The Bluest Eye Analysis

The Hunger for Beauty
“If happiness is anticipation with certainty, we were happy.” (pg 16) Morrison’s purpose of including Shirley Temple in the novel is to paint a picture of the ideal girl; a figure of conformity. She represented everything that Pecola thought she should be: blue eyes, blonde hair- a simply adorable little girl; and everything Maureen Peal felt she was: wealthy, light skinned, and what people liked to see. The Bluest Eye illuminates true dependence on absolute beauty; the yearn of conforming to an ultimate standard of it. The usage of Shirley Temple exemplifies this desired beauty and in extension exemplifies desired happiness through beauty. A theme in this novel is obsession over beauty. Pecola wants blue
She felt how Pecola was longing to feel like: envied and loved with light skin, gentleness, an overall much loved young girl. Maureen seemed to keep that as her advantage to keep herself at a higher status. Buying Pecola ice cream and walking her way to talk with her was what someone like Maureen would do because she was sweet and kind, like her figure- like a similar depiction of Shirley Temple; a more real depiction. She used the adorable image of Shirley Temple and based her characterization and personality on it which, even if she did not realize, made others want to be like her. “My sister and I both suspected that we were secretly prepared to be her friend, if she would let us, but I knew it would be a dangerous friendship, for when my eye traced the white border patterns of those Kelly-green knee socks, and felt the pull and slack of my brown stockings, I wanted to kick her.”(pg 63) She received a jealous reaction which boosted her self-esteem even more because she knew that she was at an advantage and those who were jealous were the disadvantage. She had enough assets to make her the school’s Shirley Temple and she showed it in the sweetest, most irritating
She was something Pecola wanted to be around so much, that she wanted to see it in herself. She wanted to be treated differently. She did not want to be hated, ignored, abused, raped, or ugly. She wanted to be loved; loved by herself, her parents, and the people that she was surrounded by. Having blue eyes would be a start to the physical image she wanted to see in herself; something that mattered more than anything else, because in her eyes, that physical image was what would bring her everything else. Beauty would bring her confidence, class, riches, and a man who loved her, along with an entire world who loved her. When Pecola got her wish granted, when thought she had the bluest eyes, bluer than Shirley Temple, she boasted. To who? To her invisible best friend, about her invisible blue eyes. The feature that was supposed to bring her light brought her, in fact, to the darkest circle of