The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, is a novel that tells the story of a young black girl named Pecola Breedlove who desperately longs for blue eyes, believing that having them will make her beautiful and more accepted by society. One of the central characters in the novel is Pauline Breedlove, Pecola's mother.
Pauline is a complex and multifaceted character who struggles with a number of issues throughout the novel. One of the most prominent themes in The Bluest Eye is the impact of internalized racism and self-hatred on black individuals, and Pauline is no exception. She has internalized the belief that white beauty standards are the only ones that matter, and as a result, she is deeply self-conscious about her own appearance. This self-hatred manifests itself in a number of ways throughout the novel, including her constant attempts to straighten her hair and her reliance on makeup and other beauty products to try to conform to white beauty standards.
In addition to her struggles with self-hatred, Pauline also struggles with a number of other issues. She is deeply unhappy in her marriage to Cholly Breedlove, Pecola's father, and her relationship with him is marked by violence, abuse, and resentment. She is also deeply traumatized by her own childhood experiences, which included sexual abuse and the loss of her mother at a young age. These experiences have left her emotionally damaged and unable to provide the love and support that Pecola desperately needs.
Despite all of these challenges, Pauline is a deeply human and sympathetic character. She is not a perfect mother, and she makes a number of mistakes throughout the novel. However, she is also a victim of the societal forces that have shaped her, and it is clear that she is doing the best she can to survive in a world that is often hostile and cruel to black women.
Overall, Pauline Breedlove is a complex and layered character who plays a central role in The Bluest Eye. Through her struggles with self-hatred, trauma, and unhappy relationships, she helps to illustrate the many challenges that black individuals face in a society that often values them less than their white counterparts.
The Bluest Eye: Pauline Breedlove
Pecola Breedlove For the most part, Pecola is a passive, plain young black girl about eleven years old, who is befriended by Claudia and Frieda MacTeer after county officials place her temporarily in their home. As Junior grows up, he notices his mother directs her love toward her cat. She preferred, however, to think always of her foot. Diamond, and directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz. Once she moves to Ohio, she must contend with regional and social class barriers to normative beauty that she had never imagined. The story about lynching demonstrates the dangers of being a black man, and shapes the way Cholly perceives his place in the world. Jake is slightly older than Cholly, and he encourages Cholly to flirt with Darlene.
The Bluest Eye: Pauline (Polly) Breedlove Quotes
. He was small, black, and helpless. Retrieved January 16, 2018. These effects creates cycles of violence, as shown by Junior's sadistic pleasure in watching the cat suffer. Character Analysis Cholly Breedlove. Since he was abandoned by both parents, Cholly did not grow up in an environment where he was successfully nurtured. These women, however, are bitter, tired, and accept the presence of pain.
The Bluest Eye: Character List
Cholly is happy and their marriage improves, but Pauline is still lonely in their apartment. These gestures of madness are said to be mingled with affection, as they are his way of showing love. If she had beautiful blue eyes, Pecola imagines, people would not want to do ugly things in front of her or to her. The incestuous rape is nearly impossible for a reader to comprehend. Jake When he is fifteen years old, he meets his cousin Cholly at Aunt Jimmy's funeral; they strike up a friendship and flirt with girls. When Junior stops hearing Pecola crying, he comes back into the room and sees Pecola petting the cat.
Beauty and Ugliness in "The Bluest Eye" Free Essay Sample on childhealthpolicy.vumc.org
Her conversation with Maureen reveals her love of the cinema, a love presumably learned from her mother, and her admiration of European-American film stars. What did Cholly do in The Bluest Eye? Claudia resists this color ideology, this internalized racism, vehemently. In this quote, Morrison signifies how Pauline viewed her children as her sacrifice. National Coalition Against Censorship. Even though they might exist on the low section of the social ladder, they believe that they are still better than Pecola, and therefore have the right to mistreat and abuse her. We had defended ourselves since memory against everything and everybody considered all speech a code to be broken by us, and all gestures subject to careful analysis; we had become headstrong, devious, and arrogant.
