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Racial Discrimination In Pecola's The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison

1769 Words8 Pages

The main character of the novel, The Bluest Eye, who is Pecola Breedlove, loves Shirley Temple and she believes that beauty is being white and that she is ugly. Pecola move back in with her family, with her father who is a drunk, her mother is distant, and they usually fight with each other. Pecola has a brother names Sammy who often runs away from home. Pecola believes that if she is gifted with blue eyes, she will be accepted by the society and that everything that is being done and said to her would eventually stop. She experienced a lot of racial oppression and receives a confirmation of her own sense of ugliness. Pauline Breedlove, Pecola’s mother is also one of the people who made her feel that she is ugly. Pauline wanted a white child more because she thinks that being black is ugly. She encourages her husband’s behavior to be able to bring back her own role as a martyr. The father of Pecola, Cholly, felt like he was trapped in his marriage and has lost his interest in life. One day, Cholly went home and saw Pecola washing the dishes; he rapes her out of the feeling of hatred. When that happened, Pecola told her mother about what happened and she didn’t believe her. The worst thing that happened was her mother beat her because she thought that Pecola was lying about what Cholly did to her. After that incident, Pecola went to Soaphead church and ask for blue eyes. The church did not help her but instead, they used her to kill a dog they don’t like. Cholly impregnated

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