At first, Maureen defends Pecola from the schoolyard bullies, but later Maureen insults Pecola, Claudia and Frieda (“I am cute! And you ugly! Black and ugly…”). What did you think of this scene? How did this interaction affect each of the girls?

At first, Maureen defends Pecola from the schoolyard bullies, but later Maureen insults Pecola, Claudia and Frieda (“I am cute! And you ugly! Black and ugly…”). What did you think of this scene? How did this interaction affect each of the girls?

Claudia and Frieda were not as affected by this encounter as Pecola was. The thing that struck me most about this scene was the fact that Claudia understood that it was not Maureen who was the enemy: “The Thing to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us.” That THING was what society dictated and which everyone in the community believed. She said it came from parents, aunts, teachers and the world in general. Morrison gives the reader perspective, opens a window to the community in which the characters lived.

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Racism and colorism operate even among children. Maureen is light-skinned, wealthy and accepted by society while others are not. She enjoys a sense of power and privilege. She becomes defensive and relies on the beauty hierarchy. Pecola is wounded by Maureen’s behavior. It isolates her. Claudia becomes enraged and frustrated. Frieda resents Maureen’s superiority complex. Anger against Maureen is justified yet reveals the divisions among Black girls who should be allies.

Early school age children can be oblivious to race. They recognize skin color differences but it’s not a focus. As children mature, race becomes more of an issue because someone makes it so or because of upbringing. But in this book, skin color mattered. Not just the differences between blacks and whites, but the difference between blacks and their own skin color. Light skin seemed to be a higher social class. We have many instances in history where light-skinned people often could pass as being white. Oh, Maureen definitely felt she was above Percola, Claudia and Frieda because of her skin color. Percola’s search for “blue-eyes” and beauty was annoying because Maureen thought her light-skin was beauty. It was a great scene to point out that instead of these girls banding together to fight for their social class, for each other, Maureen chose the bully route and hurt her friends feelings.