Mnemosine's Choice Of Words: Fels Naphtha and Shirley Something

The description Morrison gives of Claudia's mother's complaints is hilarious. She explains how she would talk about the things people had done to upset her in a particular way, avoiding to name the perpetrator of the "crime" and so on.

Music also describes her mother. Claudia explains that it can portray her mother's mood and it can make her feel warm inside.

"... my mother's voice took all of the grief out of the words and left me with a conviction that pain wasn't only endurable, it was sweet." p. 27

Visual memories are something special. Music, smell and taste can take us back in time. There is a trend going around twitter and instagram called #takebacktuesday in which, people post old pictures of themselves every tuesday. It is interesting to see why people find this so amusing. In the chapter Claudia talks about her disinterest on white baby dolls. She says she was more interested in knowing why other people found them alluring. One of those canons society has is the blue-eyed doll desire, every girl wants one and that's how it's supposed to be.

I leave you with some visual quotes:

"The house smelled of Fels Naphtha and the sharp odor of mustard greens cooking." p. 25

(Fels Naptha® is a heavy duty laundry bar soap that is great for pre-treating stains.) (Brassica juncea, also known as mustard greens, Indian mustard, Chinese mustard, and leaf mustard, is a species of mustard plant. )

"Then we both looked where Pecola was staring. Blood was running down her legs. Some drops were on the steps... That's ministratin'." p. 27

(Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells.) (ministratin= menstruating: is the periodic discharge of blood and mucosal tissue.)