“The Bluest Eye” is based primarily on racial discrimination of minority groups. Blue eyes are commonly an idealistic characteristic of what an American girl should have. It is no wonder that Pecola would like to be accepted into society for who she is. The only reason that she longs to be blue-eyed is because she wants be seen as an equal. Upon entering the candy store, Pecola feels at home in her surroundings until the man behind the counter demeans her by giving her strange looks. This is a common way that people can be alienated from society. A cultural belief in the United States is that teenage girls should be shaped like models. This is very degrading considering the social positions that women have obtained over the years. Pecola is suffering from the trap of racial inequality. Since she does not have big, blue eyes and is black, she is dehumanized to being unimportant. Luckily these social concerns have improved over the years with the help of writers that highlight these situations. It all goes back to whether or not writers should critique society. If they hadn’t examined the social aspects confronted by Morrison, then black codes and the Ku Klux Klan may have still been around in full swing. History is slowly progressing in this sense of awareness, involvement, and action. The criticisms that are emphasized are kind of a warning to anyone that has considered changing themselves for social reasons. There have been plenty of times in which I have wished that I could be of a different creed just to fit in. But then I snap out of it because I think back to Hitler’s “ideal race” and how not anyone was meant to be the same as anyone else. Toni Morrison has it right when she mentions that we should take children’s perspectives into consideration and she reminds me of a quote by Garth Brooks when it comes down to races: “When there’s just one race and that’s man...
