The Shirley Temple cut was a symbol of Pecola's desire to be beautiful. Pecola continually drank milk from the cup so that she could admire the beauty of Shirley Temple. "'...We knew she loved the Shirley Temple mug and took every opportunity to drink milk from it just to handle and see sweet Shirley's face.' (Morrison 23). She saw how much people loved Shirley Temple and also wanted to be loved just as much. She aspired to have fair skin, curly blonde hair, and blue eyes. She believed that if she had blue eyes, she would be considered beautiful by society. The harsh society around her makes Pecola feel isolated and insecure. According to Jeffrey Buchanan, “Because Pecola is a shorthand for prejudging unattractiveness, it is looked down upon; because it disappears when we examine cultural norms of value, it is judged, logically, to be worthless. As a result, she is taunted. It is exploited rather than felt. …Therefore, Pecola comes to bear her ugliness and uselessness, because she fails to exist without it, and assumes the role of scapegoat, bearing responsibility for all the mistakes and crimes of others that escape their responsibility.