The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's first novel The Bluest Eye takes place in Loraine Ohio in the 1940's, it is the story being told by Claudia MacTeer of an event that took place when she was child. The story centers around Pecola a 11year old young girl who is not seen or recognized due to her feature characteristics, she is described as black and ugly, when Pecola is raped and impregnated by her father the girls believe that no Marigolds bloomed that autumn because of the tragedy that drove their
that someone is unable to fit such a narrow mold, causes agony and self-loathing. But, in a society where beauty is restricted to only fair skin, blond hair, and blue eyes while anyone else is subjected to harassment, the effects can be even more detrimental. In The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the standards of beauty cause Pecola, one of the main characters, to become self-loathing and have low self-esteem, ultimately leading to her downfall and hence unveiling the detrimental effects of society’s
‘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
The Bluest Eye In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison brings to light the often unrecognized struggle that many people in the black community face. She exposes the “whitewashing” that has been prevalent in society for decades and the societal imposition of impossible beauty standards. Morrison uses the book to show us the psychological tolls on children and adults that stem from these unattainable goals. Children, like Pecola Breedlove, are so indoctrinated by society and the quest for superficial “perfection”
The novel The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison is subjected on a young girl, Pecola Breedlove and her experiences growing up in a poor black family. The life depicted is one of poverty, ridicule, and dissatisfaction of self. Pecola feels ugly because of her social status as a poor young black girl and longs to have blue eyes, the pinnacle of beauty and worth. Throughout the book, Morrison touches on controversial subjects, such as the depicting of Pecola's father raping her, Mrs. Breedlove's sexual
Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, challenges Western standards of beauty. The book also expresses that the perception of beauty is socially constructed. With its richness of language and boldness of vision, it also recognises the possibility of whiteness used as a standard of beauty and blackness being diminished. Toni Morrison focuses on the black female characters, Pauline and Pecola Breedlove, suffering through the construction of femininity in an ethnicized society. This essay will
In the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, beauty is measured by how light your skin is and how blue your eyes are. The novel is about a little girl named Pecola Breedlove, and her desire to have blonde hair and blue eye to become beautiful. Pecola comes from a dysfunctional family, and she believes the only way to feel loved and safe is for her to look beautiful like the little white girls she sees on TV. Pecola’s parents have had their struggles through life about beauty and love; they never grasped how
on one’s heart. The novel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, displays multiple interpretations of love. Morrison’s main character, Pecola Breedlove an eleven year old African American girl, displays the best example of love because she unselfishly took on the burdens of her family, friends and society. This burden makes her feel ugly; so she wishes to change her outward appearance, specifically her blue eyes, and wants to change the world around her. Pecola Breedlove naturally craves for acceptance
In the novel, The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, the author has all the main characters be African Americans, and live in a deprived time of segregation to encourage the reader to change their view to treat African Americans kindly and have a different idea of perfection than white skin and blue eyes. Throughout the novel, the author focuses on the clash between different cultures, and the the colors that symbolize each. First, the reader reads the title, The Bluest Eye. This initially starts the
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison may show a link between the ugliness of Pecola Breedlove and the town she lives in – Lorain. Concerning appearance, Pecola and the town of Lorain are both on the uglier side. While they share certain outward characteristics, Pecola and Lorain are vastly different on the interior. On one side, Pecola Breedlove is constantly put down because of how she appears to be. She is not as attractive as others and the people she meets constantly shut her out because