The+Meaning+of+The+Bluest+Eye+In+The+21st+Century

Toni B. Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye, tells the story of an Afroamerican girl who is growing up as a social outcast who is abused by those around her. Much of the abuse the main character, Pecola, endured was rooted in racism. This outside pressure and rejection caused Pecola to desire to change her natural body (eyes) to be like the publicly adored blond hair and blue-eyed features that are most common in persons of Northern European descent.The impossibility of actualizing such a mutulation of her natural body did not stop Pecola from desiring the blue eyes that were projected at her by society. The inescapable fact that Pecola did not have blue eyes,in addition to the abuse Pecola was a victim to, meant that she would not see herself as beautiful. In addition to this, society was not slow to brand Pecola's mind with the notion that beauty determined the moral goodness of a person. Morrison describes the consequences of such a lie on the psyche of Pecola, writing "In equating physical beauty with virtue, she stripped her mind, bound it, and collected self-contempt for the heap,” (Morrison, 122) The same concept of self-hatred and a desire to change one's own appearance to conform to the societal definitions of beauty is present today. In addition to a desire of Americans to have stereo typical Scandinavian features, there is a deadle pressure for women (even men) to be OVERLY thin.

In the 21st century, the effect that advertisements and popular entertainment have on pressuring Americans to degrade their bodies to the standards of what society sees as "beauty" has cost many troubled you their lives. In Madrid, Spain the government reacted to these pressures that are equally felt in the United States by banning the use of "overly thin models" in their fashion festivals do to protests. [|(Sydney Morning Herald)] While fighting to survive malnutrition, many youth who suffer from anorexia, bolemia, and other life threatening illnesses share the sentiment that " I just want to be normal, to eat to be healthy not to be thin. I want to workout for my health, not because it burns calories," ([|Beating Ana]).

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