The Bluest Eye, Beauty
...ow Pecola hopes that it will change her looks, because the milk is white, and her skin is black. Maureen, a girl from Pecola’s class was someone else that Pecola wanted to be like. Maureen didn’t have as dark skin as Pecola and she had green eyes. Maureen also had nice, clean clothes. Pecola wears old clothes and shabby brown socks, belongs to a poor family, is ugly and has dark brown eyes, and is not liked as well as Maureen is. Maureen and Shirley Temple were two people that Pecola wanted to be like and admired. Pecola becomes paranoid of being beautiful, but she is never pleased. She thinks that if she’s pretty, then her family will be happy, she won’t be scared of her dad, and they will be respected in the community. When Pecola is tricked into going to Geraldine’s house, and Junior kills her cat, Pecola is thrown out by Geraldine. Geraldine does not ask Pecola what happened, she thinks that since Pecola is not pretty that she killed the cat. This makes Pecola think that she could be respected if she had good looks even more. Pecola is not satisfied with herself even when she gets blue eyes. Pecola does not realize that beauty is not the answer to her problems, even after she thinks she is pretty. Through the treatment that she has experienced, Pecola is now trapped in a pursuit to become beautiful, even though this does not really make her happier in the long run. Geraldine, and the other women in her community, work their entire lives to reach and maintain such splendor. These women are always concerned with the appearance of themselves and possessions. Everything about them is extremely clean. Their obsession with appearance is so intense, that they seem to have no feelings, they’re actions are very routine. This desire of maintaining their beauty separates the women from their family. Geraldine's husband married her because of her constant obsession of being clean and didn’t expect anything. The relationship between the two is very robotic and without emotion. Not only does she not have feeling for her husband, but she has none with her son either. Junior is taught that he is better then the other children, that playing with them is beneath him. This create feelings of superiority within Junior, it also separates him from the other children. Although he wants to play with him, he wants to be clean so he doesn’t go out. Without a relationship between his peers, Junior only has one relationship, which is not complete either. Geraldine thinks that as long as she raises a child without feeling and connection towards him, will make him better. B...