MM4.

2 Testing my Literary Critical Paper Power

I cannot call myself as an avid reader but I have read quiet a few literary masterpieces from
different prolific literary writers, and all of these pieces were really ahead of its time because of
their complexity and uniqueness comparing to one another, all were perfect down to the minute
details. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye which is one of the many pieces that I have began to
appreciate over time for the reason that it hits the harsh reality highlighting the dark side of
humanity. The story revolves around the main protagonist, Pecola Breedlove, who is wishing to
have blue eyes to make herself beautiful to the people around her, rejecting her own sense of
identity and unique features, calling herself as an ugly girl because she lacks something that she
think would make her beautiful.
Tracing the theme would be perfect for this kind of literary piece as it speak different volumes to
what is currently going on in our society nowadays. The theme of the story explores the
devastating impact of the society to the life of an individual, and consequences of racism, beauty
standards, family problem, obsession, and self-hatred. The story was able to pinpoint how society
functions could influence the lives of the people. It encapsulates the sad and terrible life of a
young black girl who is pressured by the society’s norms and standards. The young girl was
forced to become something that is physically and mentally impossible to become. The society
was normalizing prejudice and discrimination towards the Black community and it have negative
consequences to the lives of the affected. Self-hatred, mental health problems, emotional and
psychological trauma, and rejection of own sense of identity were some of the consequences that
a Black individual would be suffering from the hands of a racist community. Family problems
were also highlighted in the story through the abuses of the parents towards Pecola, creating
emotional and physiological trauma to the child. They have a crucial role on the life of a young
individual, ensuring that a child would grow and develop into a morally and healthy individual.
Obsession could also lead people to a path of downfall. Too much obsession will drive any
individual insane by being consumed by his/her own delusions and fantasies. It would ruin the
mental state of an individual to escaping the truth that he/she is currently in which is the reality
in a way of making make-believe scenarios and situations to achieve fake satisfaction and
happiness in life. The message of the story is to enlighten us, the readers, about the reality human
beings being destructive towards one another. Humanity itself is all responsible to their own path
of destruction. The story makes us realize that a human should have compassion, to put our feet
to the shoes of our fellow human being, and be empathetic and sympathetic towards them
because they are also humans just like the rest of us.

Reference:
The Bluest Eye: Full Book Summary | SparkNotes. (n.d.). SparkNotes.
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bluesteye/summary/