Society’s View on “Beauty”

Pecola is a young black girl who has been taken out of her family because of her father burning down their house. Pecola idolizes Shirley Temple; she also loves the baby dolls with blonde hair and blue eyes. Pecola accepts America’s white “beauty” standards. Pecola drinks excessively out of her Shirley Temple cup, which could show her desire to secure th

Mrs. Breedlove ignoring her own daughter shows that Mrs. Breedlove enjoys being in the white household more than her own; it begins to look like she even cares about the little white girl more then Pecola, her own daughter. The example shows Mrs. Breedlove upholding her dream to be at the American values and life style.

Maureen is a light skinned black girl who reinforced the whiteness is “beautiful” and blackness is “ugly”. Maureen is rich and charmed the whole school; something Claudia secretly wanted for herself. When Maureen gets into an argument with the girls (Claudia, Pecola, and Frieda) Maureen tells them that they are black and ugly. This is important because she is of color as well; she is just lighter skinned. Maureen points out the plot of a movie in which the light-skinned daughter of a white man rejects her black mother but then cries at her mother’s funeral. The rejection is a reflection of Maureen’s relationship with her own mother who has seen the movie four times. Maureen is another example of the American view of “beauty”. Maureen is black as well but because she is lighter than the other girls she isn’t considered ugly in the same way the other girls are. The fact that her family is rich as well is painful for the girls to accept because they are the opposite of that. Her self-esteem wasn’t bad, but she upheld the ideals and thought of general American society that was instilled in her; shown by calling the other black girls ugly, although she is part black as well.

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Some topics in this essay:
Frieda Maureen, Bluest Eye, Morrison Toni, Breedlove” Breedlove, Shirley Temple, Mary Jane, Mary Janes, Claudia Christmas, american society, blue eyed, little white, eyed blonde, shirley temple, blonde haired, blue eyed blonde, eyed blonde haired, Pecola Claudia, blue eyes, little white girl, girls claudia, black children, blonde hair,