“I want them blue” (174).
Pecola’s request to have blue eyes emphasizes her longing to be accepted and for change in her life. She knows that the world views blue eyes as cherished beauty and she is desperate for that kind of adoration. She is deprived of love and thinks that it is her fault, and therefore her responsibility to fix the problem. She rarely, if ever, sees an example of love that does not stem from beauty. She only knows that girls like Maureen Peal are loved not only by peers, but also by adults. She is craving attention and love from adults and she believes that blue eyes is the way to obtain that.
On a symbolic level, however, Pecola’s wish for blue eyes could mean that she is wanting to see different things rather than be more beautiful. All her life she has seen her parents fighting, the looks that other people give her, her own father raping her, and other events that a twelve-year-old girl is not emotionally able to process. New, more beautiful eyes, in this case, represent new and better experiences for Pecola.
What do you think Pecola is most trying to change when she asks for blue eyes?
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