...Pat ***** Ms.B*** English 7 11/13/13 The Enigma of Beauty Society’s eyes have been trained over the years to conspicuously spot flaws in what’s been perceived as its standards of beauty. Indifference within its own definition of genuine beauty-stands out like an eye sore amongst the conformity of what or rather whom we are. In Toni Morrison’s Bluest Eye, characters call into question what is beauty itself and how can they achieve that “look” everyone yearns to have. Is it they who radiate unattractiveness or is it society’s harshness who push them to hide within the depths of their own ugliness? It is within the young character Pecola Breedlove do we indeed call to question the harshness of human self-worth. She often debates her own beauty but still embraces her ugliness-wearing it shamefully. “Thrown, in the way, into the binding conviction that only a miracle could relieve her, she would never know her beauty. She would only see what there was to see: the eyes of other people.” (Morrison, 1970) But what of, the binding conviction? The constant reminder of her offensive ugliness left nowhere to receive sympathy from, as her family welcomed their ugliness just as bluntly. “We soothe ourselves with clichés. Its only skin deep, we cluck it’s only in the eye of the beholder. Pretty is, as pretty does.” (Newman, 2013) There’s an impenetrable wall of perfection surrounding the world she grows in. Flaws categorized in...
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...In Toni Morrison’s the novel “The Bluest Eye”, it provided a comprehensive understanding of how whiteness is the preferred beauty standards, which misleads the lives of African American women and children. Morrison is a master at examining the relationships between the races and genders. She also talks about the struggle between civilization and nature, despite the fact that if it is myth. Morrison has a unique way in her writing that causes the reader to get visual through her narrating stories. Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye demonstrates her creative techniques to express the struggles of how African American girl’s deals with society’s concepts of beauty, self-hatred, self-worth, and family. As many individuals may know that beauty is...
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...Josh Kloosterman 8:30am The Bluest Eye literary analysis Beauty is a perceptual scope that the reader looks through while reading the bluest eye in its entirety. It is the focus of ideals and issues within the book the Bluest eye. Beauty or lack of is the major motivator for decisions and/or consequences throughout the story. It can define who you are in terms of society and where you fit in, but does it have to? Supposedly, in this country we call home, if you work hard enough you can have whatever your heart desires. In the Bluest eye All Pecola Breedlove wanted was to have blue eyes or in her mind, be beautiful. She believed because of what society had taught her that those whom are beautiful have blue eyes and blonde hair. This is a social institution which has been part of America’s culture since the beginning of the U.S. We must look a certain way, have a specific occupation, or live in a particular neighborhood if we are to fit into society. In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison has captured these and other stigma's we place on ourselves and raise the question of, is these things the only way to be accepted and have some level of beauty in societies eyes? We are raised in a society that tells us we are all equal, however that ideal is rarely practiced throughout our history. We only have to turn on the television or open a magazine to see who the adored people in our country are. Pecola believes that if she could have blue eyes then she would be accepted. "If she looked...
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...The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Beauty is said to be in the eyes of the beholder, but what if the image of beauty is forced into the minds of many? The beauty of a person could be expressed in many different ways, as far as looks and personality goes, but the novel The Bluest Eye begs to differ. It contradicts the principle, because beauty is no longer just a person’s opinion but beauty has been made into an unwritten rule, a standard made by society for society. The most important rule is that in order to be beautiful, girls have to look just like a white doll, with blue eyes, light pink skin, and have blond hair. And if they’re not, they are not beautiful. Pecola, one of community’s ugly children, lives life each day wanting to be accepted. “The wider community also fails Pecola. Having absorbed the idea that she is ugly and knowing that she is unloved, Pecola desperately wants the blue eyes that she understands will make a child lovable in American society”(Kubitschek 35). In The Bluest Eye, Morrison argues that the black females in society have been forced to accept the blond hair blue eyed image as the only beauty that exists. Little girls in Lorain had it set in their heads that they should all grow up owning a blond haired and blue-eyed doll, also known as Shirley Temple. These images were placed in their minds, making them feel as if they had to live up to the expectations by going with the crowd, and letting their surroundings influence them. “Adults, older girls...
