In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, three young African-American girls (among many others in their society) struggle against a culture that defines them as ugly and/or invisible. They are regularly contrasted with symbols of whiteness and white icons: the white movie star Shirley Temple, the face of Mary Jane on candy wrappers, and the white dolls they are given as gifts and loved. expects what they like. The mothers of these girls are helping to promote a cycle of self-hatred and conformity to white standards of beauty by admiring young white girls in their communities and in the media instead of finding beauty in their own black children. . Their daughters are then faced with the harsh reality that they are inferior to “beautiful” little white girls and must decide whether to continue giving in to this cycle of degradation and oppression or define beauty on their own terms. One character in particular, Pecola Breedlove, tragically succumbs to this system of oppression which results in the dissolution of her identity. For Pecola, the acquisition of beauty means the potential to achieve things in her life that she never had: attention, love, blue eyes, and, ultimately, whiteness. Praying to have blue eyes, Pecola prays to be white, the one thing that she believes will solve all her problems. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Pecola's story is told through her quest for beauty. Her experiences are recorded over the course of four seasons in which she endures a harmful environment at home, at school, and in her neighborhood. Her mother's energies are focused on her work as a housekeeper for a white family. Her father is an alcoholic who ends up sexually assaulting her on several occasions. The teachers ignore Pecola in the classroom and instead give their attention to Maureen Peal, a "bright yellow dream child with long brown hair" and "sloe green eyes" (Morrison 47, 48). Additionally, Pecola's classmates ridicule her because of her ugliness, although they too are black. Through all of these experiences, Pecola becomes marginalized by a culture that defines whiteness as beautiful and lovable. Thus, Pecola begins her search for beauty with the aim of answering the question: "How to make someone love you?" (Morrison 32). The answer, she decides, is to have blue eyes – and therefore, essentially, to be white. Pecola feels ugly because in her mind, skin and eye color are directly linked to ideal beauty. The beauty that is emphasized in American culture is that of white women, and Pecola must either deny this and find a way to form her own identity based on her beliefs, or conform to the white ideals that are constantly imposed on her. Unfortunately, due to the conditions in which she lives, conforming to this ideal of white beauty and attempting to achieve it seems to be Pecola's only way to escape the harsh reality in which she lives. By wishing for blue eyes day after day, she gives herself hope that one day she will be beautiful and loved. Unfortunately, the symbols of beauty that Pecola chooses to focus on are not within her reach and never will be. Shirley Temple's hair will always be yellow and her smile will never disappear because she is an actress and is always seen in movies. The white dolls' skin and eyes will never change – they will always be the same because the dolls are not real people. The reason Pecola feels so ugly is mainly due to the.