The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, is a brilliant novel that shows the struggling life of a young black girl named Pecola Breedlove. It takes place during the 1940s in Lorain, Ohio. This book is seen through the eyes of Claudia MacTeer describing the interaction between society and Pecola. This novel shows how people believed that only one skin color was considered beautiful, white.
Toni Morrison depicts how the beauty of white girls is overpowering the images of black girls and women through subliminal messages. One way was by the white baby doll that is given to Claudia. It represents the white domination of the society in Lorain against its black community. Also, Claudia MacTeer reinforces that Maureen is cuter than other black girls because she is lighter toned. This shows that skin color, more towards white, is seemed to be more attractive. Another way that this novel shows that only white people are beautiful is through Pecola’s mother, Pauline. Her mother is self-centered and uses movies to base her knowledge of beauty. After seeing films, she always seems to use a scale when looking at someone’s face basing it on what she thinks is beautiful, said on pg 122. Shirley Temple, an actress at the time, is known for being so beautiful in society because she was young and white. This ultimately makes Pauline decide who she cares and based on the beautiful white people she sees, she neglects Pecola because she is black. Also, Pauline works for a white house, full of white people. She does housekeeping for them as a job. A young white girl lives there, and the fact that Pauline believes that white girls are beautiful, she prefers the little white girl over her own daughter Pecola. This novel portrays basically that young white girls, with blue eyes are the most beautiful beings in the world. For this reason, Pecola’s experiences of being neglected leads to her thinking that she is not beautiful. She