1. Allusion
"The grandmother took Helene away from the soft lights and flowered carpets of the Sundown House and raised her under the dolesome eyes of the mutlicolored Virgin Mary, counseling her to be constantly on guard for any sign of her mother's wild blood." (17)
2. Symbolism
When Eva soaks Plum in kerosene to later set him on fire, he thinks that he is going through "...some kind of baptism, some kind of blessing." (49)
3. Repetition
They had looked at the world and back at their children, back at the world and back again at the children..."(122)
4. Allegory
Birds come up a lot in the book, like when Rochelle is first introduced wearing a "canary-yellow dress". Another time when birds come into the story is when Sula comes back to Medallion and a plague of dead robins accompanies her homecoming.
Luna,
ReplyDeletethese are great examples of literary devices. I especially like your example for symbolism. As Eva explains later, her burning plumb really was a kind of baptism. Although it wasn't exactly a rebirth- that's what Plumb wanted to have happen by crawling back to Eva's womb- it is sort of like a new beginning in death. I know that sounds strange but it's what Eva aimed to do. She wanted to wash away Plumb's attempts to die like a child with the kerosene and give him a way to die as a man. You could equate that with a baptism washing away somebody's life a sinner and letting them emerge a better person.