The Bluest Eye Conflict

Pecola’s inner conflict was solved when she went to see Soaphead Church to have her eye color changed.  He said if she took the meat he was giving to her, gave it to Bob, the dog, and he acted weird upon eating it then she would receive her blue eyes.  Sure enough, after giving Bob the meat, he wondered off into the yard coughing the cough of a sick man, stumbling over nothing, and eventually dying.  This off reaction meant Pecola was going to receive her blue eyes that she had asked for.  The catch, however, was that nobody could see the blueness of Pecola’s eyes except for Pecola herself.  When she looked in the mirror, she believed that she truly had the bluest of the blue eyes, while everyone else still saw her as ugly Pecola Breedlove.  This causes Pecola to go mad and get kicked out of school.

 

I would say the climax would be when Pecola finally decided to ask Soaphead Church for her blue eyes.  This event causes the most dramatic change in the main character.  She had convinced herself that she had the bluest eyes, and that was all that mattered to her.  She felt beautiful and everything else didn’t matter one bit.  She was, in her own mind, the most beautiful thing ever.  She had changed so much that she began to be secluded from all of her friends that were present in the beginning of the book.

Conflict

Pecola, the main character in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, is facing a conflict in her life.  Of the five types of conflict, Pecola is expressing characteristics of a few.  Hers mainly seems to be man, or girl, vs. self; however her internal conflict is caused by the opinions of society.  She is having an inner struggle about her appearance, which is ultimately driven by the opinions of the members of society at the time.  Her struggle with appearance is caused by the common belief that a person is ugly unless he or she has blond hair, blue eyes, and light skin. “The lighter the prettier.”  Society has caused her to believe that she is not beautiful, which no young girl or boy should be thinking.  Starting at a young age a struggle with society, like the one presented in this book, is what gives kids a complex all through their lives.  If you believe you are ugly starting at such a young age, you will convince that you really are, when in most cases it is the exact opposite.  Nobody is ugly; we just aren’t beautiful in the same ways.  Someone with the biggest, deepest blue eyes, seemingly never-ending, that could captivate you for hours, is just as beautiful as the person with the darkest eyes anyone has ever seen.  The dark, complex eyes that seem to hide so much add just a touch of mystery to the beautiful person who possesses them.  Pecola is so young; however, she does not realize that a stereotype does not have to be met to possess traits of beauty.  Her struggle with society is the cause of the struggle with herself.  If every stereotype of beauty was met, everyone in the world would seem as if they came from a dough and were all cut with the same cookie cutter.  Nobody would possess true beauty.  If Pecola had blond hair, bright blue eyes, and light skin she would not be the Pecola that was born and raised into the Breedlove family.  She would be the Pecola that was cut out of dough.  The puppet made to please the opinions of others.  The girl who would not be teaching others around her life lessons. Possessing the traits that you desire would change fate, which should not be tampered with.  Everything happens for a reason.  Said reason may not make sense at the time, but in the end it will all play out.

Nature in Meditation

During today’s meditation session, we were asked to find a meadow.  It took a few minutes of calming my mind before I finally came to a place that was full of white and yellow flowers, seemingly untouched.  The luscious green grass was slightly cold and dewy, as a hint of early morning.  Birds were singing, crickets still chirping, and flowers swaying.  Overall it was a soothing place, worthy of a nice picnic or even a nap.  As I was walking toward the tree line, I began to notice a path through the woods that was never-ending, or so it seemed.  Walking along the path, I noticed the small things, like the toadstools growing at the base of the trees.  Even vines growing upward along the trunks of the mile-high trees.  There were tiny green frogs with the brightest orange eyes, hiding from the world in the greenery, however they were not too successful.  With eyes the color of the hottest fire imaginable, there was no chance of missing them.  Eventually as the path led on, the trees got thinner and more sparse; with the exception of one; a great willow tree that was inviting me to sit at its base and take a rest.  Take a moment to myself just to think and observe.  I sat and thought about the recent events of my life; good and bad.  It gave me a sense of serenity and peace.  It seemed as if all things were alright.  No need for stress, no matter the amount of chaos and uneasiness occurring at the time.  It portrayed the feeling that everything that happens is teaching me a lesson, and in the near future everything would come together perfectly, the way I had always intended it to be, even before the turn in events.

In-Class Meditation

During that short ten minutes of meditation, everything was easy, calm, and simple.  Especially on a rainy, gloomy day like today, when everything would seem better if I had the chance to stay in bed and relax all morning; not to mention my lack of sleep last night.  Meditating gave me a very short moment of “me” time, to think of absolutely nothing, and just breathe.  Although it wasn’t a short nap, it was a good substitute.  It was an awake nap, if that is even possible.  If an awake nap is being totally alert, yet not having a thought cross your mind, then that is definitely what that ten minutes of meditation was.  An awake nap, where I was free to think of anything and everything I wanted to, yet making the choice to think of nothing during this busy time in my life.  When it seems as if there are not enough hours in the day, those ten short minutes were just enough to realize that things will soon settle into a normal routine, where sleep will be a regular occurrence in my life, not something that only happens when I have the time.

