The death of self-esteem can occur quickly, easily in children, before their ego has вЂњlegs,вЂќ so to speak. But there are some who collapse, silently, anonymously, with no voice to express or acknowledge it. Others surrender their identity melt into a structure that delivers the strong persona they lack. I knew that some victims of powerful self-loathing turn out to be dangerous, violent, reproducing the enemy who has humiliated them over and over.

Not resistance to the contempt of others, ways to deflect it, but the far more tragic and disabling consequences of accepting rejection as legitimate, as self-evident. When I began writing The Bluest Eye, I was interested in something else. We think of it as the stress (minor or disabling) that is part of life as a human. And if you have the emotional strength and/or support from family and friends, the damage is reduced or erased. When this happens, it is some consolation to know that the dislike or hatred is unjustified-that you donвЂ™t deserve it. It may even be that some of us know what it is like to be actually hated-hated for things we have no control over and cannot change. Perhaps the feeling is merely indifference, mild annoyance, but it may also be hurt.

There canвЂ™t be anyone, I am sure, who doesnвЂ™t know what it feels like to be disliked, even rejected, momentarily or for sustained periods of time.

The bluest eye plot