Beauty. It seems like everyone in the world is obsessed with
it, yet no one knows what it really is. Some strive to be the most beautiful,
but in reality are wandering aimlessly simply because this "beauty"
they seek isn't static but rather dynamic. "What does this mean?" you
might ask. Well, Toni Morrison explains this concept quite clearly. She says
that "Beauty [is] not simply something to behold; it [is] something one
could do" (Morrison xi). Still not able to comprehend? Well that's okay as
beauty is a very difficult concept to grasp and is more than what just meets
the eye.
Contrary to popular belief, beauty is not defined by one
ideal image. Rather, it is completely subjective and changes as it is seen
through different eyes. For example, two people might stumble upon the same
shirt in a clothing store. One of them thinks that the shirt looks very good
and is beautiful while the other person might be in total disgust and think
that the shirt is the ugliest shirt is the ugliest shirt in existence. In fact,
in a sense, beauty can be described through the characteristics of clothing: it
takes on an innumerable amount of forms, depending on each individual that
views it. Now some might say that beauty only has one forms and that it only
conforms to one ideal image. Now don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that isn't true.
It is a fact that some objects or even people are considered ugly by almost
everyone else as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given [them] a
cloak of ugliness to wear" (Morrison 39). Although this may very well be
the case, I pose the question, "How do people distinguish between ugliness
and beauty?” This answer is simple: society. Society is the force that ingrains
its people with an ideal image of beauty. People have the choice to follow this
image or not to. Some just conveniently follow the image set forth by society
because it the one that everyone else is following. As a result, only one form
of beauty is clearly evident while the other forms are masked. Therefore,
beauty isn't a scientific observation that people either have or don't have;
rather, beauty is a subjective, volatile social construct.
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