Morrisons Bluest Eye Essay: Conformity -- Bluest Eye Essays

The Bluest Eye  Conformity         The basic theme of the novel, The Bluest Eye revolves well-nigh African Americans conformity to white standards. Although beauty is the larger theme of the novel, Morrison scrutinizes the dominating white cultures influence on class levels. Morrison sets the foundation of the novel on issues of beauty in an attempt to make African Americans aware that they do not progress to to conform to white standards on any level. Morrisons primary(prenominal) character, Pecola Breedlove, unquestioningly accepts the ideology that white features correlate with beauty. Yet Morrison wrote this novel at the height of the Black Is Beautiful era during which African Americans were universe reconditioned to call back that their looks are synonymous with beauty. The novel is a retrospective story told by Claudia, one of Pecolas childhood friends. Claudias account allows the reader to sympathize with Pecolas self-hatred. As an adult, Claudia dress hat articulates how Pecolas victimization is caused by her environment. Telling the story almost three decades later, during the sixties, Claudia reflects on the pain of wanting to be something you can never become. According to an discourse entitled Toni Morrisons Black Magic in Newsweek, Morrison states that Pecolas character was formed establish on the fact that Black is beautiful was in the air. . . .So I wrote around a child who was ugly-Pecola is the perfect defeated victim-only she was beautiful (Strouse 56). Morrisons depiction of a victimized Pecola addresses how the dominance of white consumer society can effect the mind of a young African American girl. Morrison writes the novel as a coming of age story about three elementary s... ...n life, being exposed to nicer lifestyles made them want more for themselves. The Breedloves all believe they would have attained a higher level of achiever, if they were born beautiful. Morrison implies that the y believe success correlates with beauty. She states As long as she Pecola looked the way she did, as long as she was ugly, she would have to stay with those people (39). Do white standards of beauty honk beautiful people in a higher class consideration? According to Morrison, the Breedloves attribute their storefront residence to the fact that they were poor and black, and they stayed at that place because they believed they were ugly (34). The Breedloves mentality is instilled in them by their surroundings. Moving from the south to the north, African Americans moral values changed from valuing the community and family to fetishizing material possessions.