Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

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Communities shape the way we think about ourselves and the people around us. They are a reflection of the ideas, beliefs and socio-economic realities that we share as a collective whole. Who we interact with and how they react to us can foster a sense of belonging or lead to rejection and isolation. In Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye, we see a community affected by poverty, institutionalized racism, sexual abuse and the influences it has on a little girl named Pecola Breedlove and how it shapes her own self image, as she is constantly reinforced with negative messages about herself and her family everywhere she goes. This eventually leads her to believe that there is something inherently wrong with her, and the only way that it can be fixed, so she can be accepted by anyone, is to have blue eyes. As we follow Pecola through her unfortunate circumstances we learn that without reliable support network, she begins to believe the negativity she feels towards herself and questions her own self worth. How Pecola Breedlove reacts to the messages of a toxic community and how the community reacts to her illustrates the powerful influence it has on her personal development and how Pecola used the community as a mirror in which to view herself.
We can allow people in the community to reject us, or we can be defiant and reject those in the community that try to assert power over us. Claudia and Frieda represent a clear contrast to Pecola as they stay defiant in the face of adversity. In an example, the girl next door, Rosemary Villanucci, seems to relentlessly antagonize the girls when the opportunity presents itself. Instead of giving into Rosemary's declaration of superiority, Morrison describes them as wanting to “Poke the arr...

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... the end, what kind of community we have around ourselves can shape and define us depending on if we give in to the negativity or if we fight for the things we believe in. Claudia and Frieda were defiant and headstrong, and they had a family that was protective and loving. Pecola however never had positive role-models and the community only reinforced what her family already believed about themselves, that they were “ugly” people. Pecola's obsession with having blue eyes could be said to have stemmed from the communities expectations and how she did not fit into them. Her desire to be noticed, loved and cared for became an obsession that she fully embraced after she had been raped by her father Cholly and it only took a small con by Soaphead church for her to go over the edge and become mentally ill. Pecola's reality shattered, and her fragile psyche split in two.

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