Bluest Eye/Caged Bird Sings

1500 Words6 Pages
The Fight for Change Ever since human beings have walked this Earth, they have formulated various standards and stereotypes towards what they believe are truly sublime in human appearance. As for “the others” who are believed to not reach these standards, they suffer from self-degradation and the cruelty of others. In Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye, she tells the story about a young black girl who believes she is ugly and wishes for blue eyes because the community bases their ideals of beauty on whiteness. Throughout her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou gives an account of her journey of becoming a woman and dominating the misfortunes and racist oppressions of her life. Both authors illustrate the idea that because of oppression the victim develops a self-hatred that enforces a desire to change. Within The Bluest Eye, Morrison utilizes the Breedlove family as a prime example of people who desire to be anyone but themselves. Cholly, Pauline, Sammy and Pecola Breedlove have all experienced different devastating and painful moments in their life, but they all are unified by one idea: they are ugly. As the narrator explains, “you looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear and they had accepted it without question” (Morrison 39). In order to understand the characters and the unstable family situation, Morrison provides a background story for each character. Cholly Breedlove for example was abandoned at birth and was humiliated by two white men while making love for the first time. Pauline’s love for watching movies causes her to internalize the white definition of beauty and despises herself for not meeting the
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