An Analysis Of Pecola’s Self-alienation In The Bluest Eye In Light Of Gaze Theory

Toni Morrison(1931-) is a famous African-American woman writer. In 1993, Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature. She is the first black woman writer who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. This marked the attention of the world paid to the black American woman writer. She has created ten novels up to now. The Bluest Eye is her first novel. Since the novel was published in 1970, it has attracted many readers and literary critics. Critics have adopted different ways to criticize the novel, such as feminism, psychoanalysis and post-colonialism. The novel depicts the miserable experience of the protagonist—Pecola from the age of eleven to twelve. By reading the text in detail, it is apparent that Pecola’s tragedy is connected closely with her self-alienation. Therefore, the thesis tries to interpret Pecola’s self-alienation and the reasons for her self-alienation in light of Sartre’s gaze theory.The famous French philosopher Sartre discovered that under the gaze of others, the gazed will consciously make all kinds of gestures to shape an image that meets others’ expectation. That is to say, they internalize the values of others against their own will and this results in self-alienation and self-loss. In the novel, the protagonist—Pecola is a black girl. Pecola confronts the pressures from all aspects in life just because she is black. The environment of Pecola’s life is full of white culture. She is influenced by the white culture, and gradually accepts and internalizes the white values, especially the white aesthetics. At the same time, Pecola bears a visual pressure from the white, the black and the brown people. Their gaze makes Pecola feel ashamed, aggrieved and painful. In order to make others accept and love her, Pecola yearns for a pair of blue eyes. Pecola believes that she will be loved like white girls by others if she has the same blue eyes as they do. Under the gaze of the white, the black and the brown people, in order to please them, Pecola tries to make a lot of changes and finally she loses herself. The thesis focuses on analyzing Pecola’s self-alienation under the gaze of others and the reasons for her self-alienation.The thesis is divided into six parts. The first part is a brief introduction. It contains the general information of the writer Toni Morrison, the summary of The Bluest Eye, the overseas and domestic researches on the novel and the significance of the thesis.Chapter One briefly introduces the origin and development of gaze theory and interprets Sartre’s gaze theory applied in the thesis. Sartre believes that people always feel the pressures from the outside world and “the gaze from others” is one of the pressures that lead to self-betrayal. The gazers are endowed with the power of “gaze” and establish their own subjectivity by “gaze”. The gazed become the objects of “gaze”, realize the pressure of the gazers’ power and alienate themselves by internalizing the gazers’ values. Sartre’s gaze theory can well account for Pecola’s thought and behavior in The Bluest Eye.Chapter Two analyzes how Pecola is gazed by the white, the black and the brown people. In their eyes, Pecola is ugly. They gaze her in the strange eyes. The black and brown people internalize the white people’s values and gaze Pecola who is black like them in the white people’s eyes.Chapter Three analyzes Pecola’s self-alienation under the gaze of others. In order to cater to and please others, Pecola gradually internalizes others’ values. In order to be accepted and loved by others, Pecola wants to change herself and longs for a pair of blue eyes. However, she is a black girl. Thus, she alienates herself and loses herself. At last, she has her own blue eyes, but only in her illusion. Pecola finally wanders outside the town and keeps away from others.Chapter Four focuses on the reasons for Pecola’s self-alienation. Pecola is alienated because of the impact of the white culture, the absence of love and the vulnerability of herself and all these lead to her tragedy. The vulnerability because of her young age, her indifferent parents, the irresponsible grown-ups and the society that strengthens despair by using the language, the laws and regulations and the images, all together make Pecola step on the road to ruin.The last part summarizes the arguments discussed in the previous chapters. It comes to the conclusion that Pecola alienates herself by internalizing others’ gaze and values in order to cater to and please others. Therefore, her self-alienation makes her lose herself and finally leads to her tragedy. Pecola’s tragedy shows an important revelation: black females must keep their own culture and tradition in order to retrieve their own dignity and independent self. The black and the white, and the female and the male must move from mutual repulsion towards fusion and realize real mutualism under the condition of admitting their respective traditions and differences.