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...Pecola had a similar fascination with the images on a Mary Jane wrapper. “To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane.” (43) Pecola was preoccupied on literally ingesting what she considered this ideal figure of beauty. The Mary Jane candies are interesting as well, being an example of the power that is held over the young black girls. In addition to Claudia and Pecola acting as a contrast and similarity to shirley Temple, both representing the underprivileged side of society, Morrison also includes families and individual characters who aspire to live like the ruling class and seek social equality by disassociating themselves from the lower class African Americans. Later on in The Bluest Eye,...
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...stereotypically Aryan features: blonde hair and blue eyes are held in the highest esteem by society in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Set in the town of Lorain, Ohio during the 1960s, the various characters presented strive to live up to society’s perspective of beauty. It is this struggle to find beauty in the White-dominated world that drives many characters. To many, to be beautiful is to simply not be Black. Universally deemed ugly by almost everyone she encounters, central protagonist Pecola Breedlove yearns to live up to the standard of beauty, to be White, by attain blue eyes. Through the use of racism, the standard of innate Beauty of the White and innate Ugly of the Black is reinforced, questioned, affirmed and dispelled. Although no Whites appear in the book, each character presented heavily feels within their presence. While impossible to change the color of their skin, many characters seek to emulate the White way. The blue-eyed Shirley Temple is idolized and revered as beautiful by many characters, especially Frieda MacTeer and Pecola. White baby dolls are precious treasures, given to little Black girls, with their mothers passing on the idea that these Blonde-blued dolls are the closest to beauty their daughters can get. Property, while rare for the Blacks to own, was the adults mean of attaining society’s standards, with the Black women keeping their owns as tidy and neat and white as possible. In their pursuit of beauty, racism ran as heavy undertone through many...
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...Defying Social Norms Through Writing Essentialist definitions claim that women writers avoid confrontational issues in their work. They instead choose to play it safe when it comes to the topics that they write about. Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, and Virginia Woolf defy this claim by writing about topics such as race, social status and gender. The novels, “The Bluest Eye,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “To the Lighthouse,” are examples of how these women writers challenge the essentialists’ claims. Beauty standards are a prevailing theme in “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison. Young black girls, like the character Pecola, have to face the hurdles that the color of their skin causes for them. A theme in the novel is that whiteness is...
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...The Bluest Eye: Worth Challenging? Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is one of the books most often challenged in the United States. This is a reaction that, on its face, seems easy to understand. The book contains violence, sexual content (both violent and not), and racial themes. The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio during the Great Depression and primarily follows the story of three African-American girls, two sisters and their friend, Pecola. The events that transpire in their lives during the course of the book would disturb even those accustomed to reading literature not aimed at the young adult market. The question of what age to allow students to read The Bluest Eye, and more specifically have it taught to them, is a difficult one to answer. On the one hand, the book could be disturbing to young students and their parents would probably feel uncomfortable having their child exposed to its content, but on the other hand the literary merit of the novel cannot be doubted and its realism provokes readers into thinking more deeply about child abuse and race. Violence is found scattered throughout the book. One of the central characters, if not the central character, is Pecola, a young girl living in an abusive home. Her parents often fight, seemingly to pass the time. Pecola is emotionally scarred by this, and wishes she could just run away like her older brother. Most notably, she is raped at the hands of her father, Cholly. This is almost certainly the most controversial...
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...ideals. In the novel The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison, the topic of racial passing is widely explored through the theme of self- loathing. In the text Morrison portrays the human condition through the contrasting views of protagonist Pecola Breedlove and her foil Claudia Mac Teer. Morrison uses various literary elements within the text to convey her take on the ideals of racial passing, such as symbolism, imagery, and point of view. In the text...
