27)#102-9. You're Beautiful Just Because..

Having read the first part of the Bluest Eye, I was appalled to see how much self-hatred the characters had for themselves. The character that appalled me the most was Pecola actually. Pecola lives like a shadow, constantly reminded of ugliness. She is devoid of love. Indeed, she poses the question, "how do you get someone to love you?" That is how desperate she is. The only hope she has is having blue eyes, eyes that will redeem her in others' minds.. Eyes that will get her noticed and make her beautiful. Finally, those eyes will make people love her..


The real dilemma I will address here is not how an 11 year old girl came to such a conclusion, but WHO decides what is 'beautiful' and what is 'ugly.' Physical appearance that we are so obsessed with, why does it have to define attractiveness? I might sound like an old lady for saying this, but what happened to "having a heart of gold"? Traits like modesty, consideracy, conscienciousness...what happened to them?

To be honest, there are days that I question these things myself, but luckily I have the most amazing people, first and foremost my parents, in my life to remind me when I get frustrated that I do not need somebody else's approval to be this-or-that. They'll love me the way I am-not because I confirm some sort of a societal criteria. So when my friend asks me if she looks beautiful, I'll say, "Yes, because you look like yourself.."
'Beauty 6' by Leah Makin Photography under CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic