Happening Upon Meaning and More
I stumbled upon meaning near the very beginning of the novel, within Sarah’s unconventional but surprisingly striking description of her family from “Of course, I should’ve graduated” to “I’d been their whole sky for hours” (9). I love how the paragraph seems to intimately connect her with each member of her family, showing a close relationship despite being such a large family. The description is particularly meaningful for me because, being Albanian, I have really strong family values.
The amount of meaning that Kidd packs into this one passage is very impressive--it shows her relationships with each of her parents, her relationships with her siblings, and gives us insight into her personality as well.
The sentence that I think is most chock-full of meaning is "I was the middle one, the one Mother called different and Father called remarkable, the one with the carroty hair and the freckles, whole constellations of them" (9). This sentence shows us that Sarah's Father probably likes her more than her father does, to put it plainly, and that Sarah has a closer relationship with her Father. At the same time though, the descriptions "different" and "remarkable" also give us insight into Sarah's personality. Because Sarah's mother is a traditional southern lady who focuses on social matters and being a good housewife, the fact that she would describe Sarah as "different" means that Sarah probably isn't the typical demure housewife whose only concern is finding a husband. This idea is furthered by her Father's description. Because he is a juror and an intelligent man, his description of Sarah as "remarkable" shows that Sarah is intelligent and has more in her destiny than staying home with the kids.
Finally, the paragraph ends with an awesome description of Sarah’s brothers using charcoal to draw constellations in her freckles. I think this is a beautiful image, and it really shows that Sarah is the object of her brothers’ affections. They sit for a long time doing this, but Sarah "hadn't minded" because "[she]'d been their whole sky for hours" (9). We can tell from this that Sarah also loves her brothers very much, and enjoys their attention.
With all of these different elements, I'm still surprised by how much characterization Kidd accomplished in this paragraph. She explained many aspects of Sarah's personality, her relationship with the people around her, and even her appearance, with her red hair and freckles. It's such a short paragraph but so greatly thought out. Kudos to you, Sue Monk Kidd.
The amount of meaning that Kidd packs into this one passage is very impressive--it shows her relationships with each of her parents, her relationships with her siblings, and gives us insight into her personality as well.
The sentence that I think is most chock-full of meaning is "I was the middle one, the one Mother called different and Father called remarkable, the one with the carroty hair and the freckles, whole constellations of them" (9). This sentence shows us that Sarah's Father probably likes her more than her father does, to put it plainly, and that Sarah has a closer relationship with her Father. At the same time though, the descriptions "different" and "remarkable" also give us insight into Sarah's personality. Because Sarah's mother is a traditional southern lady who focuses on social matters and being a good housewife, the fact that she would describe Sarah as "different" means that Sarah probably isn't the typical demure housewife whose only concern is finding a husband. This idea is furthered by her Father's description. Because he is a juror and an intelligent man, his description of Sarah as "remarkable" shows that Sarah is intelligent and has more in her destiny than staying home with the kids.
Finally, the paragraph ends with an awesome description of Sarah’s brothers using charcoal to draw constellations in her freckles. I think this is a beautiful image, and it really shows that Sarah is the object of her brothers’ affections. They sit for a long time doing this, but Sarah "hadn't minded" because "[she]'d been their whole sky for hours" (9). We can tell from this that Sarah also loves her brothers very much, and enjoys their attention.
With all of these different elements, I'm still surprised by how much characterization Kidd accomplished in this paragraph. She explained many aspects of Sarah's personality, her relationship with the people around her, and even her appearance, with her red hair and freckles. It's such a short paragraph but so greatly thought out. Kudos to you, Sue Monk Kidd.