Previous
Hyperbole
Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Dreams:
In Chapter 4, Morrison switches perspectives and begins to detail Son's point of view. Morrison utilizes both imagery and stream of consciousness to illustrate Son's initial feelings towards Jadine—feelings that cause him to drift off into his own dreams and memories from the past:
[He] would lie still and dream steadily the dreams he wanted her to have about yellow houses with white doors which women opened and shouted Come on in, you honey you! and the fat black ladies in white dresses minding the pie table in the basement of the church and white wet sheets flapping on a line, and the sound of a six-string guitar plucked after supper while children scooped walnuts up off the ground and handed them to her.
This passage from Son's point of view uses imagery through its attention to concrete details. From the color of the doors, the imagined dialogue of the ladies living in the houses, the sound of a guitar, or the smell of a pie and walnuts, each detail engages the reader's senses and allows them to imagine—like Son himself—the comforting and visceral scene of his dream.
Morrison also utilizes stream of consciousness, detailing Son's continuous thoughts for hundreds of words without a pause for external narration. This is a hallmark of the stream-of-consciousness style, and it adheres to Morrison's use of a non-linear narrative. Readers do not know exactly when or where Son's dreams or memories take place. However, these thoughts expose his manner of thinking and his attitude towards Jadine and their future together.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Light and Dark:
When Jadine and Son go to Florida to visit Son's father, Jadine absorbs the environment of Florida, which is so different from both the Isle de Chevaliers and New York City. To heighten the depiction of Jadine's sensory experience in the dark Floridian night, Morrison utilizes evocative imagery:
Maybe if she stood there long enough light would come from somewhere, and she could see shadows, the outline of something, a bush, a tree, a line between earth and sky, a heavier darkness to show where this very house stopped and space began. She remembered the blackness she saw when Son told her to close her eyes, and to put a star in it.
In this passage, Morrison utilizes figurative language to explore the contrast between light and dark, painting a sensory image of the night sky. Throughout Tar Baby, Morrison regularly uses language relating to darkness and shadow, almost making it a character itself in the novel. Here, light and dark relate to Jadine's perception of her physical environment. She is unused to a sky so free of light pollution, and she recalls that Son once told her to "put a star in it" if she became overwhelmed. Morrison's depictions of light and shadow appeal to readers’ sense of sight, allowing them to imagine, like Jadine, the enveloping quality of the nighttime darkness.
