The Bluest Eye Analytical Essay

Although it may seem unrealistic, many of us strive to be the best of the best. But at what cost would it take for one to attain such a distant goal? In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison offers commentary on the detrimental effects of black people in a society imposing them to adhere to white standards. Shown through Geraldine, Soaphead Church, and Pecola, each character believes that they need to rid themselves of their black lives in order to be obtain power in a pro-white society, but results in a destructive mentality.
As Geraldine is raised, she goes to great lengths to acquire a white lifestyle, but in the process, prevents her from developing healthy views about life and superiority. She grows up with other black women, all with a common goal: how to behave “properly”. “In short, how to get rid of the funkiness. The dreadful funkiness of passion, the funkiness of nature, the funkiness of the wide range of emotions” (83). Being black is seen as being dirty and improper, so she obsessively keeps her home and body clean of anything she believes is unfitting, like expressing love and sexual desire. Her own oppression of being black controls her to the point where she’s more worried about the curlers in her hair and the sounds she makes during sex than the passionate
Their dissatisfaction, addiction, self-destruction is a consequence of an injustice society which favors those who are white and oppresses people of color. Their dependence on self-worth in their community influences their decisions, making detrimental choices that negatively affect their lives and the lives of those around them. We live in an American society where white standards are placed among people of ethnic background, in which they feel the need to reform to have worth. Ultimately, it leads to a lifetime of a destructive self-perception and rash, harmful