The Presence of Self-Hatred Essay Example for Free

The posture of Self-Hatred EssayRacial discrimination has always been one problem that is experienced on a global scale. Although Barrack Obama has won the presidential election in the United States of America, there ar gloss over debates concerning the United States and the issue about the blacks vs. the whites. History and belles-lettres are two important branches of k directledge that plunder attest to the racial discrimination that the blacks have always experienced. In circumstance, even the media has taken up the fact that even though black is beauty, white is even more beautifulthe mountains of bleaching and whitening products available in the market bed attest to that. Moreover, while Snow White is loved by many, Princess Jasmine (of Aladdin) is not scarce that famous compared to her blue-eyed counter parts. It has been ingrained in so many people, most especi everyy to that of the junior generation, that it is so bad to be black or rather, it is so ugly to be bl ack. Fairy tales rank us of the big, bad, black wolf. Hoodlums and villains in movies are most often the darker ones and those that have the fairer skins are hailed as the submarine or heroine of the movie.The characters present in the smart written by Toni Morrison are not exempted to this belief. Although the apologue provides many of the more domesticated problems that are somehow always present in the dramatic deeds of literature (like Fyodor Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment or Franks McCourts Angelas Ashes) and movies (Julia Roberts battered character in dormancy With The Enemy or Jennifer Lopezs role in Enough), the most apparent subject in the novel is the obvious contempt for the characters skin colors and their undeniable desire to change who they are and what they have.The novel features Pecola Breedlove, a young, naive, black girl who hates her color and herself for belonging to her dry wash. She believes herself as very ugly and assumes that having blue look giv e be the only thing that will make her beautiful and likable. The novel centers on Pecola and her relationship with her family as they face the demon in their lives and get lost in their own personal problems and issues. The novel starts with a fibber already telling the re effect of the novel and uses a flashback to recount the events in the part of the novels PrologueOur innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair. What is clear now is that of all of that hope, fear, lust, love, and grief, zero point remains but Pecola and the unyielding earth. Cholly Breedlove is dead our innocence too. The seeds shriveled and died her baby too. (Morrison 9-10) The narrator is none other than one of the MacTeer sisters, Claudia herself, who Pecola stays with (ordered by Court officials) after Pecolas father destroy down their house and leaves the Breedlove family homeless.Pecola, Claudia, and Frieda (another of the MacTeer daughters and Claudias sister) soon become fri ends, and the MacTeer sisters find that it is their duty to protect Pecola who seems to be bullied by everyone in their town. Because of the apparent treatment of the people in their neighborhood (with the exception of the MacTeer sisters), Pecola develops this belief that the only solution for people to love her and actually be pleased with her is if she acquires blue eyesIt had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sightsif those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different. Her teeth were good, and at least her nose was not big and immediately like some of those who were thought so cute. If she fashioned different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too. Maybe theyd say, Why, look at pretty-eyed Pecola.We mustnt do bad things in front of those pretty eyes. Each night, without fail, she prayed for blue eyes. Fervently, for a year she had prayed. Al though somewhat discouraged, she was not without hope. To have something as wonderful as that happen would take a long, long time. (Morrison 25-26) The novel turns for the flog as Pecola returns to her family, and each family member is revealed as having his or her own issues with who he or she is and coming to grips with his or her personal history.Cholly Breedlove is the man of the house and the father of Pecolahe is lazy, does not work, and is occupied with only two things get drunk and beating up his wife, Pauline. Chollys drinking can be explained with the fact that he suffered from an anterior humiliation caused by two white hunters who forced him to make love to his first girlfriend Darlene as the two hunters watched the scene. Later, he gets Pauline Williams (another girlfriend and the mother of Pecola) pregnant they marry and eventually become Mr. and Mrs. Breedlove.Soon, problems hold water as they find each other very disagreeable while the husband gets drunk and beat the wife, the wife lets the husband beat her because she feels like a martyr by letting him do so (Morrison 23). Through the philosophical theory of existentialism, the situation of the drunken husband and the battered, martyred wife can be explained by the fact that they feed on each others existence and role so that they can play out their own role. To put it simply, the husband exists to beat the wife, and the wife exists to get beaten.Without the others personal issues and problems, none of the intricate themes of the novel will be present and have meaning. Meanwhile, Pauline Breedlove works as a servant in a whites familys house and by doing so, creates an illusion or a fantasy that being close to them (proximity-wise) makes her beautiful. Pauline, like her daughter Pecola, believes in her sinfulness to be very appalling and horrifying. She runs away from reality and gets lost in the world of romantic picture shows.Of all the characters in the novel, it is Paulines and Pecol as evident low self-esteem that makes them unique (Morrison 22). denial is so strong in the novel that it borders on hating themselves so much that they believe in the monstrous (to point of being ridiculous) ideas that if something in them changes, then they can be beautiful, the world will love them, and their lives will be better. However, their notion of ugliness can be traced to the fact that they are black, and the world jeers at them and settle them as ugly because they are blackThe master had said, You are ugly people. They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement saw, in fact, support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance. Yes, they had said. You are right. And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it. (Morrison 21) The excerpt preceding(prenominal) proves that because the world considers them as ugly, then they believe themselves to be ugly. The Breedloves saw around them that belonging to such race is awful.This can be traced of course to the fact that when the novel was first published in 1970, the concept of racialism was still very much present. Unfortunately, hating ones own race and skin color is cataclysm itself since that would mean hating the entirety of ones beingto be appalled at ones actions or attitude is very different from hating ones self because of what or who he or she is. Nevertheless, one important passage can disregard or negate the argument of the assumption supra You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly you looked closely and could not find the source.Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a clothe of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question. (Morrison 22) Do the Breedloves hate themselves because they believe the world thinks they are ugly, or do they hate thems elves because they believe they are ugly, thus, the world believes so too? It can be likened to a rhetorical question of who came first, the chicken or the egg (and like all rhetorical questions, they are not authentically meant to be answered)?It is quite sad to think that the characters have decided that they are ugly for it means they are already determined to be ugly and no matter what other people would say and argue, they would never waver from that conclusion. As a result, because of their decision, they denied themselves of being themselves. The novel ends in much melancholic tragedy for all the charactersCholly rapes Pecola and gets her pregnant, but eventually, the baby dies and so does Cholly the MacTeer sisters lose their innocence Sammy (the brother of Pecola) runs away, and the marigolds refuse to grow in their community. more or less of all, however, Pecola thinks she has the bluest eyes, My eyes. My blue eyes. Let me look again. See how pretty they are. Yes. They ge t prettier each time I look at them. They are the prettiest Ive ever seen. (Morrison 79) It is such a tragedy for Pecola because for her to believe that she indeed has blue eyes is the realization that self-hatred has won.Work CitedMorrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York Penguin Groups, 1994.