Wasted Talent in 'The Bluest Eye' by Toni Morrison

Self-Worth and Society's Acceptance. Meeting the Parameters

Scientific Essay from the year 2015 in the subject American Studies - Literature, , language: English, abstract: The Bluest Eye is simple yet a difficult narrative of a twelve year old black girl Pecola's desire to have blue eyes. The question arises why does a black girl want blue eyes? Why does she want to look differently? What causes this desire in her? As the story unfolds we get answers to these questions and also a realization that how the simple things like cup images or candy wrappers can be a strong factor in influencing an individual's psychological response to beauty and his/her own self importance. The present paper while building on existing criticism tries to explore the popular culture, for instance children items (cups, dolls, candies) and movies and its individual psychological response. These commercial products play a pivotal role in establishing beauty aesthetics. Regular exposure to these ideals results in their idealization and a longing in people to have these defining physical features of beauty. It creates an environment of superiority and inferiority. People who possess the defining features (physical) are considered superior to those who don't have these physical features. This adversely affects their psyche and becomes a reason for their downfall.