Bannable Imagery
The novel is infamous for being in both England and the United States for its portrayal of lesbian sexuality. What is fascinating today is that there is exactly passage which intimates at actual lesbian consummation and it is through imagery. And, what’s more, imagery that is the opposite of explicit; so non-explicit as to barely even qualify as implicit:
“Stephen bent down and kissed Mary's hands very humbly,for now she could find no words any more...and that night they were not divided.”
Women and Men
Insight into David is offered through imagery. The very subject of the imagery is indicative of the novel’s separation of presentation of men and women. It is not overtly about gender differences, but the subtlety is not so great that it cannot be easily apprehended:
“At the moment he wanted to lay back his ears and howl with despair to see her unhappy. He wanted to make an enormous noise, the kind of noise wild folk make in the jungle--lions and tigers and other wild folk that David had heard about from his mother—his mother had been in Africa once a long time ago, with an old French colonel. But instead he abruptly licked Mary's cheek--it tasted peculiar, he thought, like sea water.”
The Villa del Ciprés
The Villa del Ciprés is a location of significant importance in the story. It is described early using imagery that is subtly suggestive of the relationship which develops inside its stone exterior:
“The Villa del Ciprés was a low stone house that had once been tinted a lemon yellow. Its shutters were greener than those on the hill, for every ten years or so they were painted. All its principal windows looked over the sea that lay at the foot of the little headland. There were large, dim rooms with rough mosaic floors and walls that were covered by ancient frescoes. Some of these frescoes were primitive but holy, others were primitive but distinctly less holy.”
External Imagery as Internal Insight
This idea of using imagery of external things to offer insight into the internal machinations of a relationship will continue to be explored throughout the narrative. One of the most explicit examples of this device even makes reference to its design and purpose:
“At this time many gentle and friendly things began to bear witness to Mary's presence. There were flowers in the quiet old garden for instance, and some large red carp in the fountain's basin, and two married couples of white fan-tail pigeons who lived in a house on a tall wooden leg and kept up a convivial cooing. These pigeons lacked all respect for Stephen; by August they were flying in at her window and landing with soft, heavy thuds on her desk, where they strutted until she fed them with maize.”
