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Essay / The concept of societal ills in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Two Kinds by Amy Tan and I Want to Be Miss America by Julia Alvarez
"Two Kinds" "TBE" "Miss Bitter" A person can change themselves or the people around them under the pressure of society's interests and expectations. Throughout Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye", Amy Tan's "Two Kinds", and Julia Alvarez's "I Want To Be Miss America", the main idea of the ills of society is constantly mentioned and explored. In "The Bluest Eye", Pecola wanted to be accepted, but in the long run, her interaction with people, such as Maureen and Junior, and the idea of beauty negatively affected her self-esteem, thus degrading her idea of her own value. Similarly, in "Two Kinds", Jing-mei Woo did not want to disappoint her mother and be a failure as her mother came to America for opportunities and a better life. However, upon meeting Waverly, she realized what society expected of her, and knowing that it was difficult for her to meet those expectations further degraded her self-esteem. Finally, on the other hand, "I Want to Be Miss America" shows how the idea of beauty can negatively affect self-esteem, with self-doubt possibly coming into play. Thus, the main character's interaction with other people and ideas negatively affect the main character's self-esteem. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, the main character as well as the protagonist, Pecola Breedlove, is an eleven-year-old girl. who suffered two traumatic rapes as she is abused by almost everyone in the book. While trying to change her outlook on life, Pecola believes that having light skin and blue eyes will give her a different outlook on life, as she feels that being African American only brings bad luck in life . Pecola's interaction with the people around her and her ideas took a toll on her self-worth by decreasing her self-worth after she was raped by her father. On page 63, Maureen Peal is introduced as she has and deals with interactions with Pecola, and as they develop an argument through Maureen asking the question, "Have you ever seen a naked man?" (Page 71). In self-defense, Pecola responded, “No one’s father would be naked in front of his own daughter.” At this point, Pecola began to recover vivid and descriptive details about her rape and the shame that accompanied it. As an argument began to arise between Maureen and Frieda about Maureen being crazy about naked boys, Pecola began to break down and denied ever seeing her father naked. Unfortunately, this caused "Pecola to tuck her head in a funny, sad, helpless movement" (page 72). Additionally, not only does Maureen belittle Pecola, but Junior does too. Junior invites Pecola to his house, telling him that there are kittens and that he is surprised to be able to pet them. “He held the door open for her, smiling to encourage her” (Page 89). As he was giving the kitten to Pecola, he threw it at her face, which left her with a scar on her face and as Pecola tries to leave, Junior says she is his prisoner. Geraldine calls Pecola a “nasty little black slut” (page 92). By judging her and addressing a sensitive topic for Pecola, her skin color, Geraldine lowers Pecola's self-esteem and as a result, she wants to integrate more into society, have blonde hair and blue eyes and have fair skin because she thinks it can change. her reality or the current situations in which she finds herself. Similarly, in Amy Tan's "Two Kinds", the narrator and main character Jing-mei Woo, recently..