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...Her husband seems to view Elisa from the inside, not what she looks like. His compliments towards her seem to be based on the type of person she is not the person she looks like. Her daily outfit is described as “her gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes,” as if she is trying to hide herself. When Elisa is getting ready to go out to dinner with her husband she “scrubbed herself with a little block of pumice, legs and thighs, loins and chest and arms, until her skin was scratched and red” as if she were trying to “scrub” the manliness off of her that she saw. When getting dressed for the night she wore her newest and nicest clothes which she thought to be the “symbol of her prettiness.” Elisa believes that she is not pretty until she has the nicest and newest thing on her body. When Elisa is in her day to day routine, she struggles to see who she really is. Elisa wants her husband to tell her she is beautiful but cannot see when he is trying because she cannot first accept...
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...this time it was hard for people to find employment, especially blacks. It also shows the constant glorification of white beauty which lead to black self-hatred during this time. Furthermore, it was written at a major part of the Civil Rights Movement, which involved counteracting the bias that white is beautiful and black is not. 2. Toni Morrison is an African-American writer and professor. She grew up in Ohio, Lorain Where the Bluest Eye takes place. She developed a love for literature and storytelling as she grew up. The story is the told from the view of a 9 year old girl which would have been the same age as Morrison during time in the book. Showing the connection that the book has connection in her life personally. The story evolved from a conversation she had with a little girl in elementary school who wanted blue eyes. 3....
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...Cedric Wyrick English 131 Professor Anderson November 13,2013 Annotated bibliography My first author is Jerome ump. Bump believes that racism is an form of emotion. As if you’re happy, sad, cheerful, you can feel racist. He states “that is unfortunate especially because emotions often generate more energy for reform of race, class, and gender inequities than abstractions.” I would never think that someone would feel racist. My next author is Kim Crosby. Crosby thinks that racism is surrounding us even today. She gave examples of how famous African American superstars are judged. “All of us, we are affected deeply by everything around us in the media to the underrepresentation of others.” If you’re successful it shouldn’t matter the color of your skin. This is LeAnne Coady on racism. I like Coady’s beliefs because she says we are all equal. “We have been told that everyone is a child of God and we are all created equal.” Amen! My fourth author Janine Johnson. Johnson’s idea on racism expands from your sex, religion, height, weight etc. “These minority characters struggle to succeed in 1940s society because they are not white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure. Really people can hate on you for the littlest thing. Mary smith is my fifth author. Smith’s theory is she believes that the white man started all the madness; smith says “It’s not just Pecola who brings about this reaction, for each time white people...
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...unaware of the values they sacrifice in the process. It is the African-American literature, The Bluest Eye, which uncovers the dangers of aspiring...
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...Another allusion in The Bluest Eye is the dolls test performed by Kenneth Clark and Mamie Clark along with the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. The Board of Education. Clark interviewed children using four neutral dolls - two pink and two brown; the Clarks wanted to demonstrate how children understood the significance of race in America. By a wide majority, across the board, and in different areas, black and white children preferred the pink dolls over the brown. Some children pointed how the brown doll was “bad” and the white doll was “nice.” Based upon his test, Clark testified that school segregation distorted the minds of black children to the point of self-hate (Douglas) and that the children had internalized society’s racial hierarchy...
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...In the novel The Bluest Eye the author Toni morrison introduces us the narrator Claudia Macteer. Claudia narrates her life and the environment she was raised in. At the beginning of the story Claudia lives with her loving family and a friend of hers-Pecola Breedlove the protagonist. Pecola is temporarily staying with the Macteer’s because of a family complication she was facing. Although pecola and Claudia were raised in a similar neighborhood the two characters have a polar opposite ideas what is beautiful. Pecola believes that beauty is what she sees when she drinks milk out of the sheril temple cup.When she looks at herself and she sees that she is lacking the things the white girls have. This idea of that there is a default in being black...
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