The idea of beauty has always been important to human society. People use specific standards to consider someone more attractive than others and provide them with privileged status. At the same time, failure to meet dominant standards might result in exclusion, isolation, and loneliness. Thus, beauty is one of the central themes in “The Bluest Eye.” It is used to explain numerous misfortunes and influences the main character’s actions and values. Breedloves are poor and unsuccessful, and they directly link it to their ugliness. Pecola, the heroin, is also told she is ugly and not attractive, meaning that she does not have any chances for success in her life. For this reason, her strongest desire is to become more attractive in the eyes of people around her, and blue eyes might help to do it.
The story perfectly shows how closely ideas of beauty, colorism, and racism are interconnected. The standardized parameters of attractiveness established by the white majority deform black women’s lives and their chances for success. The author emphasizes the fact that skin color is critical to determining beauty, as light-skinned Maureen is always considered cuter than other girls (Morrison 67). Moreover, women raised in a discriminative environment characterized by the specific standards of beauty hate their blackness and translate this feeling to their children, who are also called ugly (Morrison 67). It results in the emergence of numerous mental problems and unreadiness to accept themselves as people equal to those who meet the existing standards of cuteness. It becomes one of the central problems discussed in the book.
Pecola is the character who feels the most potent effects of the established beauty standards. Raised with the idea of her ugliness, she feels doomed to have an unhappy life full of misfortunes. Moreover, she associates attractiveness with being loved and appreciated by others. She is sure that if she has blue eyes, she will be respected and appreciated by people around her (Morrison 98). Since her childhood, this idea became one of the central desires in her life; however, it also became the aspect that ruined her future: “A little black girl yearns for the blue eyes of a little white girl, and the horror at the heart of her yearning is exceeded only by the evil of fulfillment” (Morrison 204). The conflict between Pecola’s desires, her vision of herself, and people’s attitudes result in the emergence of severe mental problems and her madness.
Finally, the dominance of discriminative beauty standards is connected with racism, violence, and sexual abuse. Pecola suffers from severe negative impacts associated with all these phenomena. She fails to meet the existing requirements, is raped by her father, and becomes mentally ill because of all these events. The story shows the risks of being unable to reject unfair norms and stop associating with them. Pecola’s main desire is to become more attractive; however, contrary to her belief, it will not lead to positive shifts in her life. For this reason, instead of focusing on some relevant issues, she keeps trying to follow existing rules and fails. The challenge, along with the pressure and experience of sexual abuse, becomes too difficult for her, and she becomes insane. It can be viewed as proof of the unfair and dangerous nature of such attitudes and standards established by the dominant groups.
Work Cited
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. Vintage Books, 2007.