Gabe's+Reflection+on+page+1

I chose to discuss the importance of beauty in America because after reading How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, I really felt I saw a shift in American's view of beauty and the role it plays. I do believe that the sad fact is that beauty plays a role in our lives everyday. How people look is so important, people they will spend thousands of dollars to change their looks. This is becasue in America, we are taught that one of the ways to true happiness is by being beautiful. I believe it to be natural to compare oneself to others... others looks, others achievments, others grades. However, I believe that people have gone so far as to base ones' happiness on where they fall on the beauty scale. In The Bluest Eye, Paulina assigns others to categories based on how they rank on a scale of beauty with the knowledge that she will never be beautiful. She will never be beautiful in her mind because America makes unrelaistic standards of what is beauty. Magazines and movies show these amazing movie stars, and tell us that we must do all we can to look this or that way or we will not achieve full happiness. However, I do not believe this and I try as best I can to keep a level head and know that no one is perfect. I do believe that no one can say it better than my mom, that true beauty lies within, and it is our inner beauty that shines more powerful than any outer beauty. I chose these quotes by Confucius and Anne Frank because they are not only in themselvs beautiful words, but have a very true message. While reading about the Garcia's family experiences coming to America, I was able to see how people who are not white with blond hair and blue eyes can feel they are not the American beauty. Every child is given the doll of a precious little girl with curly blonde hair and big bright blue eyes. I know I was given this doll and I sat and watched old movies of Shirley Temple running around on stage singing and dancing and all I kept thinking was I want to be cute like her.