Thursday, March 29, 2012

Textures of Cloth

I think it is interesting how Morrison includes strong sensory detail throughout the book, but especially when she describes something so insignificant as the textures of various cloths. For example, Amy Denver repeatedly talks about her yearning for velvet. Also, the description of the corn husks at Sweet Home as silk is repeated in Paul D and Sethe's thoughts. I think Morrison may be doing this as part of her making figurative language literal. I think a big part of Morrison's success in making this esoteric novel so tangible is her use of sensory detail.

7 comments:

ParkerC said...

That is an interesting point. It is weird how seemingly minor things in this book come together to make it far more detailed and have more meaning. I wonder why Amy wants velvet so badly and what's the significance of her wanting it

alyb said...

I think that by adding so much detail Morrison helps us to invision what actually happened. The detail definitly makes things appear more real and tangible. Perhaps Morrison wants us to see that this was actually a reality and something that could have happened to many people.

Ravin S said...

The detail definitely adds to the depth of the novel. The thing is, most of the detail and description is from any said character's own mind. Never is there an objective view of anything except for the concrete things that the author can't really change. However, the detail is often used to describe events as they progress in different character's. I can't really describe what I'm trying to say here, but if you agree and can explain it better please do.

Christine Catinis said...

I agree completely. Morrison Cleverly incoorperates these sensory details throughout the work without explicitly stating them. This technique adds to the beauty and complexity of the novel as a whole and truly engages the reader in the work.

Christine Catinis said...

I agree completely. Morrison Cleverly incoorperates these sensory details throughout the work without explicitly stating them. This technique adds to the beauty and complexity of the novel as a whole and truly engages the reader in the work.

Sara said...

I think sensory details really ground this novel. So much of is focused on the psychological that you never really get a lot of setting or descriptive details. I mean Sethe has iron eyes, was once beautiful, and has a scarred back but besides that I we're never really given a detailed description. I think the story relies on sensory details, not flowery detailed descriptions, to ground the reader in reality which is a really interesting approach to writing a novel.

mere said...

Morrison does mention a lot of fabrics. Especially her on-going motif of ribbons. We especially see ribbons when Stamp Paid collects the young black girl's ribbon out of the water. Also, his wife had to wear a black ribbon around her neck that the master gave her.