Meditation Is…

Meditation is yoga, reading the morning paper, having a cup of coffee, exercising, listening to music, praying, laying in bed.  Meditation is a word of many meanings; each different for every person you meet. It is relaxation, the putting aside of the daily grind for a few moments of “you” time.  It can happen at any time of day, in any place perfect for you.  The definition of meditation can be interpreted a thousand different ways; each different, yet seemingly similar. Meditation is an important part of the daily life of many people, and is even a practice of many religions.

When I Think of Meditation…

When I think of meditation, I think of a sense of peace and comfort; not only of the physical world, the mental world.  The surroundings are calm and mellow, almost as if there is not a worry in the world.  Anything is possible in the state of meditation.  If you can think of it you can achieve it.  During this calm, and serene time new ideas are formed, goals are set, and anything can happen.  Meditation can take place as you lay in bed trying to fall asleep.  The total stillness of your body and the erasing of the day past can lead to a total sense of meditation.  It can also come while exercising.  Not only while doing yoga, but any exercise.  The release of endorphins through your brain and muscles and the relief of stress as you use every muscle in your body can also be a time that is considered meditation.  Not every person has the same routine for meditation either.  It does not only happen during exercise or sleep.  One person may meditate while drinking their coffee and reading the daily newspaper.  It is a time where you and your thoughts are the only things present.  Everything else around you is a nuisance, or seemingly unimportant at that very moment during your meditation.

Free Write – The Bluset Eye

The main conflict caught my attention in the beginning of the book, which was the struggle with beauty.  Pecola wants nothing more than to be “beautiful.”  It is for that reason that she prays each day to have blond hair and blue eyes, to fit into the American society.  She thought that everyone loved Shirley Temple so much that if she had a similar physical appearance, people would love her too.  In fact, in the book it is stated that she drinks milk from a glass that has Shirley Temple’s face on it in hopes to “drink in her beauty.”  This statement is seemingly absurd to the reader, however it seemed perfectly logical to Pecola.  Claudia, on the other hand, hates Shirley Temple.  When given a doll resembling her, the first thing Claudia did was rip the doll apart to find just what it was inside that made her “beautiful.”  Claudia soon comes to the conclusion that the amount of worship the blacks give to the white community is a form of self-hatred towards them.

Almost everything written in the book seems to have an underlying meaning about beauty.  Morrison talks about the ugliness of the surrounding town and things they see walking along the street.  She talks about abandonment and isolation of stores.  All of her descriptions of surroundings tie into the underlying emotions of the characters struggle with beauty.  This is her way of deepening the conflict within the characters of the book, and making their struggle present in all aspects of their life.  Their perception of their surroundings has a degrading effect on their emotions that leads them to believe that they are completely inferior to the white society around them.

Today’s Date

Today is Thursday, September 13, 2012.

What is Equality? – The Bluest Eye

Each person has their own opinion of what equality truly is. It is for that reason that people say that nobody is equal.  Equality can occur on many different levels; in social standing, education opportunities, belongings, or amount of what is received.  Equality is objective; no two perspectives are going to be the same when asked what multiple people perceive as equal.  Kids see equality as getting the same amount of candy as their siblings on Halloween, while people in the business world see equality as men and women having the ability to receive the same salary, benefits, and positions in the workplace.  Either way there is no true sense of equality.  If there were, no competition would be present, thus causing people to lose their drive and motivation to do better and achieve greater things.  In the Bluest Eye, the young girl that is the main character wants to be “beautiful” and achieve equality with the standard of “beauty.” Blond hair and blue eyes is what she prays for each day to reach equality, when in a sense that may not be beautiful; however in her opinion it is.  Changing her appearance to fit in is the sense of equality she hopes to achieve.  I, personally, don’t believe that changing her appearance would make her equal in any way, shape, or form. The only thing she will accomplish by obtaining this appearance is a personal feeling of equality.  Others may look at her and say she is far less beautiful than she was before, and possibly outcast her, leading to far more inequality.  In the work setting, there is always the topic of sexism.  Men make higher salaries and usually hold higher positions in the hierarchy of the business place.  If equality were to happen in the workplace where men and women always made the same salary, there would be no more competition and drive to become better, harder workers.  People would not earn what they have if everyone was automatically set as equal in every sense.  People would not learn.  I personally believe that if equality was standard, life would be boring.   There would be nothing exciting to live for.