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Idioms
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
Troubled About My Soul
Explanation and Analysis—It Kicks:
While Sharon searches for Victoria Rogers in Puerto Rico, back home in New York, Tish finds herself very pregnant, and the baby has started to kick aggressively and often. Through use of repeated imagery describing the kicks and Tish's reactions to them, Baldwin shows Tish's intent to continue working and acting normally despite the increasing pain and disruption:
We are beginning to have a somewhat acrid dialogue, this thing and I—it kicks, and I smash an egg on the floor, it kicks, and suddenly the coffeepot is upside down on the table, it kicks, and the perfume on the back of my hand brings salt to the roof of my mouth, and my free hand weighs on the heavy glass counter, with force enough to crack it in two. Goddammit. Be patient. I'm doing the best I can—and it kicks again, delighted to have elicited so furious a response.
Tish describes her "somewhat acrid dialogue" with her child as a repetitive experience: the baby kicks, and Tish reacts with a spasm, then the baby kicks again. The imagery of these repeated kicks and reactions evokes Tish's perseverance despite her difficult and often repetitive circumstances. Tish gets up and goes to work, day after day in an annoying and boring job, to make enough money to help afford Fonny's legal bills. Just as she endures that, she also endures kicks from her child hour after hour. Later in the novel, Tish says explicitly that the baby is "connected" to Fonny's desire to be free. The baby is a physical representation of their struggle for a better life. As a result, when the baby kicks, it becomes potent imagery for the pain and perseverance required to reach that future.
Related Themes:
