the bluest eye

“The Bluest Eye” In the novel, “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, the adults poorly misguided the children in this story. Although, there were numerous children who were not protected and guided properly by the adults in this novel, Pecola Breedlove is one of the most challenged characters of this story by Toni Morrison. There were several different characters that impacted the life of Pecola Breedlove destructively. Due to the negative impact of her surroundings, Pecola suffered many personal failures. Her main failure was her poor self-esteem due to her poverty stricken upbringing by her parents’ lack of family hood and domestic violence. In addition, Pecola endured mental and sexual abuse which damaged her mental capacity completely.
Pecola Breedlove is a young girl growing up black and poor in the early 1940s. She is repeatedly called "ugly" by nearly everyone in her life, from the cruel children at school to her own mother. Her rough family life, which consisted of her parents constantly fighting both verbally and physically, influenced her poor self-esteem. Due to relentless bullying and constant criticism she received at school, Pecola was lead to seek escape from her misery by fantasizing about becoming beautiful. “Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmate alike. She was the only member of her class who sat alone at a double desk.” (p.45). Pecola’s definition of beauty was being white with blue eyes.
Pecola began to believe that if she could just achieve physical beauty, her life would automatically improve. Pecola also thinks that if she were prettier, her parents would not fight so much. This false belief turns out to be extremely destructive to Pecola’s self-esteem, consuming her whole life and eventually, her sanity. Pecola is a fragile and delicate child that has been almost completely destroyed