Destructive Effects Of Idealized White Beauty On Black Society

Deepika Kommineni
Mr. Carter
AP Literature
13 March 2015
Destructive Effects of Idealized White Beauty on Black Society
In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison addresses a timeless problem of white racial dominance in the United States and shows its impact on the life of black females growing up in the 1960s— when the "Black is Beautiful" movement reached its peak. The novel presents an extended interpretation of how whiteness as a standard of beauty obstructs the lives of black women and children like Claudia, Pecola and Frieda. Using the new criticism theory backed up by the cultural significance of the time period, Morrison presents the theme of destruction that idealized white beauty can have on the black individual.
To fully understand the
She thought they were pretty, but grown-ups say, "Miss Dunion keeps her yard so nice. Not a dandelion anywhere" (47). Pecola compares herself to a weed that no one grows, leading her to question exactly what is so important about one's physical appearance. For just that moment, Pecola recognizes the glimmer of beauty shining through something supposedly ugly, but afterward succumbs to the pressure of accepting society's agreed upon opinions after she is judged by the candy man: "Dandelions. A dart of affection leaps out from her to them. But they do not look at her and do not send love back. She thinks, 'They are ugly. They are weeds'" (50). The extreme rejection of Pecola's appearance causes her to feel that she is not authorized to judge the ideals that society has already made. Just like Pauline, Pecola believes that it is impossible gain confidence if everyone in her life and her town agrees that she does not fit into that idealization of beauty. Pecola, Claudia, and Freida all encounter a type of racial prejudice that forces them to tread in their own inferiority. They reach the ultimate conclusion that: “Beauty [is] not simply something to behold; it [is] something one could do” (176). Appearance inevitably becomes the most significant aspect of life for ignored girls
There is nothing she can do to change the color of the eyes she was born with, so she can never feel beautiful. She can never regain or maintain an entirety of herself because she cannot feel complete unless her beauty is validated. Pecola can never win. Both she and her mother are products of society's unattainable standards and are eventually shattered into pieces by their inability to move beyond these impossible ideals. Morrison's characters continue to self-destruct, but none as powerfully or completely as Pecola. Her breakdown is the ultimate defeat. Her fascination, idealization and preoccupation of possessing blue eyes blur her sense of reality. “The ironic undertone to Morrison’s point here is that Pecola’s ugliness, defined visually by white standards, forces her into a position of invisibility and absence, which in turn becomes her only mode of presence. She hides herself behind the ugliness the mainstream culture won’t look