On Beauty
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On beauty
The bluest eye is an immensely sad story. Although readers know the tragic ending from the beginning of the book, the more you read of it, the more sad and helpless you feel. Throughout the whole book, I donЎЇt feel a hint of hope. Racism is so deeply rooted in everybodyЎЇs heart of the whole society, not only in the whites, but also in the blacks themselves. This is the reason why it becomes almost impossible to remove racism.
One of the most evident displays of racism shown in this novel is its power of changing peopleЎЇs views on beauty. Actually, the title reflects peopleЎЇs standards of beauty. Only the bluest eye is the most beautiful, only the palest skin is acceptable, only the whites are given the right to live in the society. Pecola, a black young girl, leads a miserable life. She is lonely, abused and neglected. She has an unhappy family and receives neither care nor protection from it. Her own father rapes her twice and she becomes pregnant. Pecola has always thought being ugly is the cause of all her misfortunes. She wishes to have the bluest eyes so that she can live much more happily. At last, she lost her sanity. She imagines having the bluest eyes and being noticed and liked by all others. Why does Pecola develop the white standard of beauty in the first place? The answer is obvious: the society breeds such values and all people are brainwashed to follow this belief.
For example, those black boys on the playground shout and laugh at Pecola for her blackness and ugliness. They donЎЇt even realize the fact that they themselves are black. They completely accept the prevalent social standard of beauty while donЎЇt understand it is an unfair standard determined by the whites. They never regard themselves as victims of the white culture and are actually taking pleasure in victimizing other people of their own race. From here, we can conclude that the values of the white society are so powerful that they are already carved in the blackЎЇs mind. Unconsciously, they use the beauty standard of the white to examine themselves. Consequently, they are land in a lower position to the white.
Another example of how the social standard is internalized in the blackЎЇs mind is about PecolaЎЇs mother. When