Outward Appearance and Personal Identity

The Bluest Eye and Lipstick Jihad examine outward appearance from two different perspectives. The Bluest Eye is written from the perspective of race while Lipstick Jihad is written from the perspective of gender. The Bluest Eye examines outward appearance and the effect on the inward understanding of self and identity from the perspective of what others think of an individual and how those thoughts are internalized by the individual. The constant ridicule and criticism of how a person looks has catastrophic results in the Bluest Eye. Pecola, the object of the ridicule and criticism is terminally damaged. The perception of Pecola is described by a character named Geraldine on pages 91 and 92. Due to the length of Geraldine's perception, I will paraphrase it. Geraldine describes Pecola as wearing a dirty torn dress, plaits sticking out of head, hair matted where the plaits had come, muddy shoes and soiled socks. The effect of seeing someone like Pecola has a very negative impact on Geraldine. Geraldine explains that she has seen people like Pecola all her life and it disgusts her. Geraldine expresses this digust directly to Pecola who in turn internalizes Geraldines opinion of her. Pecola is described as being ugly and dirty by every character in the novel and she internalizes every negative opinion of her. By internalizing what others think of her appearance, Pecola has no self esteem and self worth. I can only imagine what it must be like to go through your whole life believing you are an outcast. One's outward appearance is a direct reflection of their self-esteem and self confidence. If a person believes they are ugly and worthless they likely will be ashamed of how they look.
The novel Lipstick Jihad examines outward appearance from a gender and political statement perspective. One the main topics of Lipstick Jihad is the wearing of the veil. The wearing of the veil has significant gender and political implications in Iran. The veil is so significant in fact "even secular women activists wore the veil when ouside the country, so the system's eyes abroad did not document their violation and use it as pretext to harass them upon their return." (pg. 169)
The decision to wear or not wear the veil is characterized as a point of uncertainty in the life of the lead character. The wearing of the veil is not congruent with Ms. Moaveni's attitudes toward gender and politics. While at times, clothing at times may signify a personal belief system, at other times it may represent a compromise between self and the system in which one lives. Such a compromise in all probality causes an individual to feel a great deal of pressure, unsatisfaction and uncertainty with one's lifestyle.
Unfortunately, an individual's outward appearance is what they usually are judged on. If the outward appearance of an individual is unpleasing or controversial, that individual may suffer adverse consequences. The consequences may be self inflicted as in Pecola's case or inflicted by others as in Ms. Moaveni's case.