How Does Society Contribute To Pecola's Sense Of Self-Hate

In the novel, “The Bluest Eye” written by Toni Morrison, Pecola Breedlove’s character allows the readers to understand the internalized racism that she and her family as individual’s experience. Morrison illustrates internalized racism and the effects it has on an individual physically and mentally through Pecola’s character and her interactions with the other characters in the novel. In this essay, I will be using examples from The Bluest Eye to discuss how society, mainstream media, and her own family contributed to Pecola’s sense of self-hate. Through Pecola’s character, Morrison draws attention to the negative impacts that the western culture has on the black community. Media, especially during the 1900’s, portrays whiteness as the

(Roye N/P) Just as Pecola loves to eat Mary Janes, she also very much loves to drink milk from her Shirley Temple cup. “She was fond of the Shirley Temple cup and took every opportunity to drink milk out of it just to handle and see sweet Shirley’s face” (Morrison 23). This sort of urge is the exact result of a destructive influence of the dominant culture, which demands that the blacks see blackness as white Americans do, as abject, especially since blacks are never shown on the media as superiors. (Roye N/P) For Pecola, as for other members of her community, color is at the core of her sense of self: her feeling of inferiority and self-disgust. She believes that beauty and self-worth are associated with whiteness and its attributes and, consequently, she cannot create positive self-image for herself. And since Pecola believes in her abjection as a black, every night she prays to God for blue eyes. Pecola believes that not only will the world around look more beautiful to her but that she too will look more beautiful to the world around her. Morrison uses Pecola’s character as a representative figure, reminding us as readers, of the many other black females who constantly feel the same desire to appear more white, even in today 's world. Just

Pauline, Pecola’s mother, has always despised Pecola. From the day she was born and the moment Pauline saw Pecola she said “Head full of pretty hair but lord she was ugly.” (Morrison 125) One can really see the lack of love that Pauline fails to give for own daughter in an incident taken place at the fishers, the house where Pauline worked as a maid. When Pecola accidently dropped blueberry pie at the Fishers house, out of anger, Pauline knocked Pecola to the ground with the back of her hand, slapped her and verbally abused her. Instead of Pauline checking to see if her own daughter was hurt, she tended to the fisher’s daughter instead. “The little girl in pink started to cry…Mrs. Breedlove turned to her. “Hush, baby, hush. Come here. Don 't cry no more.” (Morrison 109) Pauline feels a sense of self-worth and undue satisfaction with the appreciation she receives from working for the Fishers. Pauline rather spend her time loving and caring for this family than her own. This lack of love from Pecola’s own mother only worsens Pecola’s sense of self hate. Many Psychologist state how important the mothers look is for the child’s subjectivity development. Since the “failure of responsiveness on the mother’s part to one or other aspects of infant’s being will have important consequences.” (Laing 116) The mothers look is the core of