The conflict of Pecola in “The Bluest Eye” is that she wants to be beautiful in a world that subjects beauty to outer features, namely blonde hair and blue eyes. She also shares a conflict with society, which causes her desire for “beauty”. Society sees her as a dirty, poor, ugly African American child, and they also treat her that way. Between boys teasing her in the schoolyard, being abused sexually and emotionally by her parents, and being thrown out of houses for reasons out of her control, she also shares conflicts with other people directly. Her three conflicts never get resumed, but she does find a personal cure for them.
My favorite scene in the book is when Pecola encounters bullies in the schoolyard, and Freida and Claudia arrive in time to begin defending Pecola. Their attempts fail, but the boys notice that a pretty girl in the school named Maureen jumps in and makes the boys leave. They stroll through the city and get ice cream, when Maureen begins asking Pecola about how she saw her father naked. When Pecola breaks down from Maureen’s undertones of mockery, Freida and Claudia step in and chase her away, yelling names at her. This is, to me, is a strong spot of unity in the story. That while Freida and Claudia feel bad for Pecola, they still stick up for her and make her feel wanted and welcome.
This scene ties in with the main conflict because as Maureen is being chased away, she is screaming about how Pecola is “ugly” repeatedly, which is Pecola’s main conflict. This is one of many instances that cause Pecola to “resolve” her resolution by visiting a former pastor given the name “Soaphead Church”. The pastor solves emotional conflicts within people such as mediating marriages, curing anxiety and so on. Pecola goes to him and wants blue eyes, so he, with the power of God, grants her blue eyes. He then goes on the write a letter to God saying how only she can see the blue eyes, and touches on the point that he has created a narcissistic god-complex for himself. She is pictured in the final chapter as mentally unstable, asking her conscience if she has the prettiest blue eyes of anyone in the world, convinced that she has blue eyes. This conscience could also be her unborn baby, but the voice remains ambigouous.
lmm466 