Pecola's Self-Hatred In The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison
In Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" the reader better understands how young black girls were treated in the 1940's through the character Pecola. Pecola is one of the main characters and throughout the story all she wants is to get acceptance from the society. Her dream is to have the bluest eyes so she will be pretty and all her problems will go away. Not being able to cope with these hardships from her society, Pecolas self-hatred grows deep in her heart. The reader understands Pecolas tough life through poor social issues, neglect and abuse from her parents and even self hatred.
The greatest social issues that Pecola is faced with are abuse and racism. Not only is she struggling with respect from white people but also black people.
This is because her skin is a lot darker then the other black kids and this makes her inferior to them. Pecola is constantly being abused by different people. One day she went over to a Juniors house, a white boy who invited her over to look at his kittens. When she got there he did nothing but torment her by throwing the cat at her causing it to scratch her face. She is also constantly being harassed at school getting pushed around and teased because of her appearance.
Not only is Pecola being abused by others but also her own parents. From the day Pecola was born her mother thought she was ugly
Pecola shows hatred towards herself when she realizes that she is not as pretty as the other girls. Instead of hating the white people because they were pretty, Pecola hated herself for not looking like them. All her life Pecola thought that if she had blue eyes then she would be pretty. "It has occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights-if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different" (Morrison 46). She longed to believe that if she had had blue eyes then she would be well liked and respected from the society. She believed that all her problems would go away and that life would be different if she was pretty. The influence of films, newspaper articles, fashion magazines and eventually television is unmistakable in setting the social standards Pecola believes so strongly in. She convinces herself that she will never live up to them until she changes the color of her eyes (Mercer par. 4).
The greatest social issues that Pecola is faced with are abuse and racism. Not only is she struggling with respect from white people but also black people.
This is because her skin is a lot darker then the other black kids and this makes her inferior to them. Pecola is constantly being abused by different people. One day she went over to a Juniors house, a white boy who invited her over to look at his kittens. When she got there he did nothing but torment her by throwing the cat at her causing it to scratch her face. She is also constantly being harassed at school getting pushed around and teased because of her appearance.
Not only is Pecola being abused by others but also her own parents. From the day Pecola was born her mother thought she was ugly
Pecola shows hatred towards herself when she realizes that she is not as pretty as the other girls. Instead of hating the white people because they were pretty, Pecola hated herself for not looking like them. All her life Pecola thought that if she had blue eyes then she would be pretty. "It has occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights-if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different" (Morrison 46). She longed to believe that if she had had blue eyes then she would be well liked and respected from the society. She believed that all her problems would go away and that life would be different if she was pretty. The influence of films, newspaper articles, fashion magazines and eventually television is unmistakable in setting the social standards Pecola believes so strongly in. She convinces herself that she will never live up to them until she changes the color of her eyes (Mercer par. 4).