Discrimination in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

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In Toni Morrison’s novel, “The Bluest Eye,” a character named Pecola Breedlove had always been wishing to have the bluest eyes, since it was considered as pretty in the novel’s world. Also, a lighter skin African American, Maureen Peal, bullied Pecola, who has darker skin, because Maureen thinks that she is cute, while she thinks Pecola is ugly. Similarly, Pecola always thought that she was ugly, because she does not have blue eyes. On the other hand, Maureen Peal came from a wealthier family and that made her think highly of herself. Although Pecola didn't come from a wealthy family but rather a lower class family and she went through hard times throughout her life. Morrison’s novel shows the difference between the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant world and the world of the characters in the novel by showing us how the characters in the novel are not living a good life. They were treated differently because of their skin color, and the social classes that they are in. Also, the kids are being neglected by their own parents, and there is child molestation in the family. In today's world, I think that it is slowly changing but there is still some divisions between people, because there is still racism out there. However, people are starting to stand up for themselves and appreciate their own culture and ethnicity more in today’s world. Nowadays, people are able to speak up for themselves. Just recently, my friend’s relative was being teased and bullied by many of her classmates because her skin color was darker than everyone else in the room. They called her names that hurted her feelings and they didn't bother to think about how she even felt at all. That night she went home and updated her status on a social media site about how sh... ... middle of paper ... ...ld, racism is slowly fading away, which is good. People are becoming more positive and stronger. They are able to stand up for themselves and fight for their own rights. People are starting to treat each other equally. While in the novel’s world, people judged one another, and they wished to be like the ones who are in a higher class than them. Likewise, the one with lighter skins are more superior than the ones with darker skin, because they are from a higher class and they think that the dark skins are inferior. The darker skins were not able to do much to make themselves fit in. Therefore, I think today’s world still have some similar divisions as the novel; yet, everything is slowly changing and fading away in today’s society. People are learning to become more optimistic about themselves and others. There are more love in today’s world than the novel’s world.

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