Conformity In Pecola Breedlove's The Bluest Eye
They way one views themselves is often very dependent on comparison. The need to erase comparison, to be as close as possible to another so flaws are imperceptible from one to the next, drives conformity. These efforts toward conformity create a schism between who a person is in reality and what they try to be, often leading that person to question whether they feel justified in their conformity. Ultimately though, guilt coming from a questioning of conformity is easier to live with than the admittance of unchangeable insecurities. In The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove shows that when stripped of any ability to achieve outward conformity, the pointlessness of self-hatred forcibly endured will result in extreme methods of escape, in her case,
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Other black characters in the novel, such as Pecola’s mother Pauline, show cruelty towards Pecola in an effort to keep her life more miserable than theirs. Controlled by the need to conform to whiteness, not just in beauty but in all aspects of life, other characters see Pecola as an extension of their self-hatred. Because they have someone to compare themselves favorably to, their inward questioning, the fear they have that they will never be able to conform to white standards that govern perceived fulfilment, is choked out in indulgence to false conformity. They believe that it is not themselves they hate, but the parts of themselves that they see in Pecola, so, through hating Pecola, they can separate that version of themselves and move closer to an ideal. Yet, if this is the only tool they have to ameliorate their self-perception, someone must always occupy this place in society, the most hated, dismal person, and since that person will always exist, they will always serve as a reminder to that society of the things they possess that are undesirable. Therefore, self-hatred as a byproduct of conformity is both unfounded in an individual but inescapable to all members of that society so
Other black characters in the novel, such as Pecola’s mother Pauline, show cruelty towards Pecola in an effort to keep her life more miserable than theirs. Controlled by the need to conform to whiteness, not just in beauty but in all aspects of life, other characters see Pecola as an extension of their self-hatred. Because they have someone to compare themselves favorably to, their inward questioning, the fear they have that they will never be able to conform to white standards that govern perceived fulfilment, is choked out in indulgence to false conformity. They believe that it is not themselves they hate, but the parts of themselves that they see in Pecola, so, through hating Pecola, they can separate that version of themselves and move closer to an ideal. Yet, if this is the only tool they have to ameliorate their self-perception, someone must always occupy this place in society, the most hated, dismal person, and since that person will always exist, they will always serve as a reminder to that society of the things they possess that are undesirable. Therefore, self-hatred as a byproduct of conformity is both unfounded in an individual but inescapable to all members of that society so