In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison questions the origin and validity of the truths imposed by white standards of beauty. The white standard of beauty is defined in terms of not being black, so in turn, black people equate beauty with being white. Morrison examines this assumption in terms of its origin and validity, its growth and impact on his characters, and the long-term effects of this assumption on his characters. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In addressing the origin and validity of socially accepted truths, Morrison questions whether these truths are natural. In particular, is it natural to define beauty in terms of white versus black? Michael Ryan's summary of Michel Foucault's ideology addresses the question of the origins of truth in society: The way in which knowledge is organized in the discourses of Western society is allied to the organization of power in society. Power seeps into the pores of society rather than occupying the site of a single state; over time, power becomes part of the usual daily procedures and operations of social institutions such as the school, the hospital, and the workplace. Citizens learn to assimilate and apply discipline themselves. Morality, all the ways in which we are taught to be “good,” become inseparable from voluntary obedience. We no longer need to be told what to do, because we do it ourselves automatically. (71) Foucault's idea calls for the need to examine the truth in more detail in order to eliminate false assumptions created by the power of society, especially when these false assumptions are social constructs considered natural truths . Morrison answers this call in her story centered on the self-hatred and destruction of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove. Pecola is exposed to an impossible standard of beauty from the moment she is born. Her mother's first reaction to Pecola is that she had "pretty hair, but God, she was ugly" (126). From the moment Pecola was born, she was told she was ugly. Pauline, Pecola's mother, transmits the standard of beauty she acquired to the world around her: “What was sad was that Pauline didn't really care about clothes and makeup. She just wanted other women to give her favorable looks” (118). Due to the world's influence on Pauline's ideas of beauty, Pecola is held to an impossible standard of beauty from the first moments of her life. This impossible standard continues to exert a strong influence throughout Pecola's life. With each experience that confirms her ugliness, Pecola's self-loathing grows. One of these experiences is meeting a shopkeeper while she goes to buy candy: “He doesn't see her, because for him, there is nothing to see” (48). Pecola realizes that the shopkeeper does not even recognize her as a human being worth looking at, because, according to Pecola, she is ugly. No one she meets gives her reason to challenge her presumption, and so Pecola maintains the belief that she is ugly. In response, she resorts to self-contempt and the desire to be beautiful, basing her standard of beauty on influences such as the "smiling white face" (50) that stares at her from the Mary Jane candy she bought. Pecola desires to be like Mary Jane with “slightly messy blond hair, blue eyes that look at her from a world of clean comfort” (50). Pecola thinks that pretty white girls, like Mary Jane, don'tare not subject to ridicule. So, in turn, Pecola associates their beauty with love, or lack of ridicule. Pecola convinces herself that to be loved, she must become beautiful. Pecola thought some time ago that if her eyes...were different, that is, beautiful, she herself would be different. His teeth were good, and at least his nose wasn't big and flat like some of the ones we thought were so cute. If she looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and so would Mrs. Breedlove. Maybe they would say, “Well, look at Pecola with the pretty eyes. We must not do bad things in front of these pretty eyes. (46) The beauty standards Pecola is held to are strictly defined by white features, creating standards that are impossible for a black girl. Her self-loathing grows in direct correlation to her desire to have blue eyes or achieve the white standard of beauty. The same self-loathing that consumes Pecola is demonstrated to varying degrees by many of Morrison's characters. Rather than resorting to the madness that overwhelms Pecola, these characters use Pecola as a scapegoat for the repressed self-hatred they possess. A group of black schoolchildren illustrate this repressed self-hatred when they gather around Pecola, mocking her blackness: That they themselves were black...didn't matter. It was their contempt for their own blackness that gave bite to the first insult. They seemed to have taken all their carefully cultivated ignorance, their exquisitely learned self-loathing, their elaborate despair and sucked it all into a fiery cone of contempt that burned for centuries in the hollows of their minds... consuming everything there had on their minds. his way (65). These boys demonstrate blind adherence to white domination. As Foucault would say, there is no longer any need to tell these boys that black equals ugly. They automatically