Bluest Eye; Focusing on Beauty and Race
Introduction
Bluest eye is a novel based on the psychological problems which affect a young African-American girl by the name Pecola who aspires to have blue eyes as this is her definition of beauty. The young girl seeks love and acceptance in the world which has no regards for people who are dark skinned. According to the young girl, beauty is foreign to her own race and only Americans are beautiful as they possess a white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes this is the beauty she aspires to possess. Pauline is Pocola’s mother who lives in a world of her own which is full of fantasies about beauty and what defines beauty as well as whether the color of ones skin has any effect on their beauty. Geraldine on the other hand believes she is more civilized than the other blacks hence is more beautiful than them.
Discussion
Pecola, Geraldine, Pauline and their perception of beauty and race
Pecola
Pecola happens to be darker than all the other members of the Breedlove family and according to what she has seen in the neighborhood, whiteness stands for beauty and it is something which black girls cannot meet hence they are not beautiful. According to what Pecola has observed beauty increases the chances of one being loved such that she perceives of love being portrayed by blue eyes and wishes if she could acquire a pair of the beauty. Pecola sees beauty in the blue eyes of white girls and she thinks that when she eventually gets her own all the problems she has been facing will be solved including falling in love (Morrison, 2000).
One thing that increases Pecola’s desire to have the bluest eyes in the world is because all the whites in the neighborhood are constantly reminding her how ugly she looks not only because she does not have blue eyes but due to the fact that she is an African-American. This makes Pecola envy her white friend Maureen who is respected and given preferential treatment at school as well as in the neighborhood where she uses her blue eyes to scare black boys away so that they do not even tease her the way they tease Pecola (Morrison, 2000).The family background of the Breedlove’s provides another source of racial difference as all members of the family are not comfortable with the fact that they are black and ugly. This creates violence and hatred among them while other white families do not have similar nasty experiences.
Therefore, Pecola believes that the beauty of any family is dependent on their racial background in that white families have beautiful lives because of their racial ethnicity (Furman, 1996).The young lady is constantly looking at herself in the mirror trying to figure out why she is ugly as well as looking at reasons which may have contributed to the origin of her ugliness. As she looks up at her image she remembers how her teacher and classmates regard her as ugly because she is black. Consequently, memories of how the media portrays whites as beautiful and her definition of beauty is revealed leading to an increased desire to possess the bluest eyes in the world. Society idolizes blonde hair and blue eyes such that those who lack these features are seen as ugly as most of tem are blacks.
Thus, for the African-Americans like Pecola who want to be acceptable to the society, possession of these characteristics will transform them into the category of beautiful respectable people (Wolf, 1990).The standards set by the white American culture on the definition of beauty leads to Pecola becoming mad as she does not think she fits into the standards. Consequently, it prevents her from enjoying her favorite piece of candy as on the cover is a picture of a blonde-blue eyed girl in addition to the fact that anyone who does not fit in the American standards of beauty is considered ugly (Furman, 1996).As Pecola’s bizarre dreams intensify, she lives in a world full of imagination such as when she imagines that she has the coveted blue eyes but the problem arises when the society fails to recognize the new beautiful Pecola and this leads her to madness. The expectations of Pecola after acquiring blue eyes are brought down as society does not even recognize her efforts to be acceptable and beautiful (Bharkty, 2002).
Geraldine, beauty and race
Geraldine is a socially-conscious black woman who exaggerates the fact that she is more civilized than any other black stereotype. This is exemplified in the way in which she represses her black features which may compromise her beauty. Her African-American characters which do not conform to American standards of beauty are hidden and she engages all manner of criteria to get rid of such characters (Wolf, 1990).At times, Geraldine would kick Pecola out of her house as she believed that Pecola carried with her all the negativity attributed to ugly African-Americans. The physical appearance of Pecola was enough to remind her about how ugly traditional black girls were and as she wanted to distance herself with such characters she pushed Pecola out of her house (Morrison, 2000).One of the many ways in which Geraldine shows her civilized status is in the way she deliberately teaches her son about the clear distinctions between blacks and whites. She associates herself to the whites as she is quite and neat unlike blacks who are ugly and dirty (Morrison, 2000).
Pauline, beauty and race
Pauline Breedlove was Pecola’s mother who was married to an African-American who was forever drunk. Pauline considered herself as an outcast due to her origin from the south. Consequently, she had a shriveled foot which reduced movement and she therefore spent her entire day watching soaps featuring whites (Morrison, 2000).When Pauline was growing up she spent most of her time in movie theaters watching movies which incorporated whites in the plays. This is the place she came face to face with the American standards of beauty especially from frequent appearances of Jean Harlow a white actress. After such episodes Pauline would carefully examine her self in a mirror and compare her complexion with that of Harlow and from that she realized that they shared very little hence she was ugly.
The white actress was used as the standard for measuring beauty by Pauline and based on racial ethnicity she concluded that black was ugly and white beautiful. This gives rise to a disillusioned idea which destroys the perception of human thoughts towards physical beauty (Dubey, 1994).During her early marriage years, Pauline works for white family and part of her work involves caring for her employer’s child. Although, the child is almost the same age as Pecola, Pauline believes she is beautiful that her own daughter as she is blonde and has beautiful blue eyes unlike her daughter who is black and ugly. Thos makes Pauline hate her daughter and family as they are different from her employer’s family (Morrison, 2000).
Conclusion
The three women in the novel namely; Pecola, Geraldine and Pauline have tried to bridge the gap between their racial background and their feminine beauty by incorporating the ways of the whites into their lives. As a way of enhancing their beauty to meet the American standards, the women develop a deep hatred to their own race and skin color. Consequently, the whites do not recognize the efforts being made by the African-Americans to be socially accepted such that the activities make the blacks to hate themselves even more.In the current issues regarding beauty and races in the world, more blacks are being noticed especially in international beauty pageants as well as participation in Hollywood. More black ladies are being featured in glossy magazines modeling for major fashion companies all over the world. Black is being considered as beautiful especially those who are naturally black with no shade of lightness.
References
Barkty, S.L. (2002), “Foucault, feminity and the modernizations of patriarchal power” Boston: Northwestern University Press. Pp. 61-85
Dubey, M. (1994), black women novelists and the national aesthetic. Indianapolis: IndianaUniversity Press
Furman, J. (1996), “black girlhood and black womanhood: the bluest eye and sula” in her
Tony Morrison fiction. South Carolina: university of Carolina press. Pp. 23-33
Morrison, T. (2000), the bluest eye (Oprah’s book club), plume publishers
Wolf, N. (1990), the beauty myth. London: Chatto and Windus publishers.
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