In "The Bluest Eye," Toni Morrison explores racial tension in the town of Lorain, Ohio, immediately following the Great Depression. The novel follows the lives of a number of African Americans, including Claudia MacTeer, the narrator, Pecola Breedlove, the main character, and Pauline Breedlove, Pecola's mother. The central theme of the novel is the pervasive idea of white culture as the standard of beauty, and the subsequent belief that black culture is ugly and undesirable, and the way that this belief influences the lives of the three characters. Both Pecola and Pauline have completely accepted the idea of whiteness as the standard of beauty to the point where they see themselves as being ugly and undesirable, and aspire to become white: Pecola desires to have blue eyes and Pauline wishes to look like the white celebrities she sees in the movies. On the other hand, Claudia resists the message that she is ugly and does not succumb to the self-loathing that is prevalent among the town's African American population.
[...] The Bluest Eye In Bluest Toni Morrison explores racial tension in the town of Lorain, Ohio, immediately following the Great Depression. The novel follows the lives of a number of African Americans, including Claudia MacTeer, the narrator, Pecola Breedlove, the main character, and Pauline Breedlove, Pecola's mother. The central theme of the novel is the pervasive idea of white culture as the standard of beauty, and the subsequent belief that black culture is ugly and undesirable, and the way that this belief influences the lives of the three characters. [...]
[...] She also know that when on of the girls at school wanted to be particularly insulting to a boy she could say, “Bobby loves Pecola Breedlove! Bobby loves Pecola Breedlove!” (Morrison 45). Furthermore, the belief that white is beautiful was also reinforced by members of the black community. Maureen, who is a light-skinned black girl, makes fun of Pecola by saying am cute! And you ugly. Black and ugly black e mos. I am (Morrison 73). When Geraldine, a middle-class black woman, reprimands Pecola, she says nasty little black bitch. [...]
[...] However, even when Pauline changes her hairstyle to look like Jean Harlow, the change is not permanent, but rather an illusion that only serves to temporarily hide the reality of her misfortunes: I fixed my hair up like I'd seen hers on a magazine. A part on the side, with one little curl on my forehead. It looked just like her I sat in that show with my hair done up that way and had a good time The pictures gave me a lot of pleasure, but it made coming home hard, and looking at Cholly hard. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
