Rain
Instances of rainy weather, especially when characters actually get wet, are unifying or community-building moments throughout the novel. Storms bring women to the hospital to deliver early, resulting in the close and trusting relationships Ruth…
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The Photograph
When Ava attends Mama's funeral with Kennedy, she offers Ruth a photograph of her as a child with her black maid, Beattie. Ruth spends much of the novel bitter and angry at…
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Mama's Scarf
Mama's favorite scarf—a red one that Ruth describes as being soft like a rabbit, and which Ruth and Adisa have coveted since childhood—initially acts as a symbol for Mama herself. Ruth often strokes the scarf…
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Wine
Many of the novel's female characters drink wine and in most cases, their drink of choice can be read as an indicator of their whiteness or an attempt to be more "white." Kennedy notes that…
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