The Bluest Eye - Pecola's Mother is to Blame by Toni Morrison A black baby is born and twelve years later that same baby asks, "How do you convince someone to love?" You?" The answer isn't found in Mrs. MacTeer's songs or in the Maginot Line's description of eating fish together, and Claudia doesn't know either because that question had never crossed her mind. If Claudia had thought about it, she could have explained to Pecola who even though she didn't know exactly how to make someone love her, somehow she knew she was loved that love was expressed on those cold autumn nights when Claudia was sick and loving hands gently touched her forehead and readjusted her face. quilt. Those were the same loving hands that told Claudia that they didn't want her to die, and those were the loving hands of her mother, Mrs. MacTeer. Unfortunately, Pecola had no loving hands to comfort her. In America, in the 1940s , white supremacy reigned and the values ​​of the white dominant group were internalized by the black community in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison These images were reinforced in children's literature, on billboards and even on giant movie screens. Although the effects of this propaganda rippled throughout the black community, the most devastating consequences were inflicted by Pauline Williams. Perhaps it was because she has always been a dreamer and had to fantasize to escape the daily routine that the big screen managed to fascinate her. Once she completed her education and was indoctrinated into the standards of the medium, she would never be able to look at the world the same way again. Everything was now assigned a category; there was good and evil, black and white, beauty and ugliness, a...... middle of paper......, she became Mrs. Breedlove in name only. He did not generate love; instead it created shame, guilt and ugliness. While it is true that Cholly's behavior was ugly, and he was dangerously free to satiate his appetite, I believe it was Pauline who forced the family to wear their ugliness. Pauline cultivated her daughter Pecola with ridicule and shame, and so she matured and felt unworthy. Pauline, more than anyone, knew Cholly's character, yet she refused to believe it and protect her son from his lustful advances. As a result, Pecola turned to the Soaphead Church for protection, and her path led to madness. However, Soaphead Church was only her guide, Pecola's road to madness had already been paved the day of her birth, by her mother! Works Cited: Morrison, Toni. The bluest eye. Next by Toni Morrison. New York: Penguin, 1994.