Beauty Creams
In the story, ‘Really, Doesn’t Crime Pay?’, the narrator often mentions the innumerable hand creams and cosmetics her husband buys for her, whenever she mentions of writing her own stories. For him, beauty creams are what a woman wants, and any expression of having an ambition is simply a way of asking for attention, which he provides to her by rewarding her with cosmetics.
The Pill
The Pill represents the only source of agency the narrator could have achieved in the story, ‘Really, Doesn’t Crime Pay’. The narrator’s husband constantly keeps stressing on his desire to have a child, without realizing that his wife wasn’t happy in the relationship. In the context of the pro-life vs pro-choice debate in the US, the story becomes more relevant. The narrator realizes that a child would act as an anchor to keep him tied to a loveless marriage to a apathetic man.
Quilts
Quilts from the story ‘Everyday Use’ is a symbol of African Heritage which the characters Dee and Maggie interpret differently. While for Dee, the fact that her grandmother made it out of her dresses is enough to qualify it as ‘heritage’, Maggie who learns the craft is the one who truly knows about her heritage. But unlike Dee, she is not educated enough to label her understanding of her culture under fancy woke terms.
Horse Tea
In the story ‘Strong Horse Tea’, Rannie Toomer keeps hoping against hope for having a white doctor to save her child. She doesn’t realize that the people around her, who appear like they are decent people who don’t distinguish on the basis of color, do have an inherent racist tendency. This is the reason why instead of getting a doctor as she requested, the mailman gets her an old woman who practiced home remedies as if black people have different anatomies. Horse Tea is a symbol of this stereotype for this appropriation of African religion and medicine.
Flowers
In the story, ‘The Flowers’ Myop is described collecting flowers for most of the story. The description of the flora around her is vivid and paints a picture of vivacity and happiness. However, its marred at the end as the reader realizes that she is collecting flowers for a corpse she had found with a noose around its neck, signifying of his murder as a punishment meted out to slaves by their owners. It’s a sharp twist in the plot and paints a picture of innocence slowly dying as it comes to terms to reality.
