mr. Yacobowski. Mr. Yacobowski’s behavior and reaction to Pecola’s presence in his store dehumanizes her character like Huck does to Jim during the novel. Pecola’s timid and almost nonverbal response irritates him when she’s trying to buy the candy and sees her through “the total absence of human recognition”. The store owner further demonstrates his indifference toward Pecola by hesitating and maintaining little contact with her hand as she pays for her candy. The result of their interaction leads Pecola to feel shame about possibly inconveniencing him with her simple presence that fuels further insecurities

In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison shows that one’s family determines a character’s feeling of self-worth. According to Morrison, the world is teaching little black girls that they are not beautiful and unworthy of love. The world teaches this by depicting white people and objects that resemble them, as symbols of beauty. In this world, to be worthy of love you must be beautiful. Morrison shows that if a little black girl believes what the world is telling her, her self-esteem can develop low self-esteem and they may yearn to be white. Even in the absence of economic and racial privilege, Morrison suggests that a little black girl can look to her family to build up her self-esteem. For Morrison, having a family is