Pecola wishes vehemently she could disappear but her eyes never gave her the permission to evaporate and in them remains all the pictures and memories: “Try as she might she could never get her eyes to disappear.” (33) Her eyes vanishing don’t necessarily mean her absolving herself from the problems at home. She knows that she is still going to be seen by the world, and even in reality the look of the other always influences one on how they feel about themselves. As for pecola the center of being accepted means having blue eyes.
The passage establishes Pecola’s treatment at school, “The ugliness, that made her ignored or despised at school by teachers and classmates alike” (34) This unfair treatment incorporated with racial discrimination is further advanced on page fifty , where once in the playground four young black boys hold pecola hostage inside a small circle that they have formed. They call her names such as Black e mo”(50) (As if they are not black themselves.) everyday black people have to deal without outside racism and that hurts a great deal, but when the racism is coming from your own race the bruise left is more severe. Pecola witnesses this contradictory attitude as a part of her daily life, and has accepted it, because she is certain about her ugliness that remains the ultimate cause of the bullying. In school, when her name is associated with anyone, Pecola’s name is used as an insult and this has increased the self-loathing within her. “Bobby loves Pecola Breedlove, Bobby loves Pecola Breedlove” and never fail to get peals of laughter from those in earshot, and mock anger from the accused” (34). This current tormentation forced Pecola to pray severely for blue eyes that would change her life drastically. The passage portrays the apparent self-hatred alive in Pecola that develops in the story not only by her but her family members too. the effect of this development advances the key theme of self-hatred. Each family member deals with this ugliness in his own way. Mrs. Breedlove uses it to define what she believes she is a sufferer. Sammy uses it to inflict pain on others, and Pecola hides behind it. On Saturday morning, the family awakens only to have Cholly and Mrs. Breedlove fighting. Cholly, still drunk from the night before, does not want to get up out of bed to get wood for the stove. Mrs. Breedlove sneezes from the cold, and they start physically fighting. The two children deal with the fighting in different ways. Sammy often runs away because of his parents' fights. Pecola, on the other hand accepts them, and tries to endure the pain of the fighting. Pecola sometimes wishes that she would disappear, so that she would no longer have to deal with the issues at home. She often wonders why her brother never takes her along with him when he runs away. She thinks it is because she is ugly, and if she looked different, maybe beautiful, then he would take her. Pecola also wonders what is it about her ugliness that makes her so hated by teachers and classmates. She thinks that if she was beautiful, and had blue eyes, then there would be no problems, and maybe her parents wouldn't come to blows. “Maybe they’d say why look at pretty-eyed Pecola. We mustn’t do bad things in front of those pretty eyes” (34)
The passage predominantly elaborates Pecola’s character. After reading it we discover how fervently she desires blue eyes heightening the theme of beauty interrelated to self-loathing. In the society’s eyes blue eyes are symbolic of American white beauty. Pecola hallucinates of arriving at the unattainable standards of American
beauty; she idolizes the idea of having blue eyes and believes they are the ultimate representation of beauty. “Each night without fail she prayed for blue eyes.” (35)
It is ironical how in the end she looses her eyes in a way that she has driven her self into a state of madness. “To having something as wonderful as that happen would take a long, long time. (35) Suggesting the distortion of her dream, it displays that it is almost impossible for pecola to have blue eyes and it is pitiful how she desires something she can never have.
At the bottom of page 34, exists a small excerpt from the first grade reading book. It describes perfectly beautiful American children that posses blue eyes: “Alice runs. Alice has blue eyes. Jerry has blue eyes (34) we can relate this to the opening passage about the ideal American house. When reading it slowly disintegrates and makes less sense because that image is not Pecola and the image of blue eyes as well, is seen as non-sensical and does not have a stand in the reality of her existence. This largely develops an indulgent as to why the novel is called ‘The Bluest Eye’ and not “The Bluest Eyes” nobody can wish for just one blue eye, the title portrays the impossibility attached to Pecola’s yearning. Together this passage creates a foundation of the tragedy that takes place in “The Bluest Eye” and its fulfillment.
1075 words Alifiyah Palkhi IB. 1
