Pecola In The Bluest Eye
Tony Morrison portrays a little girl by the name Pecola as the main character in his Novel, The Bluest Eye. Pecola thinks she is ugly because she is black and so is people around her. She is abused, neglected and she feels hatred within herself. She interacts with people both grown-ups and kids and they have shown her that she does not fit in their community. With the mentality of her being ugly, Pecola thinks by having blue eyes then her life would change and she would be termed be beautiful. She has been exposed to racism by both the whites and the African-American community which is her won race, which makes it more humiliating to her. She has no access to some places which is because of her color skin, especially she cannot access the American Dream. Pecola has experienced no love no affection, not even from her own family. The desire for having blue eyes shows her desperation of love and affection, to be accepted and loved in her family and in the community. The outcast position of Pecola in her own community is
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clearly seen by her spending time in the junkyard and in her existing “on the edge of town”.
At the start of the novel, it is that time that Pecola begins to menstruate, a sign of her transforming from childhood to womanhood, she is now a woman, a woman who has a likelihood of having a baby. By being a female and now in womanhood, Pecola is more vulnerable to the evils in the community, this is later reflected by her being raped by her own daddy and getting pregnant. This pregnancy brings more of despise to her by the community, it depicts the irresponsibility and the cruelty of the community. There is no compassion for the little girl and here is no neither any help offered to Pecola. The pregnancy leads to |Pecola leaving school and also isolation from the other kids. She becomes the talk of the community, the subject of all kind of gossip and being judged by everyone from the young to the elderly. Most who heard of the pregnancy were disgusted, some were shocked, irritated or even thrilled by Pecola’s pregnancy. Still, the community does not offer help to Pecola rather they continue treating her as the outcast of the community.
The irony of the Pecola’s life is that her own she experiences the hatred from the back community and from her own family and not the white community the way it could be expected.
The community should have upheld the black’s values and protect Pecola from the values of the white community. Now the black community has been corrupted by the values of the white community, from possession of black dolls to all bill boards in the community having white people. This destroyed Pecola’s thinking, having the desire of changing her life, having blue eyes would make her better. The change will make her feel loved and appreciated by her own family and by the community. She thinks by replacing her black self would be a solution to her desperate situation, she believes if she got the blue eyes then she would be another her and she would be treated in a better way. This is clearly that the community has affected Pecola in self-pity and not accepting whom she
is.
Pecola yearns for love, attention and acceptance. Even her own mother, Mrs. Breedlove treats her in a harsh way, beating her up and treating others better than herself. At one instance at her work place, Mrs. Breedlove scolds at Pecola, calling her a crazy fool and hits her when she knocks over a blueberry clover. She comforts a white girl who even allows her to call her Polly while Pecola can only call her Mrs. Breedlove. The preference of mother’s love to another person just because she is not white as her, breaks Pecola down pushing her self-esteem down and this increases her desire to have a change in her life by owning blue eyes for her to be loved and be appreciated. The state of Pecola and her family is worsened when she is raped no only once but twice by her father and get pregnant for him. When she tells her mother, she beats her sternly. Pecola is betrayed by her own father and mother and this makes sinks her to madness, hatred and loneliness.
At school, she does not feel better. Many prefer kids with fair complexion. She admires the way Maureen a white girl who is loved by everyone and she wishes she was the one. At first they are great friends and she was of kids who showed kindness, but later they have an argument which leads to Maureen yelling at her with insults, “I am cute! And you are ugly! Black and ugly black e mos. I am cute”. This broke Pecola’s heart and sank into the liking of having blue eyes and being referred to as cute. The most degrading thing in this community seems is to be black, depicting all unacceptance to Pecola and leadingto her disintegration.
clearly seen by her spending time in the junkyard and in her existing “on the edge of town”.
At the start of the novel, it is that time that Pecola begins to menstruate, a sign of her transforming from childhood to womanhood, she is now a woman, a woman who has a likelihood of having a baby. By being a female and now in womanhood, Pecola is more vulnerable to the evils in the community, this is later reflected by her being raped by her own daddy and getting pregnant. This pregnancy brings more of despise to her by the community, it depicts the irresponsibility and the cruelty of the community. There is no compassion for the little girl and here is no neither any help offered to Pecola. The pregnancy leads to |Pecola leaving school and also isolation from the other kids. She becomes the talk of the community, the subject of all kind of gossip and being judged by everyone from the young to the elderly. Most who heard of the pregnancy were disgusted, some were shocked, irritated or even thrilled by Pecola’s pregnancy. Still, the community does not offer help to Pecola rather they continue treating her as the outcast of the community.
The irony of the Pecola’s life is that her own she experiences the hatred from the back community and from her own family and not the white community the way it could be expected.
The community should have upheld the black’s values and protect Pecola from the values of the white community. Now the black community has been corrupted by the values of the white community, from possession of black dolls to all bill boards in the community having white people. This destroyed Pecola’s thinking, having the desire of changing her life, having blue eyes would make her better. The change will make her feel loved and appreciated by her own family and by the community. She thinks by replacing her black self would be a solution to her desperate situation, she believes if she got the blue eyes then she would be another her and she would be treated in a better way. This is clearly that the community has affected Pecola in self-pity and not accepting whom she
is.
Pecola yearns for love, attention and acceptance. Even her own mother, Mrs. Breedlove treats her in a harsh way, beating her up and treating others better than herself. At one instance at her work place, Mrs. Breedlove scolds at Pecola, calling her a crazy fool and hits her when she knocks over a blueberry clover. She comforts a white girl who even allows her to call her Polly while Pecola can only call her Mrs. Breedlove. The preference of mother’s love to another person just because she is not white as her, breaks Pecola down pushing her self-esteem down and this increases her desire to have a change in her life by owning blue eyes for her to be loved and be appreciated. The state of Pecola and her family is worsened when she is raped no only once but twice by her father and get pregnant for him. When she tells her mother, she beats her sternly. Pecola is betrayed by her own father and mother and this makes sinks her to madness, hatred and loneliness.
At school, she does not feel better. Many prefer kids with fair complexion. She admires the way Maureen a white girl who is loved by everyone and she wishes she was the one. At first they are great friends and she was of kids who showed kindness, but later they have an argument which leads to Maureen yelling at her with insults, “I am cute! And you are ugly! Black and ugly black e mos. I am cute”. This broke Pecola’s heart and sank into the liking of having blue eyes and being referred to as cute. The most degrading thing in this community seems is to be black, depicting all unacceptance to Pecola and leadingto her disintegration.