The Bluest Eye Analysis
analytical Essay
1192 words
In Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” the young African American protagonist, Pecola Breedlove, has an arduous time trying to find her beauty in a society where she only feels as if you are beautiful with blue eyes. Despite her complex fascinations with the unrealistic goal of having blue eyes, along with the social pressures she is faced with throughout her life, leads her to a shattered future filled with confusion and a lack of stability. In the novel, one might ask “why could this happen to one of societies youth?” Then again, how did this happen to an innocent child? During Pecola’s first moments in the book, the reader gets an impression of what she wants to accomplish. Pecola is currently living with MacTeer family, a family made up of two naive young girls by the names of Claudia and Frieda and their parent. This is all due to the misfortunate events caused by Pecola’s father, Cholly Breedlove. An outburst of pure anger Cholly almost burned down the Breedlove’s family home. When Pecola arrives to the Macteer’s household, Mrs. Macteer offers Pecola a glass of milk to drink. When she receives the cup of milk it is in a Shirley Temple mug. Looking at the Shirley Temple glass, Pecola developed a strong personification of the perfect girl because of her beautiful appearance. She has two things that Pecola desires for, luscious pale white skin and the dark deep blue eyes. An attempt to consume little Miss Temple’s beauty, Pecola guzzles all the white milk in the Macteer house. Mrs. Claudia is very confused on why the whites were viewed as superior to African Americans in this society. She feels that they have disrespected and unappreciated just because of their skin color. Claudia is so ruthless about the whi... ... middle of paper ... ...own mentally and making her feel worthless. Pecola’s perception of her aesthetic lead her through a life long crucible with lead her to losing her peace of mind. To help her ease her trouble she seeks a spiritualist who is a revered for his work psychology. She asked Mr. Soaphead Church, to give her the bluest eyes in the world. In this time this is unpractical, so he hides her from reality. This leaves Pecola even more psychotic and delusional than before. She has a quixotic belief that she has blue eyes. When it all end, Pecola Breedlove, never finds love nor happiness in her life except for in the paradise that is living in her mind. To conclude Pecola’s image of her beauty is thrown in disarray, which causes her to feel lost, confused and weak. Pecola’s Community, and family all play a part in her infatuation with having the bluest eyes. Ultimately she
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how toni morrison's "the bluest eye" leads pecola to a shattered future filled with confusion and lack of stability.
- Analyzes how polly breedlove, pecola's mother, brought up the idea of being white in her head. she works for a white family, cooks, cleans and watches after the child.
- Explains that pecola's father, cholly breedlove, had an awful past upbringing. he was a throwaway child whose mother abandoned him upon birth.
- Analyzes how pecola's perception of her aesthetic lead her to losing her peace of mind. she seeks a spiritualist who is revered for his work psychology.
- Concludes that pecola's image of her beauty is thrown in disarray, which causes her to feel lost, confused and weak. her community, and family all play a part in her infatuation with having the bluest eyes.
Related
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- The Bluest Eyesanalytical essayA Search For A Self Finding a self-identity is often a sign of maturing and growing up. This becomes the main issue in Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eyes. Pecola Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove, and Pauline Breedlove are such characters that search for their identity through others that has influenced them and by the lifestyles that they have. First, Pecola Breedlove struggles to get accepted into society due to the beauty factor that the norm has. Cholly Breedlove, her father, is a drunk who has problems that he takes out of Pecola sexually and Pauline physically.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how pecola, cholly, and pauline breedlove struggle to get accepted into society due to the beauty factor that the norm has.
- Analyzes how the image of 'shirley temple beauty' surrounds pecola's life. she is ridiculed by her classmates, who think she isn't worth anything.
- Opines that the rape by her father is the last evidence pecola needs to believe completely that she is an ugly unlovable girl.
- Explains that cholly breedlove, the father of pecola, is an alcoholic bastard. he was born to an unwed mother that abandoned him three days after his birth.
- Analyzes how pauline breedlove, wife of cholly, mother of pecola, is a white servant, and learns what she has to sacrifice to be content, as well as the difference between herself and society.
- Analyzes how pecola's search for identity was defined by her everlasting desire to be loved, and cholly’s family (or lack thereof) and his community as a boy ultimately influenced his personality.
