The Bluest Eyes.

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The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison provides a picture of the ways in which whiteness is seen as the standard of beauty and as such, it has deformed the lives of black girls and women. Throughout the book there are situations where there were implicit messages that whiteness is superior. These implicit beauties include white baby dolls, the idealization of white beauty in movies, billboards and pictures of Shirley Temple’s. The Bluest Eyes also pointed out the perception held by blacks that light-skinned girls/women are more beautiful than black girls. All these internal messages have led to black girls and women hating their bodies and sometimes taking their hatred out on their children and friends. This worship of whiteness was not shared by a character name of Claudia. These internalized white beauty standards have led to black females lacking confidence and having low self esteem. Reasons for this lack of confidence and/or low self-esteem would be found later in the book to be, no blue eyes, parents’ financial position and the way black children are treated by their parents/adults. As Claudia mentioned later in the book, “Adults do not talk to us- they give us directions. They issue orders without providing information. When we trip and fall down they glance at us; if we cut or bruise ourselves, they ask us are we crazy. When we catch colds, they shake their heads in disgust at our lack of consideration” (Morrison 10). These internal beauty standards have led to black girls being jealous and hateful of white people. This was obvious later in the book in Claudia responded to Rosemary Villanucci, who was white and who was also in a better financial position than Claudia’s parents. “We stared at her, wanting her bread, but more than that wanting to poke the arrogance out of her eyes and smash the pride of ownership that curls her chewing mouth” (Morrison 9).

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