The Bluest Eye Research Paper

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The Bluest Eye: A Look Into the Power of Beauty In Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye, society plays a major and vital role in altering the personalities of the characters. Through Claudia’s thoughts and Pecola’s actions, Morrison shines a new light on racism and how it affects the characters in the storyline and their perspective of beauty in a society run by the master narrative. Not only does Claudia find herself questioning her place in society, but Morrison also created Claudia to portray how even children are being affected by these concepts or guidelines of “beauty”. The characters’ fixation with obtaining “beauty” reveals the consistent relationship between racism and how it affects the perception of beauty in a society, demonstrating …show more content…

Morrison expands on this theory when she stated, “It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes..were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different”(pp.46). This quote is significant because it shows Pecola’s characterization and point of view on her life. It also depicts how she thinks that if she had blue eyes, not only would she appear “beautiful”, but she would have a different life and not see her painful reality. With this quote, Morrison demonstrates the complexity of Pecola’s desire; she does not want blue eyes simply because they conform to white beauty standards and the rest of America, but because she wishes to possess different sights and pictures, as if changing eye color will change reality. To Pecola, the color of one’s skin and eyes, do influence and impact how one is treated and what one is forced to witness symbolizing a sense of hope in her …show more content…

In Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article, “Hope and the Historian”, clearly distinguishes the difference between hope and history. Claiming that the truth can only be obtained if it does not spark or give hope, making it unrealistic in a society like today. He also addresses racism when he stated, “Integrationists hold that if black people push hard enough that surely some critical mass of white people will recognize our humanity” (pp.3), this addresses that black people who want peace, are only ‘hoping’ that the white community will recognize these actions that were not taken into account with the history of America and the uncivilized practice of slavery. Similarly, in The Bluest Eye, when Morrison stated that, “ Only a miracle could relieve her.. she would only see what there was to see: the eyes of other people”(pp.46-47), highlighted the double-consciousness in a society, very similar to ours, that was centered around the idea of self hatred and desire to be what society wanted. When Pecola obsesses with the concept of blue eyes, it shows how she is trying to change her appearance in order to feel accepted or be “treated equally”, which is an unrealistic and naive point of view toward

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