1181 wordsRead More - Pecola And Claudia Character Analysisanalytical essayWhen looking at the characteristics of Pecola and Claudia, Pecola is always obsessed with becoming white and having blue eyes while Claudia doesn't nderstand why the appearance of white girls are so desirable. For example, Pecola is constantly drinking milk from a Shirley Temple cup at the MacTeer's house because she is obsessed with its blue eyes and pale skin. Pecola wants these Caucasian features because she believes it will make her more likable. In Claudia's
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how pecola and claudia are two of the main characters that show a sister-like connection, yet they show qualities that seem contrasting. as the story continues, their ideas unfold, showing their perspective on the world.
- Analyzes how pecola and claudia's characteristics illustrate a contrasting view point of what the beauty standards are in their community.
- Compares pecola's belief that only blue eyes will allow for her life to become better, and claudia illustrates childlikeness in her remarks about frieda’s molestation
- Analyzes pecola and claudia's childlike qualities and beliefs. peocla comes from a torn family with several problems. claudia is not exposed to any sort of harm that forces her to grow up.
489 wordsRead More - The Meaning of Pecola´s Beautyanalytical essay...ace” (Claudia 19). She worshipped Shirley temple so much until she desired to be like her. “We knew 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” (Claudia 23). One doll, one mindset, one imagination, the minute Pecola laid her eyes on that doll, she knew exactly what she wanted.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how pecola ends up isolated at the edge of the town, lost in her own world of madness because she loses touch with reality. she lacks the confidence a young female deserves.
- Analyzes how the breedloves believed they deserved to be poor and pushed their ugliness outward into the world, which led to pecola's low self-esteem.
- Explains that love is a word that isn't shown quite so often. wicked people love wickedly, violent people hate weakly and stupid people dislike stupidity.
- Analyzes how pecola lacks a father figure and creates her own imaginary friend to express her subconscious desire for acceptance, love and friendship.
- Analyzes how pecola changed her physical appearance to having blue eyes, thinking people would see her differently. her lack of self-confidence made others feel good about themselves.
- Opines that pecola must end her education and stop going to school. she felt people were prejudice against her blue eyes. the fact that her father impregnated her, she became one of the main topics at school; no one truly knows what happened.
- Narrates how pecola worshipped shirley temple so much until she desired to be like her. the doll gave her a mental image of beauty, and she knew exactly what she wanted.
- Opines that communication is the key to all things. a simple conversation with one other individual can make everything alright.
734 wordsRead More - bluest eyeanalytical essayToni Morrison's critique of the visual system within popular American culture and her rejection of white-defined female beauty are reflected in her first novel. Morrison's The Bluest Eye reveals the crippling effects of white standards of female beauty on a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove. This is done through the constant references to blue eyes and the comparison to vision as a whole; the way the characters view themselves, others and the world as a whole. This allegorical novel can be said to make statements not just on perceptions of beauty in general, but specifically the racially charged beauty ideals of America in the 1940’s. In one way or another, almost all of the characters are preoccupied with defining or examining beauty during the course of The Bluest Eye.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes morrison's critique of the visual system within popular american culture and her rejection of white-defined female beauty in her first novel, the bluest eye.
- Analyzes how pecola's desire for blue eyes symbolizes the culturally attributed beauty and status of whiteness in america.
- Analyzes the effect of popular american culture's visually based, appearance-dependent concept of beauty. pecola is unrecognized by those who have adopted the white standards of visual attractiveness.
- Analyzes how soaphead church's selfish use of pecola for his own agenda is the last straw before she loses her sanity.
- Analyzes how the female characters' internalization of white standards of beauty affects their perceptions of themselves and the world in the bluest eye.
- Analyzes how the moment where pauline loses her tooth at the movie theatre is painful to experience as a reader.
- Analyzes how pauline internalizes the white-defined standard of female beauty. the bluest eye presents members of a black community that have adopted the standard white criteria of beauty as their own.
- Analyzes how pecola's mental breakdown shows the negative consequences of relying on physical beauty to make up for psychological and social problems.
1643 wordsRead More - An Analysis Of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eyeanalytical essayA paradigm as defined in the dictionary is an example serving as a model. In his book, 7 habits of highly effective teens , Sean Covey compares paradigms to glasses and says that if the paradigm, or perception, is incomplete it is like wearing the wrong prescription. One example Covey gave is:
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how sean covey compares paradigms to glasses in his book, 7 habits of highly effective teens.
- Explains that if you believe you're dumb, that very belief will make you dumb.
- Analyzes how toni morrison's novel, the bluest eye, exploits the idea that a person can change the way they are seen by changing their own point of view.
