After Oneta's mother passes then Pierre decides to send her off to a convent in Quebec in an effort to rid her of any Ojibway culture and also in an effort to rid his newborn son, Paul, of anything Ojibway before he is exposed. Even though he married a Ojibway woman, his stepdaughter was full-blooded Ojibway, and his son was half Ojibway, the author allowed the reader to see how Pierre felt he was superior to the Natives. When a Native did him a favor, by picking up a handkerchief that he dropped, Pierre sneered at him and told him "Do me a favor, if you will. Drop it in the nearest campfire." (Fuller 318).
In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison discusses the hardships of a little Black girl, named Pecola. Morrison uses the characters of the novel to show how the slavery-based racism and self-loathing affect the Black community. The main character, Pecola, obsesses over her desire to have blue eyes. "Each night, without fail, she prayed for blue eyes." (Morrison 46). Morrison suggests that if she is given her blue eyes, she would no longer be considered "ugly" by society. "We knew she was fond of Shirley Temple and took every opportunity to drink milk out of it just to handle and see sweet Shirley's face." (Morrison 23). Morrison shows how popular culture played a major part in Pecola's desire for blue eyes. " A little black girl yearns for the blues eyes of a little white girl, and the horror at the heart of her yearning is exceeded only by the evil of fulfillment."(204). Morrison expresses how Pecola's futile longing for the "bluest eyes" eventually drives her to madness as she accepts someone else definition of beauty and loses herself in a .
helpless struggle.
Another character, Pauline Breedlove, contributed to Pecola's strong desire for .
blue eyes, because she, just as Pecola, hated herself and longed to be something she was not. Morrison also used Pauline to show how popular culture encourages self loathing in the black community.
