Summary

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In the novel The Bluest Eye, the most significant example of a person having low self-esteem is Pecola. In The Bluest Eye, the reader learns that Pecola was raped and impregnated by her father in the family kitchen. Toni Morrison describes Cholly’s thoughts at the time of the rape as being excited. The narrator, Claudia, comments, “...the silence of her stunned throat was better than Pauline’s easy laughter had been” (Morrison 162). Pecola’s silence is an example of her being powerless and a contributing factor to her low self-esteem. Pecola feels that her future is hopeless and she feels betrayed by the rape at the hands of her father. This is not how a father is supposed to treat his daughter. A father should talk to his daughter, give her advice, and make her feel that she is worth something. Pecola feels alone and powerless and that she can not trust anyone.