- Analyzes how pecola breedlove was told she was ugly by her family, adults in her life, her peers and, in time, even herself. she used her ugliness like an actor would use a prop to cultivate her character.
- Analyzes how pecola's ugliness was the reason for all of the wrongs she faced in life. she felt that she belonged to the mistreatment and poverty of breedlove family.
- Compares claudia's perception of herself to pecola, who was given dolls with blue eyes for christmas. claudia had a loving family and upbringing, and her parents didn't engrain in her head the idea that she was ugly.
- Explains that if a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. a person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly.
- Analyzes how people who are bullied have something different about them that is not normal, some sort of accomplishment, something they excel at, or maybe they are just shy and quiet.
- Explains that it is impossible to control what people say and think about others but it defiinitly is possible to keep them from holding on to the wrong perception.
- Analyzes how toni morrison showed the devastating effect that low self esteem and an absence of self respect can have. pecola breedlove was raped, ignored by her mother and viewed as ugly by everyone. claudia didn't allow herself to have a negative view on her appearance.
1692 wordsRead More - Symbolism In Blue Eyesanalytical essayPosted by Nicole Smith, Jan 15, 2012PoetryNo CommentsPrint Pages: 1 2 While her mother repeatedly engaged with the notion of white superiority and neglected herself and her daughter as well as engaged in self-hatred, her case pales in comparison to that of her daughter. Pecola represents the most complex case of the destructive idealization of white culture and subsequent denial and obliteration of black identity and is the tragic symbol in Morrison’s attempt to detail this legacy of racism. By the end of the novel, she exchanged her mind for the blue eyes she thought would make her loved and is even further ostracized by the community that failed to see its part in what happened. The inherent sense of being ugly and unworthy is a main part
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how pecola represents the most complex case of the destructive idealization of white culture and subsequent denial and obliteration of black identity in morrison's attempt to detail this legacy of racism.
- Analyzes how claudia is able to cast aside the notion of self-hatred in "the bluest eye" by toni morrison.
- Analyzes how morrison reveals that adults have been scarred by self-hatred, culturally and historically imposed or otherwise, to see anything black as beautiful, even an unborn child.
- Analyzes how morrison's novel, african american, addresses the opposing ideals of white culture and how they are internalized by those who are under-represented and marginalized.
1319 wordsRead More - Intraracial Discrimination In The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrisonanalytical essayMorrison discloses discrimination within the black culture and reveals the hidden truth about intraracial discrimination, “In the Bluest Eye, Morrison took a different approach to the traditional white-versus-black racism. She acknowledged that most people are unaware of the racism that exists within a culture and often the racism that exists within themselves” (Coady). In the bluest eye Morrison shows intraracial discrimination at various places, where people of the same race discriminate each other on the base of their skin color. Pecola is one of the victims who struggle in intraracial discriminate society, “Pecola 's desire then reveals not only her culture 's racism; it reveals her culture 's method of perpetuating racism” (Lynn Scott). Morrison shows that people with light skin feel proud on their color and try to preserve it by marrying to light skin people and if they cannot find any, then they marry within the family. Morrison shows it by describing Soaphead family’s’ background that “they married “up,” lightening the family complexion and thinning out the family features” and “some distant and some not distant relatives married each other” (Morrison 168). This represents that how much preference people give to light skin color that they perpetuate it by doing intermarriages. Some cultures still believe in this skin color perpetuate concept. They feel superior to others who have dark skin color and believe that they got light skin as a gift from
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how toni morrison emphasizes in the bluest eye that majority of people believe whiteness as the symbol of beauty and disdain those who are different.
- Analyzes how morrison reveals the truth about how people relate beauty with whiteness, by showing a white doll as the christmas present to an innocent black girl.
- Analyzes how morrison shows whiteness as a standard of beauty when pauline tries to make herself look like movies white actresses and when cholly describes god as white man with blue eyes.
- Analyzes how morrison claims that people change their behavior according to others physical appearance by showing how people treat pecola ruthlessly and crucially because of her dark skin.
- Analyzes how morrison shows people behavior with pecola by describing geraldine's strong reaction against her.
- Analyzes how morrison exposes intraracial discrimination by representing the sense of superiority due to light skin than others.
- Analyzes how morrison shows how people of the same race categorize each other because of different color tones by showing geraldine and maureen behavior.
- Concludes that toni morrison reveals the truth that people of any race believe whiteness as the standard of beauty.
