Introduction
The Bluest Eye is an interesting book that dwells on how the society perceives beauty standards. White principles of beauty seem more superior to black girls. Not only attractiveness but also other aspects of life prove that whites are superior. For example, Claudia has a white doll, which portrays the idealization of white people as more superior in terms of beautiful features. A part from white beauty standards, the book has a theme on sexual violence and exploitation. At the start of the book, Pecola has her first menstrual period after which she breaks her virginity. This essay will discuss the acceptance of trauma from the author’s standpoint with both the real and trauma.
Sexual trauma
White dominance is a timeless challenge in the American society. The impacts have deep roots and end up affecting the lives of young black women in the 1930s. If a race or group is second to another and the surrounding around assures them that indeed, they are second, they grow up believing that fact in their hearts (Bloom, 1). For example, Pecola is ugly because she is black. Therefore, the ideal distorts the real and the victim starts believing the lie.
The central character in the book, Pecola, lives in a poor secluded neighborhood. Apart from the abject poverty, that eats them away bit by bit. It is vital to acknowledge that their ugliness was not a reality but heaped upon them by a white dominated ideal society (Bloom, 110). Everywhere they turned, the community pointed at their ugliness, shadowing and destroying their real world. The reason behind the standards is still a mystery and causes trauma to black girls.
The ideal beauty through which the eyes of the society judge individuals is unattainable physically especially among black people. For further illustration, blonde hair, purple eyes, a keen nose and slender bodies. If African Americans do not meet the standard described above, then they are unattractive (Bloom, 56). That is the logic behind the Breedloves’ ugliness. They do not value their reality and tend to lean on idealized perceptions of the white communities. Funny enough some white women cannot achieve the same standards of beauty even though they have the necessary qualifications.
There is a psychological effect when one does not achieve his or her goals. The self-destructive tendency driven by the quest to realize an ideal beauty is clear. The author does not hide the effects of the restless race to seek beauty; instead, she lays it bare in plain sight. In fact, the writer builds up from a basic family structure into the primary ideals that shaped and convinced the conscious minds of Americans that white was the ideal beauty standard and the rest of the society needs to align their features based on white dominance ideology (Bloom, 79). For example, Dick and Jane, symbolize how ethnocentrism institutionalized white principles into the fabric of American society.
One of The effects of the outside world on Pecola and her mother Pauline is decline in self-esteem. Their self-worth is low and nearly pushes the two into self-destruction (Bloom, 220). In context of the book, Black women accepted their inferior state and idolized white women beauty standards. Thus, the author mechanizes a way that breaks both white and black norms so that women can discover themselves for who they are in the real world instead of searching for ideal principles set by the world.
Based on the color of the skin, one is either ugly or beautiful. This brings out racism into the open. Western way of life assesses people based on the color of their skin. The struggle to meet the white standards of beauty has negative effects on Pauline. The life of Pauline was already on a decline since children hood when she accidentally stepped on a nail. The nail left her with a deformity on the leg. Even in marriage, her life does not flourish into a beautiful picture (Bloom, 34). She judges her beauty in terms of a distorted portrait of whiteness. In her case, she goes to the movies and compares herself to the actresses on the screen. At the movies, she wholly accepts white ideals on marriage, romance, and behavior. Nevertheless, the ideas depicted in movies are the worst and to think that an individual can lean on them for clarity is unacceptable. Pauline lives in the ideal movie world and conducts herself based on the movie characters. At the end of it all, she ends up loathing herself because she could not match up to those standards. In addition, she blames her deformity for her ugliness.
Sexual violence
Sex is humiliating and violent. The main point is that black girls endure discrimination sexually and even in their day-to-day lives (Bloom, 45). Adolescence does not revolve around unveiling sexuality and attraction toward the opposite sex as expected of teenagers. Instead, the girls strengthen the image of men.
