The Magical Glasses

In The Bluest Eye, Morrison finally provides a back story to the life of Pecola’s mother, Pauline.  Previous to reading this back story, I just thought she was a horrible mother and could not fathom how she could raise her kids in such an unloving environment, but after reading the back story, my thoughts have completely changed and I realized that I judged Pauline, while I only knew a tiny sliver about her life.  Morrison writes, “I loved them and all, I guess, but maybe it was having no money, or maybe it was Cholly, but they sure worried the life out of me”(124) which really made me understand that Pauline didn’t want to be a bad mother and it wasn’t even her fault that she was.  Pauline just had a rough marriage and there were many factors that played into who she was, but in the long run, Pauline was trying her best.  That got me to thinking about how judging others is such a common occurrence in society.  I mean I hope I’m not the only one who has ever made a snap judgement about someone without even knowing the person, then later realizing how wrong I was.  Maybe you have seen someone who looks sad in one of your classes or you have seen someone who is mean to everyone.  Instead of just thinking “They could be happy if they tried.  It’s their fault!” or “Wow that guy is such a bad person!”, it would make so much more sense to realize that they have reasons for the way they act and then try to positively impact their life.  This YouTube video relates very well to the topic of judging others and is definitely very eye opening so I recommend that you watch it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfeXxkbgCVE  The video shows a man who is only worried about himself and blames everyone else for anything that is not going as planned in the day, but that is before he puts on magical glasses that allow him to see a part of every person.  In the end, the man changes how he sees everyone because he realizes that he isn’t the only one going through something, in specific something that is not on the exterior and can be seen.  Most of the readers of The Bluest Eye most likely saw Pauline in a different light, almost like putting on magical glasses, after they could see the reasons why she is who she is.