The Bluest Eye: Self Loathing

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The Journey of Self Loathing It is hard to imagine what life would be like to constantly hate and be hated for something that cannot change; unfortunately this is how Pecola Breedlove must live every day of her life. The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, is based on the lives of young black girls in 1941. In the girl’s society only white is beautiful and the closer someone is to white, the closer he or she is to perfection. Pecola and her friend, Claudia, are persistently ridiculed by their society for their blackness. Claudia does not want to believe that she is not beautiful the way she is while Pecola wants to become beautiful by becoming white. Claudia is mentally stronger than Pecola; however, even though Claudia is able to see the positive sides of life she is still harmed by society’s beauty standards. Pecola longs to be white and thus longs to be beautiful. The society in which the girls live is a huge reason for their self-loathing. “Popular culture can sometimes quicken this silent transformation, because the atmosphere it creates and racist messages are so prevalent that they are difficult to ignore. Therefore, African- Americans are especially vulnerable to the messages conveyed by popular culture that white beauty will inevitably dominate people’s life.” She idolizes Shirley Temple unlike Claudia who despises Shirley. “Younger than both Frieda and Pecola, I had not yet arrived at the turning point in the development of my psyche which allowed me to love her. What I felt at the time was unsullied hatred” (Morrison pg.19). Claudia is too young to understand what is about Shirley that makes her beautiful and Claudia not. Not long after Claudia receives what every girl dreams of getting, a beautiful new doll; however, Claudia does not love the doll, instead she dismembers it. “Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs- all

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