Previous
Felice’s Father
Birds
Throughout Jazz, birds—particularly parrots—symbolize the pain of unrequited love. For years, as Violet and Joe find themselves increasingly isolated from each other, Violet speaks mostly to her parrot, whom she does not name; perhaps…
read analysis of Birds
Records
In the novel Jazz, records represent the inevitability of human hurt and betrayal. Records are everywhere in 1920s Harlem, but unlike live jazz music, which makes room for improvisation and surprise, the recorded jazz…
read analysis of Records
The Green Dress
The green dress that Golden Gray uses to cover Wild in Jazz comes to represent various character’s desires for care—and their pain at feeling abandoned. The dress originates with the wealthy, white slaveholder Vera Louise…
read analysis of The Green Dress
