In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove, who knows that everyone thinks she is ugly, wishes for one change that she thinks would transform her appearance: "[...] if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different. [...] Each night, without fail, she prayed for blue eyes." This desire for miraculous transformation brought about by prayer reappears with Nel Wright early in Morrison's Sula: "Oh, Jesus, make me wonderful." Unlike Pecola, who imagines that she is transformed to escape the trauma of incestuous pregnancy, Nel is later "made wonderful" – not by Jesus, but by the transformative effect of her friendship with Sula Peace. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 14 August)
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