Pecola

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muddy shoes with the wad of gum peeping out from between the cheap soles……Eyes that questioned nothing and asked everything” (p80)

Thus she thinks it is only the outside that counts. She thought that if she were able to change the colour of her eyes to blue, that being a symbol of beauty in a white culture, her life would change; she would be looked at, be respected, accepted and admired.

“if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say beautiful, she herself would be different” (p34)

The white cultures’ judgements were forced upon Pecola; she like society identified herself as black, and therefore dirty, unequal to whites and ugly.

Like her parents she began to resent her black heritage for keeping her from the Dick and Jane world.

Here we see the consequences of depending on external conditioning for self-value and feeling of worth. Pecola’s belief that she is not as worthy as white doesn’t give her a chance of discovering who she really is. Toni Morrison ...

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