The Bluest Eye Character Analysis

In the novel, The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, Claudia Macteer is depicted as the polar opposite of the novel's main protagonist, Pecola Breedlove. Whilst Pecola is surrounded by constantly fighting parents and is even victimized by one of her parents, Claudia was able to grow up in a stable household with loving parents that support both of their children, Claudia and Frieda. Claudia also has a very strong demeanor; she often takes action in many of the plots throughout the novel. Pecola, on the other hand, acts very child-like in some events in the novel and is very frail and closed in. In this novel, Morrison inserted a debate in which she never intended to write in the pages for us, as the readers, to figure out: a Nature vs Nurture …show more content…
To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me. Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs--all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured. (Morrison 15)
This just proves the point in which Claudia just simply does not get the idea of only white women with baby blue eyes and straw colored hair are beautiful. She is beautiful too, with her dark skin and caramel eyes.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Pecola and her little brother, Sammy, have grown in a terrible living situation. This is reflected in not only Pecola’s behavior, but also her brother. The entire family holds a strong distaste towards themselves. They feel the pressure of being a stark contrast from the desired appearances of others. “Except for the father, Cholly, whose ugliness … was behavior, the rest of the family--Mrs. Breedlove, Sammy Breedlove, and Pecola Breedlove--wore their ugliness, put it on, so to speak, although it did not belong to them.” (Morrison 30). The Breedlove family buries into themselves, hiding their faces away from staring