Why do we lie?

       Why do we feel the need to make things up? To make ourselves seem like people we are not? To tell 'little white lies'? To be honest I don't believe there's a simple answer to this question. As hard as it is to admit, most of us are probably almost as bad as Jordan Baker when it comes to telling the truth. On page 57, Nick tells about a time that Jordan lied. He writes, "When we were on a house-party together up in Warwick, she left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and then lied about it." This is one of the multiple examples Nick gives that support his claim that Jordan is a liar. In this case, she is lying about something that isn't even a big deal, but rather a simple mistake. However, for some reason she feels the need to lie about it. This happens still today. Although everyone knows that it is wrong to lie, many do it anyway. Some people don't even realize that they are lying, they are simply "incurably dishonest," (Fitzgerald 58). However, most people avoid telling exaggerated lies that heavily impact the lives of others. Instead, people tend to 'bend' the truth to make it seem as if everything is going the way they want it to. People tend to tell stories that enhance the image that others have of them, often by changing a couple minor details. This accusation isn't to say that everyone is "incurably dishonest," (Fitzgerald 58) or even that everyone has ever lied. This is just to say that often times people find it easier to tell a small lie, rather than suffer the embarrassment that may accompany the truth. But as to why we feel the need to do this, there is no exact answer. The best answer I could come up with is that we do it to protect ourselves. We 'bend' the truth to ensure that our images and reputations aren't damaged as a result of something minor. 

Is Society Truly Against Rape?

     Rape is one of the most difficult and uncomfortable topics to talk about. Unfortunately, rape is a key event in the novel The Bluest Eye. Pecola is raped twice by her father, which causes her to have a mental breakdown. But when Pecola tells her mother what happened, she doesn't care. Morrison wrote, "So that's why you didn't tell her about the second time? She wouldn't have believed me then either," (200). This quote is taken from a conversation that Pecola is having with herself; she is clearly traumatized by what happened to her. And the depressing fact is that this same thing happens still today. Millions of people are raped each day-and most fail to report the assault. You might wonder why they don't report it, why they don't try to get justice for themselves. The answer is simply the same as the one Pecola gave to herself- "[they] wouldn't have believed me then either," (200). In fact, 54% of rapes are never even reported (Huffington Post). And why would you when rape victims are constantly being blamed for being assaulted? Or being judged because of something they never wanted to happen? In The Bluest Eye, this is exactly what happens. The others in the town look down upon Pecola because of something that was out of her control. Today, even if you managed to get your story heard, there's no guarantee the investigation would ever be completed. In 2009, 11,000 untested rape kits were found in evidence boxes in Detroit, (mlive.com). These victims never even got a chance for justice. Since then, a law has been passed that requires these tests to be tested within two weeks of a victim coming forward, (mlive). As a society it is clear that we are making progress, but we have so much more to do before we can ever say-truthfully- that we, as a society, are wholeheartedly against rape. There is a clear need for quicker and more substantial changes in the society we live in today. 

Beautiful Irony

        In 2014 2.8 million teens had one or more major episodes of depression (Teenhelp.com). Sorry to start off this post with such a sad fact, but depression is one illness that doesn't get nearly enough attention. Depression is all too common among teens and adults. In fact it's the most common mental illness in the United States (Teenhelp.com). And why is that? The answer is simple and right in front of everyone-technology. Or to be more specific, the beauty standards that technology allows people to share each day. Depression is an issue that was relevant in the 1900's and still is today. Pecola struggled with hating herself because of how she looked, much like teens do today. It's impossible to go on Facebook and not see a beautiful model staring back at you- practically judging you as you sit on your phone instead of working out like you promised yourself you would. Or maybe you prefer a magazine because paper can't judge you, or can it? You grab a copy of the latest Cosmopolitan and the first thing you see is an article for working out-everyone's tweeting about it. It's basically telling you, "Don't be the only lazy one, learn to love your body-all you have to do is change it."

         

     

How are you supposed to learn to love yourself when everything around you says you aren't good enough? One song by Pink, Don't Let Me Get Me, explains this feeling  perfectly, "LA told me, you'll be a pop star, all you have to change is everything you are. Tired of being compared to damn Britney Spears, She's so pretty, that just ain't me." Society tells you to love who you are, but creates standards of beauty that are so unreasonable even a "pop star" can't achieve them. Depression is caused by any number of things, but the most relevant is the feeling of being unworthy. The feeling of looking in the mirror and just hating what you see. And I can almost guarantee that everyone has had that feeling at least once before. But why? Why do we look in the mirror and judge ourselves so harshly? Because society says that if you don't fit specific and ridiculous standards- you can't be pretty. So when we look in the mirror, all we see is ugliness. The irony of society is beautiful. "Love your body- The 15-min workout everyone's tweeting about." Society wonders why everyone is depressed, maybe if it looked in the mirror it would understand.

"Don't Let Me Get Me" by Pink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_t9AA3Z4PE

Pretty vs. Beautiful

                In writing this blog post I really wanted to dig deeper into the topic that Morrison writes about in The Bluest Eye: beauty. Ever since I was little I heard the words pretty and beautiful used, almost interchangeably, to describe different women. While I do understand that sometimes these words are used to describe men, more often than not they are directed towards women. When I was a little girl my mom would always tell me I was, "beautiful inside and out." As a kid I never really understood what this meant, to be honest I thought she was just telling me I was pretty.  So when I sat down to write this post I decided I wanted to figure out just what these words meant, naturally I googled it. The first result to show up was: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKTZAsDVkzs . After watching this video, I realized that beautiful and pretty are not interchangeable. I found that to be pretty most nearly means to look like the beauty standards set forth by society. However, one of the women in the video said: "[Beauty] is something that comes from the inside out, it's a combination of who I am and what I bring to the table." This really made me consider what I believed to be the definition of beauty. The next video I found was one in which blind people talked about the meaning of beauty to them (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlcx_q8u_YI). This video truly made me think of things from a different point of view. I started to think, every girl in school doesn't like the same guy and vice versa. So that means that "beauty [truly] is in the eye of the beholder." In the video one of the men said that he believed beauty to be experiences. To me this video was very powerful because it really illuminated the idea that beauty is not just looks. After watching these videos I understand that although we live in a society where being pretty is practically essential, when it really comes down to it beauty is what's most important. Being pretty may make you the 'it girl' in high school, but without a kind heart the 'real' world will be a cold, unforgiving place.

Some music videos I found relevant to this topic:

Sierra by Maddie and Tae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imgXC-rD52g

This song explores the fact that being pretty can only get you so far in life.

Pretty Girl Rock by Keri Hilson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtXOVKNazYU

This video really idealizes the meaning of pretty-"no question that this girl's a ten."