Life Struggles
15 February 2004
Life’s Struggles Being a free black in the northern state of Ohio after the Civil War has had traumatic effects on many people’s lives. The black race was considered inferior to the white race. Many acts of racism are still prevalent in today’s society. In the novel “The Bluest Eye” Pecola, a young girl, has encountered many hardships in her childhood: “Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike” (Morrison 45). Pecola needs to experience love and acceptance but neither her family nor the community reciprocates these emotions. Pecola’s life parallels with Frado’s life, a young girl in the novel “Our Nig” by Harriet E. Wilson. Frado also needs to feel accepted as the only black child in a white household. Frado as a young girl experiences being rejected and unloved; she experiences many hardships and racist encounters. The girls from an early age have learned that the white race is superior to the black race: “I’s black outside, I know, but I’s got a white heart inside. Which you rather have, a black heart in a white skin, or a white heart in a black one?” (Wilson 12). Both young girls learned that black is equivalent to immoral as white is compared to virtuous. There is a complicated portrayal of sexual initiation and acts of racism to Pecola, an impressionable black girl at a very young age. Pecola is discriminated throughout her childhood. She is never loved and she yearns to be accepted into society as a black girl coming of age. She wants to be accepted and loved but she is neither accepted nor loved. Pecola believes that is she just had blue eyes that she would not be shunned by society: “If she looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too” (Morrison 46). Pecola did not want to be an outcast she wanted to be part of a normal society and to be
Life’s Struggles Being a free black in the northern state of Ohio after the Civil War has had traumatic effects on many people’s lives. The black race was considered inferior to the white race. Many acts of racism are still prevalent in today’s society. In the novel “The Bluest Eye” Pecola, a young girl, has encountered many hardships in her childhood: “Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike” (Morrison 45). Pecola needs to experience love and acceptance but neither her family nor the community reciprocates these emotions. Pecola’s life parallels with Frado’s life, a young girl in the novel “Our Nig” by Harriet E. Wilson. Frado also needs to feel accepted as the only black child in a white household. Frado as a young girl experiences being rejected and unloved; she experiences many hardships and racist encounters. The girls from an early age have learned that the white race is superior to the black race: “I’s black outside, I know, but I’s got a white heart inside. Which you rather have, a black heart in a white skin, or a white heart in a black one?” (Wilson 12). Both young girls learned that black is equivalent to immoral as white is compared to virtuous. There is a complicated portrayal of sexual initiation and acts of racism to Pecola, an impressionable black girl at a very young age. Pecola is discriminated throughout her childhood. She is never loved and she yearns to be accepted into society as a black girl coming of age. She wants to be accepted and loved but she is neither accepted nor loved. Pecola believes that is she just had blue eyes that she would not be shunned by society: “If she looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too” (Morrison 46). Pecola did not want to be an outcast she wanted to be part of a normal society and to be
Cited: Morrsion, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Plume, 1994. Wilson Harriet E. Our Nig;. New York: Vintage Books, 1983.