The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison
Humans, individually, are not evil things, but as they join society, they are dirtied and they corrupt each other. This is the Jean Jacques Rousseau style of looking at humanity. Toni Morrison’s writing in her novel, The Bluest Eye, mirrors this perspective. In The Bluest Eye, one of the main subjects discussed in the book is the matter of beauty. Beauty as a whole, Morrison argues, is one of “...the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought”(122). Morrison pursues this idea by having the lonely Pauline Breedlove become obsessed with attaining the physical beauty the sees in the movies. Pauline is morphed by the messages that society circulates about what true beauty is. Before her cinematic education, Pauline was unaware
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of this aspect of life, which is projected by Morrison as something that demands and spoils the psychological state of an individual. This is taken to the point at which it is difficult to function independently of this mental parasite. Throughout the novel, Morrison returns to the idea of the metaphysical conditions of her characters. Toni Morrison suggests that the idea of beauty is not a natural part of anyone’s metaphysics, but, as a result of society’s imprints on individuals, many of the characters, particularly females, come to value it heavily. In a time before the movies and other societal impositions, most people had healthy mindsets; beauty did not exist. Introducing something into someone’s idea of what exists takes a strong pressure coming from all sides. To change the standpoint of an entire population on the issue of whether or not beauty exists is to change their entire lifestyle. Morrison contends that the unhealthy attitude of the people living in her setting of 1970s Ohio towards physical appearance is as a result of the views of society as a whole.
The people in the Ohioan setting of the novel definitely believe in some form of beauty. Throughout The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison seems to be acknowledging the fact that people are viewed as beautiful or ugly, but questioning the origins of these categories:
“It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question. The master had said, ‘You are ugly people.’ They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact, support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance. ‘Yes,’ they had said. ‘You are right.’”
Through the words “some mysterious all-knowing master,” Morrison almost mocks the ways that people value so heavily the beauty of people. While Morrison definitely does not dismiss the idea of attractiveness, she dismisses it as an inconsequential judgment. The idea of the cloak is a metaphor for how Morrison sees the threat of ugliness; as a physical, but futile thing that disguises the way that people really are. Once people believe that they are ugly, all it takes from the surrounding people is to reinforce these ideas with unattainable standards of perfection. This is what the Breedloves see in the movies and on the billboards they pass. Morrison’s idea of where beauty comes from is a sort of labeling of people by society. The assessment that the Breedloves are an ugly family based on one member and his past is an ugly action by the community. The Bluest Eye teems with hints revealing Morrison’s view that society itself is ugly because it holds these things as truths. A single action can condemn a person and anyone related to that person to be compartmentalized as good or bad, ugly or beautiful, favored or ignored. And for humanity, good is beautiful, which both lead to being favored by each other. Morrison dissects the popular belief that beauty is a fact and seems to look at it more as a state of mind. Toni Morrison clearly, from this quotation, finds the ways in which beauty is represented by the media important. This sort of infliction from the outside world is what keeps people thinking they are beautiful or ugly. In this way, Morrison makes her argument that the extant ideal of beauty is a problem with humanity not individuals.
Three of the characters introduced in The Bluest Eye, are prostitutes.
These three women befriend Pecola and are some of the only positive influences on the young girl. One of the women in particular seems to go against every commonly held standard of beauty, femininity, and what a prostitute is. Miss Marie, also known as the “Maginot Line,” is almost brutish in her lack of care for the societal conventions regarding women. Marie is arguably the most kindhearted and content character in the book; it is implied strongly that this is as a result of her disregard for stereotypes. “Marie sat shelling peanuts and popping them into her mouth. Pecola looked and looked at the women. Were they real? Marie belched, softly, purringly, lovingly” (58). A prostitute is expected to be anything but a warm, overweight, good-humored friend of little Pecola. The naturalness of Marie’s existence speaks to the idea of beauty not being a biological principle. Marie was brought up in a world that had already been introduced to the horrors of “ideal” appearances, but she, being of a strong mentality simply chose to ignore it. Miss Marie does what she wishes, and loves whom she wants without taking social conventions to heart. For her, beauty does not exist, or at least not enough to influence her life or choices. Pecola’s questioning of the existence of the prostitutes lies in the idea of breaking their mold. Pecola wonders if these people who she has been taught to despise and degrade could be real for treating her well. She has not experienced kindness and when it is thrust upon her, it takes her by surprise. Pecola connects to the idea of being an outcast, but identifies the ways that Miss Marie and her coworkers present themselves as effective. While Pecola struggles with how to move past society’s oppression on every group of people she associates with, Marie has moved beyond that. Pecola ruminates the legitimacy of her life style because she doubts the possibility of
this sort of success in the community she has come to know.
