The Bluest Eye Research Paper

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Ketchyne H. Paul Dr. Hausemann
EN 218 Women Lit
Paper 1
4/16/15

The White Standard of Beauty
In the novel “The Bluest Eye”, Toni Morrison traces a young girl’s story that is being discriminated against because of the pigment of her skin color which makes her ugly and worthless. She thinks that her life would not be difficult, if only her eyes were blue. Many women of color have learned to hate their own bodies because of their skin color, even taking this hatred out on their own children. Pecola, in Morrison’s story desires blue eyes; she believes that everything she is experiencing has to do with the way she looks. To her, having blue eyes will cause people treat her differently. Blue eyes symbolize the beauty and happiness that she sees …show more content…

Besides wishing that she had blue eyes and lighter skin, Pecola also wishes that she could see things differently, the same way she wishes to be seen differently by society. The white standard of beauty plays a major role in the development of the female characters in the novel. Some experience self-hatred while others experience self-acceptance.
The dark skinned characters in the novel are influenced by how people in their town view and reject them based on how they look. These woman and girls do not like the way they look because of how society looks at them no matter how hard they try to make themselves better looking, “They washed themselves with orange-colored lifebuoy soap, dust themselves with Cashmere Bouquet talc, clean their teeth with salt on a piece of …show more content…

She feels that she did not belong in society because of her skin color, because she did not have blue eye as she wished. This is an issue question of race and discrimination. Pecola should learn to appreciate her body just the way God mad her. Everyone has their own beauty, and people don’t need to have light skin and certain color of eye to be considered beautiful. At the end of the day, inner beauty is what defines who you really are. Pecola cares more about what other people think of her and how they see her which can relate to so many readers. Also, society is not the only thing that makes her feel that way, she is the one that lets them feed into her. No one can make you feel bad about yourself without you already having that feeling inside of you; she does not accept herself the way she is. Every night before she goes to bed as mention in the book she always pray for blue eyes. No one should feel that way about themselves. We should love ourselves no matter what, God made us all beautiful in our own way and that is what we should believe and trust in. if someone can’t love their self how can they expect for other people to love them? No one will love someone i if they do not love

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