The Bluest Eyes Research Paper

A Search For A Self

Finding a self-identity is often a sign of maturing and growing up. This becomes the main issue in Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eyes. Pecola Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove, and Pauline Breedlove are such characters that search for their identity through others that has influenced them and by the lifestyles that they have. First, Pecola Breedlove struggles to get accepted into society due to the beauty factor that the norm has. Cholly Breedlove, her father, is a drunk who has problems that he takes out of Pecola sexually and Pauline physically. Pauline is Cholly's wife that is never there for her daughters.

Pacola is a little black girl has a hard time finding herself. Brought up as a poor unwanted girl, she desires
Every night before she goes to sleep, she prays that may she wake up with blue eyes. The image of "Shirley Temple beauty" surrounds her. In her mind, if she were to be beautiful, people would finally love and accept her. This idea of beauty has been imprinted on Pecola her whole entire life. Many people have inscribed this notion into her. Her classmates also have an effect on her. They seem to think that because she is not beautiful; she is not worth anything except as the focal point of their mockery. As if it were not bad enough being ridiculed by children her own age, adults also had to mock her. Mr. Yacowbski as a symbol for the rest of society's norm, treats her as if she were invisible. Geraldine, a colored woman, who refused to tolerate "niggers", happened to walk in while Pecola was in her house. By having an adult point out to her that she really was a "nasty" little girl, it seems all the more true. At home she was put through the same thing, if not worse because her family members were the ones who were supposed to love her. It was obvious to Pecola that her mother preferred the little white girl of the family that she worked for over her. One day as Pecola was visiting
The times she was there working for this family without any reminder of her own failures were the only times that she felt truly happy. It was there and only there that she finally felt as if she were part of something successful. In Pauline's search for her identity and ultimately her happiness, she learned exactly what she would have to sacrifice so that she could be content, as well as the difference between herself and the rest of society. Movies helped her the stark difference between her and other women. As Pauline learned what physical beauty was, she also learned for what it stood. In that time physical beauty was the ideal of Shirley Temple beauty, the equation of blond hair and blue eyes. It signified equality, happiness, worthiness, and overall comfort. If you were a white woman with those qualities living in northern America you were going to be happy. She quickly learned that when she was in the company of her white family, who were equal, happy, and worthy in the eyes of society, it rubbed off on her and she felt as if she was part of all these positive virtues. The more time she spent with her own black family, the more time she realized how ugly, poor, and unworthy they were. In coming upon this realization, Pauline has a decision to make. She could have stuck with her biological family, continued to be unsatisfied but be accepted as an equal, or she could completely give