The parents or guardians are to blame for most of the challenges faced by their children. For example, Choly rapes his own daughter, which in turn points out Cholly’s faulty background. Two Caucasian men harassed him as a child. On the other side, Frieda’s parents rescue her from her tormentors and play their role appropriately unlike Cholly who perpetrates a crime against his own daughter (Bloom, 67). Thus, there is a solid perception that women bodies are for sexual abuse. In fact, parents refuse to inform their children on sexuality, which makes their transition into womanhood tiresome and difficult. In other words, the idealistic world warps reality and women view themselves as tools men can use for sexual pleasure.
Young women view sex as an indicator of their womanhood. After having sex, then one can transition into womanhood. However, the young women do not have knowledge of the implications of sexual intercourse at such an early age (Bloom, 89). Their misunderstanding demonstrates that parents failed to educate them on the effects of reckless sexual behavior. Due to the young women’s ignorance, they only have an idealistic standpoint on sex. Hence, they link sex to love and their own personal worth.
According to Pauline, an ideal world is one in which a man can rescue her from her miserable world, full of rejection from her own family members. Geraldine is a character that derives her self-worth from her husband. On the other hand, husbands do not tie their worth to women. Besides, a man marries for his own sake (Bloom, 13). A woman cooks, cleans, and takes care of the needs of her husband. Geraldine does not enjoy sex; she perseveres for the sakes of her husband. Thus, a woman associates her value with her husband to appease the ideal world, no matter how much it hurts in reality.
The book has examples of characters that rise above the norms of the society such as sexual violence and oppression of men. However, women have to appease men with their bodies or pass as being unattractive in their own eyes for them to escape the griping hands of sexual violence. Also, women who want to have power among men, have to use their bodies as a way of manipulating and having their way among men (Bloom, 129). For example, the elderly women do not experience sexual violence as they are unattractive physically and no one pays attention to them. On the other hand, prostitutes use their own bodies so that they can have an advantage over men. However, the sexworkers end up hating themselves more. Sex is the key tool for harassment in the novel. At the climax of the story, Pecola’s father rapes her and she eventually passes away due to sexual violence. Through her rape, the reader ca n absorbs the adverse effects of sexual abuse and the use of sex as a weapon against women.
Acceptance of Trauma in both the Ideal and Real World
In an ideal world, black is ugly and vulgar in all its ways while white is noble and humane and associated to good moral values and beauty. In most sections of the book, black people experience hate and seclusion from the rest of the world. The writer wants the black community to stand firm ad pursue their own human rights (Bloom, 121). She views Geraldine as a woman with brown eyes but with blue eyes because she wants to be like a white woman. For example, Geraldine keeps her son away from socializing with black children. She goes further and claims that niggers are dirty while colored people are neat and disciplined.
Pecola will never look like a white woman. She cannot have blue eyes or thin lips. No, matter what she does; she will never live up to the ideal white dominated society. Thus, if she cannot live up to whiteness beauty standards, she will never be good enough, it seems. In the end, she self-destructs herself (Bloom, 58). She will never be complete, as she does not meet the standard of other people in the society.
In the book, there is no winning the identity fight, only defeat. Pauline and Pecola mirror the effects of trying to please the ideals of a society that cannot appreciate or acknowledge the efforts. The only defeat comes when they fail to recognize the fact that societal norms are too high for anyone to attain them. Even the ones who seem to be at the top do not get any satisfaction from the ideal standards of the society; only pain follows as exemplified through prostitutes and persuasive women.
In summary, when one concentrates on the ideal world he or she may end up losing his or her true image. Pecula becomes invisible as she pursues blue eyes, which could not found anywhere. Claudia likens an ideal world to soil, which lets some plants flourish, and others die. Members of the community can only watch and judge as the futile search for a perfect identity comes to an unfruitful end after wasting one’s years and valuable life. In the end, the ideal choose another victim and continues the cycle.
Work cited
Bloom, Harold. Toni Morrison's the Bluest Eye. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2010.
