Q2

What is beauty? White skin, blue eyes, thin boy, and blonde hair.  Pecola is an African-American girl (ages 10-13) and  she is from a lower class family. Pecola hates herself for being  black and she believes that having white skin and blue eyes like Shirley Temple and Mary Jane can make her look beautiful. Everyone called her ugly, including her parents, friends, classmates, teachers and the society. First example, One day “A group of boys was circling and holding at bay a victim, Pecola Breedlove… Black e mo. Black e mo” “Pecola edged around the circle crying”.  Second example, Mr. Yacobowski’s candy store looks down on Pecola because she is black and he didn’t want to touch her palm to get the 3 pennies. Because of the rejection, it causes Pecola to feel isolated and lonely. How do these elements contribute to our understanding of the text’s themes?  Many people are not satisfied with their looks, colors, and appearances, like Pecola. She thinks being white is beautiful? Nowadays, Many people do cosmetic surgery to look younger, especially teens “203,308 teens under 18 had cosmetic procedures in 2009” ( (American Society of Aesthetic PlasticSurgeryy 2009-2010). Therefore, why beauty so important to society?