The Nature Of Racialised Beauty In The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison

The novel tells not only the story of Pecola but the story of the whole black community that unable to conform to white standards of beauty are condemned to sink into a pit of darkness. In this paper I will discuss how beauty is constructed in The Bluest Eye. Beauty is one of the main topics in The Bluest Eye and its importance relies on the fact that this is a novel about finding self-identity, but most of the characters from the novel search for their own identity in others. They value beauty over other things such as intelligence because they live in a society in which beauty is constructed in a way that they associate it with being loved and approved by others and as I just said they establish their self-worth based on how others perceive them. In the case of Pecola, she believes that having blue eyes will make her beautiful and wanted and she will never be sad again, as

Entertaining discussion with Neil over the beauty of a visiting mistress, Mrs. Forrester comments that the girl is “considered pretty,” purposefully omitting her opinion to implicitly imply that the girl is not pretty in the eyes of Mrs. Forrester (28). By specifically using “considered,” Mrs. Forrester only furthers Cather’s argument that perfection is subjective as the girl is flawed to Mrs. Forrester (28). Instead of highlighting her impolite behavior, Neil takes it in stride and later tells her that she is still “lovely” (30), even after realizing that, whenever Mrs. Forrester describes other women, “she always made fun of them a little” (28). By creating the contrast from a young idealistic Neil desiring to see the best in Mrs. Forrester and the older Neil wishing for things to stay “the same,” Cather draws a distinction between idealism drawn from hope compared to idealism drawn from complacency, harping on Neil’s desire to maintain his ideals even after realizing its flaws

Running parallel to the identity crises is the theme of

When Tori Amos mentions “Veronica’s America” she refers to one that judges people based on face value, one where people are cruel and love is a pipe dream. Like Ophelia, Veronica has chosen relationships with the wrong people, leaving her cynical and jaded. She does not believe that love is worth the pain it causes. Tori compares this view of the world to “Charlotte’s America”; while the character of Charlotte is rather ambiguous, Amos speaks of it as if it were full of “cosmic flavor”, a direct reference to one of her other songs “Flavor”, a song about the divine aspects of love. Even though love is difficult, it is worth every struggle because of the happiness that true love can create for someone.

This family consists of the mother Pauline, the father Cholly, the son Sammy, and the daughter Pecola. The novel’s focal point is the daughter, an eleven-year-old Black girl who is trying to conquer a bout with self-hatred. Everyday she encounters racism, not just from white people, but mostly from her own race. In their eyes she is much too dark, and the darkness of her skin somehow implies that she is inferior, and according to everyone else, her skin makes her even “uglier.” She feels she can overcome this battle of self-hatred by obtaining blue eyes, but not just any blue.

Introduction The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years. - Audrey Hepburn Contrary to Sir Thomas Overbury’s belief, beauty is not skin deep, instead true beauty is found within our minds and souls. When we think of beauty we often only see the carnal beauty and we often aim to be aesthetically pleasing.

The contradictory term for unconditionally is conditionally. In Desiree's Baby, Armand loved Desiree conditionally because he made her leave once he found out she was of African American descent. In traditional wedding vows, it should be stated that you will love you spouse through anything. Armand broke his wedding vows because he did not love her due to her skin color. Many readers say Desiree loved her baby unconditionally because she knew she would not be accepted in the world as a mixed baby.

Similarly, her image as a “poor and plain” protagonist only added to the inferiority of her status (182). This pessimistic outlook was the effect of years of abuse, negligence, mistreatment, and solitude. Though she was a well-rounded woman, when compared to the others, no qualities caused admiration unto the public, consequently causing her to easily be overlooked. St. John Rivers continuously highlighted her similarities to other females, yet their distinction through the passionate vigor of her character. The “intolerable defects” the protagonist possessed often seemed to deem the rest of her interior qualities (152).

Throughout the book, Pearl is shown as a symbol of Hester's sin. In The Scarlet Letter, it says “But she named the infant “Pearl”, as being of great price, purchased with all she had, her mother's only treasure!”(Hawthorne 81). This is showing that Hester loves Pearl, but feels bad that she has to live her life being the product of sin. In the novel, Hester is always reminded of her sin and Pearl is the product of Hester and Dimmesdale's sin.

I feel that many people can learn from Cassie’s successes and failures, and become a better person not only for themselves, but also for the good of the

Doe Deere has always been a bit of a rebel in her own way. People like to call her a rebel because she likes to establish her own rules to live by. Her makeup rules are easy to follow. She believes that people should just follow their own intuition. Often, their intuition is the best guide.

A Researched Analytical Essay: The Bluest Eye In the novel “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, we are provided an extended interpretation of how whiteness is the standard of beauty, which distorts the lives of black women and children, through messages everywhere that whiteness is superior. The theme of race and that white skin is greater is portrayed through the lives and stories told by the characters, especially the three girls Claudia, Pecola and Frieda. Through the struggles those people have endured, Morrison shows us the destructive effect of this internalized idea of white beauty on the individual and on society. “The Bluest Eye” has a number of elements that relate closely to Toni Morrison’s own personal life.

Women should be educated, but refined and submissive and understand that their education was to help them fulfill their roles as mothers and not to seek a role beyond the home. The education of wealthy white women generally focused on academic learning, good manners, and fine arts to suit their class position. They often attended boarding schools or at least private schools. “A well-known southern magazine DeBow’s Review extolled the numerous benefits of women’s education, ‘The effect has been to improve their minds and manners without robbing them of the extreme delicacy and refinement for which they have always been distinguished.’” (McMillen 94).

In To Kill a Mockingbird, blacks are simply oppressed due to the color of their skin. Pecola, hated for issues that she had absolutely no control over and could not adjust. Just like Cholly, some victims of powerful self-loathing turn out to be dangerous, violent, reproducing the same demon that has humiliated them over and over. In the text Feminism is for Everybody, Bell Hooks says “All white women in this nation know that whiteness is a privilege.”(55) Hooks references race in comparison to gender in the chapter called “Race and Gender”.

The white women is oppressed but relishes in the freedom of her race. The black woman faces a unique combination of prejudice for both her gender and the color of her skin. When society tries to separate humanity into categories, including “ladies” and “colored people,” it is made unclear where we belong, according to Cooper. The women’s movement that is sweeping the nation is meant to teach courteousness and compassion, yet the white woman still looks down upon the black woman as her inferior. Likewise, while she acknowledges that some members of the black community have received honors, the race will not rise from oppression until the whole race does so, particularly black women.