1. Unit 3: Social Standards Does Beauty Equal Happiness ?
The Bluest Eye
Unit 3: Social Standards
Does Beauty Equal Happiness ?

2. Anticipation Guide
American society, in general, places more value on physical beauty than on any other aspect of a particular person.
agree___ disagree___
There is more than one way to be a beautiful person.
The definition of beauty has changed in the past 100 years.
In order for a person to be beautiful, s/he must be happy with her/himself as a person.

3. “Without Commercials” Alice Walker
Listen, stop tanning yourself and talking about fishbelly white. The color white is not bad at all. There are white mornings that bring us days. Or, if you must, tan only because it makes you happy to be brown, to be able to see for a summer the whole world's darker face reflected in your own Stop unfolding your eyes. Your eyes are beautiful. Sometimes seeing you in the street the fold zany and unexpected I want to kiss them and usually it is only old gorgeous black people's eyes I want to kiss.   Stop trimming your nose. When you diminish your nose your songs become little tinny, muted and snub. Better you should have a nose impertinent as a flower, sensitive as a root; wise, elegant, serious and deep. A nose that sniffs the essence of Earth. And knows the message of every leaf Stop bleaching your skin and talking about so much black is not beautiful The color black is not bad at all. There are black nights that rock us in dreams. Or, if you must, bleach only because it pleases you to be brown, to be able to see for as long as you can bear it the whole world's lighter face reflected in your own.   As for me, I have learned to worship the sun again. To affirm the adventures of hair. For we are all splendid descendants of Wilderness, Eden: needing only to see each other without commercials to believe. Copied skillfully as Adam. Original as Eve.

4. “Without Commercials” Alice Walker
Who are the ethnic groups that Walker names?
Why do you think Walker titled her poem “Without Commercials”?

5. American Media Images: Beauty of the Past
Alice Walker's poem "Without Commercials" challenges the idea in many ads that being beautiful means having a flawless complexion, "perfect" hair, or a slender body. Listen to the following old-time radio commercial from 1930s and 1040s to hear these perceptions .
Welch Grape Juice Radio Commercial (1933)
Camay Mild-Soap Radio Commercial (1943)
How are these commercials like the commercials today? How are they different? Discuss your views with a partner.

6. American Media Images: Beauty of the Present
Alice Walker's poem "Without Commercials" challenges the idea in many ads that being beautiful means having a flawless complexion, "perfect" hair, or a slender body. Look at the following media and compare Walker’s plea to a life “without commercials” to the images portrayed in these ads .
Covergirl Commerical (2009)
Star Magazine
Based on the above examples (yes there are only two examples), would you add anything to the previous discussion with your partner? Discuss your views with the same partner.

7. American Media Images: Beauty of the Future
The following commercial advertisement seems to echo some of Walker’s sentiments in “Without Commercials”.
Evolution - A Dove Film Video
What is your reaction Dove’s advertisement campaign strategy?
Dove Evolution Campaign

8. Discussion Question
Is our need to change drastically the way we look grounded in pleasing ourselves (which Walker considers acceptable) or is it a result of succumbing to cultural and societal influences, our flight away from who we are?
Do characters in The Bluest Eye succumb to cultural and societal influences to “fly away” from who they are? Who, why, and how?