proclaim this ideology, ignoring any contradictions or unnatural tendencies they might exhibit in the process. They fully accept the white standard of beauty, calling Pecola ugly. Similarly, the boys determine that “black” Pecola is ugly; they determine that "whitish" Maureen Peal is beautiful. It is Maureen's beauty that prevents the boys from harming Pecola: "Maureen appeared... and the boys seemed reluctant to continue under her spring-like eyes, so wide with interest. They gave in in confusion, not wanting to not beat three girls under his watchful gaze” (67). Maureen, "a bright yellow dream child with long brown hair braided into two lynch ropes that hung down her back", (62) is a physical demonstration of the black boy standard of beauty. The combination of the boys' contempt for "black" Pecola and their desire for "white" Maureen illustrates the strong influence of the white standard of beauty, even for young schoolchildren. Black people in Morrison's novel accept, even embrace, white domination; holding yourself to a white standard for everything, including beauty. Another example that truly demonstrates that this is a social construction is that of the gift of a “blue-eyed doll” (20 years old) to Claudia, a young black girl. Claudia remembers that “everyone agreed that a doll with blue eyes, yellow hair, and pink skin was what every little girl cherished” (20). Still too young to understand the social construct imposed on her as a black girl, she rejects white standards of beauty. Claudia did not find the doll beautiful; on the contrary, she despised the doll. She rebelled against this supposed truth about beauty to the point of destroying the doll. "See what has been done, discover the dearness, find thebeauty, desirability that had eluded me [Claudia,] but apparently only me [Claudia]" (20). Too young to be fully influenced by the world around her, Claudia demonstrates resistance to the idea according to that it is natural for black people to conform to white people's standards of beauty. This experience illustrates Foucault's argument that the truths of society are not natural, but created by power in society, in the novel. Morrison, Whites Claudia's resistance to white beauty standards is based solely on her youth and innocence Similar to her distaste for the doll, Claudia finds herself alone in her distaste for the "cu-ute Shirley Temple" (19). While her older sister, Frieda, and Pecola adore the young actress, Claudia says, "I couldn't join them in their adoration because I hated Shirley, not because she was cute, but because she danced." with Bojangles, who was my friend, my uncle, my dad, and who should have made soft shoes for me... Younger than Frieda and Pecola, I had not yet reached the turning point in life. development of my psyche which would allow me to love him. (19) Claudia illustrates how her youth prevents her from accepting and understanding black conformity to white beauty. Eventually, her youth fades and Claudia becomes submissive to the social beliefs imposed on her. “I learned much later to adore her [Shirley Temple], just as I learned to delight in cleanliness, knowing, even while learning, that change was adjustment without improvement” (23). Claudia's eventual love for Shirley Temple illustrates the true power of this social construct. Despite Claudia's strong initial rebellion, she is attracted to the white standard of beauty along with Morrison's other characters. Morrison addresses the long-term effects of imposing this standard of beauty on his black characters. Geraldine is an example of black conformity to white beauty standards gone wrong. Geraldine “isn’t like some of their [Géraldine’s] sisters” (82). She grew up in a very different environment than other black girls. Concern for and acceptance of white norms is greatly emphasized in Geraldine's upbringing, even more so than in Pecola's. Geraldine's submissiveness and her consumption of the social construct that whiter is better results in her affections becoming misplaced. Consumed by the obsession with making everything perfect in terms of white standards, Geraldine's "cat will always know that he is first in her affection. Even after she has a child" (86). Adhering to the false social truths imposed on Geraldine leads her to become null and void. She can't even create or maintain an emotional attachment with her black baby. “Geraldine did not speak to him, coo at him, or offer him kisses, but she saw that all other desires were fulfilled” (86). Géraldine transmits the ideologies with which she grew up. Ashamed of his blackness, Geraldine teaches her son that he stands out from other blacks, saying: “The colored people were neat and calm; the negroes were dirty and noisy” (87). Geraldine's cold and virtually non-existent maternal instincts, a result of her preoccupation with maintaining white standards and denying her blackness, produce a cruel little boy who helps contribute to the growth of madness brewing inside Pecola as May she continue to fight for beauty and love. Searching all her life to be loved, the only person to finally show love for Pecola is her father, Cholly Breedlove. Unfortunately, the love Cholly gives isn't exactly what Pecola needs: "Love is never better than the lover.