Throughout The Bluest Eye, Morrison enforces the idea that the public has succumbed to the terrible belief that beauty exists. The novel intimates that the entire system works like a whirlpool, which sucks in the weak minds and initiates an incessant process. Once a group of people is stuck in this cycle, they drag down everyone around them and institute the same principles in all new generations. In this way, Morrison hopes to combat the intensification of this sequence by making individuals aware of the progression they help along. Morrison targets the reader and anticipates that over time, humans can work to alleviate the weight of physical appearance in modern culture.
of this aspect of life, which is projected by Morrison as something that demands and spoils the psychological state of an individual. This is taken to the point at which it is difficult to function independently of this mental parasite. Throughout the novel, Morrison returns to the idea of the metaphysical conditions of her characters. Toni Morrison suggests that the idea of beauty is not a natural part of anyone’s metaphysics, but, as a result of society’s imprints on individuals, many of the characters, particularly females, come to value it heavily. In a time before the movies and other societal impositions, most people had healthy mindsets; beauty did not exist. Introducing something into someone’s idea of what exists takes a strong pressure coming from all sides. To change the standpoint of an entire population on the issue of whether or not beauty exists is to change their entire lifestyle. Morrison contends that the unhealthy attitude of the people living in her setting of 1970s Ohio towards physical appearance is as a result of the views of society as a whole.
The people in the Ohioan setting of the novel definitely believe in some form of beauty. Throughout The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison seems to be acknowledging the fact that people are viewed as beautiful or ugly, but questioning the origins of these categories:
“It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question. The master had said, ‘You are ugly people.’ They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact, support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance. ‘Yes,’ they had said. ‘You are right.’”
Through the words “some mysterious all-knowing master,” Morrison almost mocks the ways that people value so heavily the beauty of people. While Morrison definitely does not dismiss the idea of attractiveness, she dismisses it as an inconsequential judgment. The idea of the cloak is a metaphor for how Morrison sees the threat of ugliness; as a physical, but futile thing that disguises the way that people really are. Once people believe that they are ugly, all it takes from the surrounding people is to reinforce these ideas with unattainable standards of perfection. This is what the Breedloves see in the movies and on the billboards they pass. Morrison’s idea of where beauty comes from is a sort of labeling of people by society. The assessment that the Breedloves are an ugly family based on one member and his past is an ugly action by the community. The Bluest Eye teems with hints revealing Morrison’s view that society itself is ugly because it holds these things as truths. A single action can condemn a person and anyone related to that person to be compartmentalized as good or bad, ugly or beautiful, favored or ignored. And for humanity, good is beautiful, which both lead to being favored by each other. Morrison dissects the popular belief that beauty is a fact and seems to look at it more as a state of mind. Toni Morrison clearly, from this quotation, finds the ways in which beauty is represented by the media important. This sort of infliction from the outside world is what keeps people thinking they are beautiful or ugly. In this way, Morrison makes her argument that the extant ideal of beauty is a problem with humanity not individuals.
Three of the characters introduced in The Bluest Eye, are prostitutes.
These three women befriend Pecola and are some of the only positive influences on the young girl. One of the women in particular seems to go against every commonly held standard of beauty, femininity, and what a prostitute is. Miss Marie, also known as the “Maginot Line,” is almost brutish in her lack of care for the societal conventions regarding women. Marie is arguably the most kindhearted and content character in the book; it is implied strongly that this is as a result of her disregard for stereotypes. “Marie sat shelling peanuts and popping them into her mouth. Pecola looked and looked at the women. Were they real? Marie belched, softly, purringly, lovingly” (58). A prostitute is expected to be anything but a warm, overweight, good-humored friend of little Pecola. The naturalness of Marie’s existence speaks to the idea of beauty not being a biological principle. Marie was brought up in a world that had already been introduced to the horrors of “ideal” appearances, but she, being of a strong mentality simply chose to ignore it. Miss Marie does what she wishes, and loves whom she wants without taking social conventions to heart. For her, beauty does not exist, or at least not enough to influence her life or choices. Pecola’s questioning of the existence of the prostitutes lies in the idea of breaking their mold. Pecola wonders if these people who she has been taught to despise and degrade could be real for treating her well. She has not experienced kindness and when it is thrust upon her, it takes her by surprise. Pecola connects to the idea of being an outcast, but identifies the ways that Miss Marie and her coworkers present themselves as effective. While Pecola struggles with how to move past society’s oppression on every group of people she associates with, Marie has moved beyond that. Pecola ruminates the legitimacy of her life style because she doubts the possibility of
this sort of success in the community she has come to know.
Throughout The Bluest Eye, Morrison enforces the idea that the public has succumbed to the terrible belief that beauty exists. The novel intimates that the entire system works like a whirlpool, which sucks in the weak minds and initiates an incessant process. Once a group of people is stuck in this cycle, they drag down everyone around them and institute the same principles in all new generations. In this way, Morrison hopes to combat the intensification of this sequence by making individuals aware of the progression they help along. Morrison targets the reader and anticipates that over time, humans can work to alleviate the weight of physical appearance in modern culture.