In the 1940s, lighter skin was a better look. If you were a dark, black girl, you were seen as dirty and inferior. Since Pecola was dark skinned with woolly hair, she was openly accepted. To be beautiful you need "blue eyes". Pecola's struggle with being an “ugly” black girl growing up among white people was hard on her. She believed she was ugly because she was bullied and tormented. Pecola is a fragile and delicate child at the beginning of the novel, and by the middle of the book she is almost completely worn out by pain and shame. Pecola is a symbol of the black community's self-hatred and belief in their own ugliness. Others in the community, such as his mother, father, and Geraldine, manifest their self-hatred by expressing hatred towards