The Concept of Beauty
MacTeers and Breedloves are black families who live in Lorain, Ohio. The narrator of book is nine year old Claudia. As far as Claudia, life is hard for them because they are black peeople suffering from povery.eing black, being poor and being woman... These declare claudia's weakness.
Claudia's hatred to white people comes from whites' thingking about they are supperior. Therefore she hates the dolls named Shirley Temple (a hugely popular child actress of the day) and the popular children’s dolls of the 1940s. Because " all the world had agreed that a blued-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured." ( p. 20)
She hates from their whitnesses because they are black and being black was not a concept of beauty.
But Pecola isn't angry to their whitnesses and blue eyes... she accepts America’s white beauty standards. She drinks lots of milk to be like a white because drinking milk is a value of white society.
She wants to have blue eyes and she has prayed for a long time to be blue-eyed. She desires it because she thinks if she have blue eyes she can see the world more beautiful and also white can like her and respect her. she can exist in whites' life thanks to her blur eyes.
Breedloves believe the are ugly, Actually they were not ugly but they don't seem like a white. Their lips, eyes, skins, cheeks are different. They are ugly because they believe that they are ugly.
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And I want to ask! Why are we trying to fit into beauty concepts? being thin, being white, being blonge, being blue,green,grey eyed! I think, There is no a single beauty concept, and cannot be!! Because every person's physical and personal qualities posses different brilliance. Every person is beautiful with her/him pure existence.
With regard to your last line, I couldn't agree more, and I also think this is exactly what Toni Morrison is trying to say in this novel.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sonja :) I think like Toni morrison :)
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