Bluest eye self hatred
The novel The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison focuses on one of many African American family who migrated from south to north to seek a better life but later became a quest for their individual identity. Since they have moved from farmland to an urban area, there had been a major change in their value system. Where they used to value family love and support more than anything, they now are in materialistic culture which values are standardized by the whites. Difficult living conditions and racism naturally led them to believe the stereotypes about themselves and begin to imagine that whites are superior in beauty, morality, and intelligence. This eventually led the Breedlove family to accept the fact that they are unworthy and starts to hate themselves. This novel tells us how self-hatred could be dangerous and how it became a variable for the downfall for the Breedloves. The worst victim of self-hatred is Pecola Breedlove. She is little black girl with very low self-esteem. Daily mockery from her classmates and adults made her think that she is ugly. "Black e mo. Black e mo. Yadaddsleepnekked. Black e mo...." (Morrison 65). "You nasty little bitch. Get out of my house" (Morrison 92) Eventually, her mean society ha
of country people, and she speaks with a southern accent. In the movie theater she realizes the difference between her and other woman. "Along with the idea of romance love, she was introduced to another physical beauty. She was never able, after her education in the movies, to look at a face and not assign it some category in the scale of absolute beauty..."(Morrison 122). As she learned what physical beauty was, she also learned what it stood for. The combination of blonde hair and blue eyes equals beauty, and beauty leads to equality, worthiness, happiness, and comfort. With this twisted theory in mind, after she gave birth to Pecola, She works as a mammy to a white family, the Fishers, which she likes them over her real family. This is evident when her daughter, Pecola, visits her work place and accidentally knocks over a freshly baked pie. Pecola suffers from a burn but Pauline completely ignored Pecola's pain and instead she tended to the comforting her "white daughter". '''Crazy foo...my floor, mess...get on out...crazy...' Her words were hotter and darker than the smoking berries. The little [white] girl in pink started to cry. Mrs. breedlove turned to her. 'Hush, baby, hush. Don't' cry no more''' (Morrison 109). The more time she spent with her real family, the more she realized how poor, ugly, and unworthy they were. It was as if " the master had said, 'you are ugly people.' They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact, support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance'' (Morrison 39). Pauline decides to completely give up on her real family and devote all her time, energy, and love to the "perfect" white family. However, she does not realize that by devoting herself to a servant's life that is all she will ever be, a black female servant in a white world. Pecola's father, Cholly Breedlove, experienced traumatizing events that led him to b
Some common words found in the essay are:
Pauline Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove, Christmas Instead, African American, Shirley Temple, Yadaddsleepnekked Black, Pecola Breedlove, Claudia Breedlove, blue eyes, Bluest Eye, Square Press, black mo, real family, individual identity, blonde hair blue, bluest eye, living conditions, breedlove family, ideal beauty, white family, hair blue, hair blue eyes,
Approximate Word count = 1315
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
