Geraldine's Dysmorphia

Geraldine's obsession for staying clean and well kept can be seen as a type of dysmorphia. She is so fixated on maintaining her family’s appearance so that she will appear less black that she denies her son of friendships and in a sense boyhood. Her image of the black community is skewed based off physical appearance, and believes that appearance justifies superiority in the colored community.

Although she seems to lack the loving niche for her son, Geraldine has an enormous adoration for her blue-eyed black cat. "He was black all over, deep silky black and his eyes, pointing down toward his nose, were blueish green. The light made them shine like blue ice" (Morrison 91). Morrison uses strong descriptive words to channel into the cats blue
In an article titled “BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER IN THE BLUEST EYE” by Liana Beian, Beian states “Society functions as the source of physical and psychological evil and, through the example of Pecola, represents the ultimate, destructive consequences of evil.”(Beian 131). This statement has merit because it pertains to Pecola and the demise of her character because Pecola's self hate stems from other peoples perception of her, based off of her looks. Beian goes on to say that “Not being white is, in Pecola’s case, the pretext for her being bullied and subject to manifestations of racism. Pecola’s existence is illustrative of the fact that the set of values called beauty generally implies prejudice and damage done to individuals.”(Beian 132). We know that Pecola has already been labeled "ugly" because she is a Breedlove, but there are other aspects of Pecola's lack of self-love that lead to the growth of her Body Dysmorphic
Morrison uses these figures who show how they are admired for their cleanliness and whiteness. These characters parallel Pecola, Cholly, Pauline, Claudia, Frieda and Mrs. MacTeer, who are all reflections of “blackness” which is perceived as dirty and undesirable. These characters all show how everyone in the community is a victim of racism and in return set out to change themselves, developing body dysmorphic disorder. These characters all wish to change their physical appearance and look and act more like the mixed race characters, only to gain acceptance from their community. Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye tells the story how racism and societies standard of beauty leads to body dysmorphic disorder and the demise of a village when they fall to the pressures of what is accepted by