1861 wordsRead More - Theme Of Beauty In The Bluest Eyeanalytical essayAccording to Victoria Moran, “As a society, we need to get lots more flexible about what constitutes beauty. It isn’t a particular hair color or a particular body type; it’s the woman who grew the hair and lives in the body.” Society as a whole can be very judgmental and condemning. Interestingly, society has created its own standards of what is considered beautiful. Some people have such a great desire to be accepted into society that they will go through drastic measures in order to fit in. Society’s definition of beauty has the ability to negatively influence the actions taken by adolescents. In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Pecola’s self-hatred towards her appearance is portrayed by the harsh society that surrounds her.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how society as a whole can be judgmental and condemning, but society has created its own standards of what is considered beautiful.
- Explains that the novel, the bluest eye, took place during the 1940s, when racism and discrimination was oppressive. society's definition of beauty was mostly referred to the whites.
- Analyzes how claudia questions society's values and sees their danger to herself. she understands that this valuation of foreign ideals of beauty detracts from an acknowledgment of individual beauty or self-worth.
- Argues that society's definition of beauty can be very visual and shallow. beauty should not be determined by someone’s appearance, it should be about the personality and characteristics of the person.
- Analyzes how pecola breedlove's desire to be beautiful and accepted into society was symbolized by the shirley temple cup. she longed to have light skin, curly, blonde hair, and blue eyes.
- Analyzes how pecola fits a shorthand formula for prejudging unattractiveness, and is despised because she disappears when one looks at cultural standards of value and worth.
- Analyzes how pecola feels alone and misunderstood. she is treated unfairly by both children and adults.
- Analyzes how society can make people feel oppressed, annihilate one's self-confidence, and leave scars that are hard to heal. pecola longed for blue eyes so much that she went mad.
- Analyzes how pecola has been neglected and abused by those around her that she retreats into madness, safe from those who had told her she was ugly and unwanted; her individuality has not been prized but scorned.
- Analyzes how pecola's neglect and harsh treatment by the community made her weak. in her madness, she escapes to a world of pure imaginary wholeness.
- Analyzes how pecola's belief that she had finally obtained the blue eyes resulted in her being separated from society even more.
- Analyzes how pecola's family and home were unwelcome and unstable to her since she was denied love by them.
- Explains that pecola was raped and impregnated by her father. the breedlove's unstable family values influenced her negatively.
900 wordsRead More - The bulest eyeanalytical essayPecola eventually moves back in with her family. Life there is not pleasant. Her father is an alcoholic, her mother is distant, and the two of them often fight. Pecola's older brother, Samuel, often runs away from home. Pecola also runs away but into her own fantasies: she dreams of having the bluest eyes in the world. Pecola's life away from her family is no better. She is often picked on and called ugly by those around her. Claudia and Frieda realize that the entire neighborhood agrees with Pecola that Caucasian features are beautiful.
In this essay, the author
- Narrates how claudia and frieda macteer live in lorain, ohio with their parents, who provide a stern and loving household. pecola becomes friends with them after her father, cholly, burned down her house.
- Analyzes how pecola's life away from her family is no better. she is often picked on and called ugly by those around her. claudia and frieda realize that caucasian features are beautiful.
- Explains that pecola's parents have both had difficult lives. pauline felt like an outsider in her family and constantly suffers through feelings of loneliness and ugliness.
- Analyzes how cholly's life of rage and aborted desire wells up and he rapes his daughter. pecola becomes obsessed with getting blue eyes and visits soaphead church, a sham mystic, who promises to help her.
492 wordsRead More - Bluest Eyeanalytical essayBluest Eye Pecola, an eleven-year-old black girl, is the protagonist of The Bluest Eye. Her family lives in grinding poverty in Lorain, Ohio. By 1941, her parents' marriage had turned bitter and violent. Cholly, her father, is an alcoholic and Pauline, her mother, prefers to retreat into the fantasy world of the movie theater. Surrounded by a culture that equates beauty with whiteness, Pecola becomes convinced that she is ugly because she has African features and dark skin.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how toni morrison's first novel, the bluest eye, examines racism, sexuality, and growing up in a hostile world.
- Narrates how pecola's parents, cholly and pauline, send their daughter to live with the mcteers because their own home has been destroyed in a fire.
- Analyzes how pecola's sensibilities have been shaped by the standards of white american culture. she prays every night that god will give her blue eyes, which she considers the epitome of beauty.
449 wordsRead More