Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye depicts a young colored girl, Pecola, who believes that she is not considered beautiful in other’s perspective. In the chapter about Autumn Pecola visits a candy store where she feels “shame” for having sweaty palms. She then leaves and comes across some dandelions that were growing out of the sidewalk cracks. Pecola refers to the dandelions as being “ugly” because they are weeds. Weeds are considered to be valueless and insignificant to the world. They are worthless in the eyes of people. Pecola felt anger as she went on. The “ugliness” of the weeds reminded Pecola of how she felt that she was ugly and worthless.

Pecola was told throughout the book that she was ugly by her mother. Neighbors and even in school she was told that she was ugly. Growing up she paired being ugly to the color of her eyes, skin and hair. She thought that having the bluest eyes  would make her the most beautiful girl  however like the dandelions Pecola was not considered one of a kind. She was not extraordinary nor was she a sight to gaze at. She was the sort of girl that people would view as low class and irrelevant. Just like dandelions were no flowers, Pecola was no flower.

“They are ugly. They are weeds.”(pg. 50)   These were the words Morrison incorporated into the text where Pecola is confronted with the dandelions. Her play on words gives us that sense of meaning without actually having to say what is. With just these two lines, we can feel the pain that Pecola endures about her beauty. In this way she isn’t talking about the dandelions, she is talking about herself and the shame she feels. As we go on in the same text, she feels anger and that anger gives her an idea of self-worth which the dandelions didn’t do for her.