Previous
Hyperbole
Definition of Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Key Examples in If Beale Street Could Talk
Troubled About My Soul
Explanation and Analysis—Kingdom of the Blind:
When Tish returns home to tell her parents she is pregnant, she describes her mother, Sharon, to the reader. Tish believes her mother is beautiful, but not in a typical way. She is not especially "beautiful to look at"—instead she is beautiful for her perseverance, especially in getting out of her hometown of Birmingham, "that corner of hell." Tish describes her mother's beauty by using an idiom but deploys it in an unusual way:
My Mama's a kind of strange woman—so people say—and she was twenty-four when I was born, so she's past forty now. I must tell you, I love her. I think she's a beautiful woman. She may not be beautiful to look at—whatever the [...] that means, in the kingdom of the blind.
Related Themes:
