The Bluest Eye is a masterpiece published in 1970 by the famous American writer Toni Morrison, which has received widespread attention and acclaim. The novel is based on a tragic story of a black girl, Pecola physically and mentally cruelly crushed under the heat of white aesthetic standards, and it is famous for its outstanding feminist vision. Through the concept of intersectionality in feminist theory proposed by Kimberle Crenshaw, this study analyses the research results on feminism and The Bluest Eye at home and abroad. As an important tool for critiquing sexism and revealing social inequality, feminist theory can provide strong support for in-depth analyses of the causes of Pecola’s tragedy. Through this intersectional theoretical framework, this paper reveals how patriarchal society oppresses women, especially black women, through distorted standards of beauty, gender roles, and family functioning, forcing them to give up their self-identity and pursue unattainable white standards of beauty, thus leading to the tragedy. Through these analyses, this paper reveals that Pecola’s tragedy stems from the interaction between the individual and the social structure, embodying the deep-seated contradictions between gender, race, and social class. The aim of this paper is to explore the causes of Pecola’s tragedy in The Bluest Eye by employing documentary and textual analysis methods. In terms of internal factors, Pecola’s identity fragmentation under intersectional oppression and the internalization of white aesthetic standards are explored; while external factors cover the impact of domestic violence (e.g. the violence of her father, Cholly, and the indifference of her mother, Pauline) as well as the social structural oppression (including the intersection of gender and racial discrimination) on her fate. By analyzing these causes in detail, this paper not only shows the tragedy of Pecola’s personal fate but also reveals the injustice and prejudice of the entire social structure. Finally, this study digs deeper into the feminist ideology embodied in The Bluest Eye, especially by analyzing the theory of intersectionality from a perspective of feminism, and calls on all sectors of society to face up to and commit to the elimination of racial and gender discrimination, and to work together to promote the construction of a more just and inclusive social environment.
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Share and Cite
Shi, S. (2026) The Causes of Pecola’s Tragedy in The Bluest Eye from the Perspective of Feminism. Journal of Social Development and History, 2(1), 21-27.