Symbols and Themes in 'The Bluest Eye' Essay

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Pecola’s insanity signifies internal and external racism, it is the discourses imposed on black girls that drove Pecola insane as stated within the novel, “she, however, stepped over into madness, a madness which protected her from us just because it bored us within the end”. Pecola Breedlove is the definitive illustration of the persistent damaging effects that internalized racial favoritism has on black girls, and the way it led her to a psychological state. For Pecola, and as for all the people of her area Lorain, Ohio, color stands at the fundamentality of her sense of self: her emotion of lowliness and self-hatred. She supposes that attractiveness and self-confidence, pride, and dignity relate to whiteness and its qualities and, subsequently, Pecola cannot concept an optimistic and assured self-perception.

The conclusion of the novel acts as a mirrored image of the implications of the community of Lorain’s racial self-hatred. The principal character, Pecola, is mistreated by a culture that circumstances her to racism. Pecola considers herself ugly and consequently valueless since she doesn’t symbolize white culture’s notions of beauty. The theme of race and also the negative power of racial self-hatred grasp a peak throughout Pecola's rape. We can see here the accurate peak such as the internalization of her rape and figurative highpoint of racial self-hatred like when she carries her father’s baby and eventually has a miscarriage.

Structural racism and classism in the novel are revealed when Claudia, brings about out at the beginning of the novel that fear of deficiency could be an additional widespread everyday concern in her society than fear of discernment.

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The essential theme of the novel is the impression that black individuals are insignificant and valueless and lack the morals of beauty. An additional theme of the novel is that of Self-Loathing. In the novel, the greatest apparent illustration of self-loathing is Pecola's desire for blue eyes. An imperative theme in the novel is that of the treacherous nature of racial prejudice, including racial self-shaming and the impracticable, often Westernized, standards of beauty and value.

When deliberating the various symbols in the novel the central principle is blue eyes and the authority, they hold over Pecola signifies the firm beauty standards of mid-20th century America, in addition to the critical control it held over black girls like Pecola. One more example of symbolism in the novel is The Shirley Temple Cup, the cup symbolizes the values of beauty for kids, the standards for a more acquitted piece of culture. Milk was concentrated on as well because the milk symbolizes the yearning to be white. The symbol exposes itself since it is Pecola who continuously drinks the milk and desires to be white, while the Mac Teer children hate milk and are satisfied with who they remain. Dandelions also have momentous symbolism because the dandelions symbolize the less advantaged black culture and people who might have potential, talents, and skills that the majority fail to notice because of the rigid concepts of race. Mary Janes is noteworthy in the novel because the sweet symbolizes the callous determination of the white image meaning everything delicious and sweet is white.

There are Concepts of race in the novel as well as concepts of beauty which are represented as the blue eyes. Continuous concepts of identity and pride are also present in the novel. When looking at the IMAGERY – “garbage” and flowers (“marigolds” / sunflowers”) / “seeds” / “earth” / “fruit’ also have an impact as seen when Claudia states to us that the marigold seeds, she and Frieda planted represented the well-being and happiness of the unborn baby of Pecola. However, in the last paragraph of the novel, the marigold imagery is repeated, simply also prolonged to incorporate Pecola. the marigolds, signify Pecola, who was not cherished by her community and who eventually died.

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Symbols and Themes in ‘The Bluest Eye’ Essay. (2024, April 18). Edubirdie. Retrieved May 3, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/symbols-and-themes-in-the-bluest-eye-essay/
“Symbols and Themes in ‘The Bluest Eye’ Essay.” Edubirdie, 18 Apr. 2024, edubirdie.com/examples/symbols-and-themes-in-the-bluest-eye-essay/
Symbols and Themes in ‘The Bluest Eye’ Essay. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/symbols-and-themes-in-the-bluest-eye-essay/> [Accessed 3 May 2024].
Symbols and Themes in ‘The Bluest Eye’ Essay [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2024 Apr 18 [cited 2024 May 3]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/symbols-and-themes-in-the-bluest-eye-essay/
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