Motifs and Images
- Autumnal Equinox: Both murders take place on the Autumnal Equinox, the day of women and Susan Billy's birthday. Called Itilauichi in the Choctaw language, its importance is especially important in the earlier story.
- Birds: Grandmother of Birds is said to have turned into a bird to punish the Spanish invaders when her husband is killed. They are continually mentioned as flying around whenever the characters are outside and are the form the spirits of Koi Chitto and Shakbatina take when they are reunited in death.
- Smoke: Smoke is used as a screen between times, becoming thicker as the stories begin to meet, culminating in Auda's final dream that is filled with smoke and half-answers. The town of Durant itself is enveloped in the smoke of a fire, suggested as a punishment from the spirits. Adair, a smoker, describes it as a screen to hide behind, much like the truth hides behind the smoke in dreams.
- Burial: Burial is paramount in both times as the Bone Picking Ceremony and Delores's own burials connect as one of the most important Choctaw rituals featured in the novel.
Read more about this topic: Shell Shaker
Famous quotes containing the words motifs and, motifs and/or images:
“Myths, as compared with folk tales, are usually in a special category of seriousness: they are believed to have “really happened,” or to have some exceptional significance in explaining certain features of life, such as ritual. Again, whereas folk tales simply interchange motifs and develop variants, myths show an odd tendency to stick together and build up bigger structures. We have creation myths, fall and flood myths, metamorphose and dying-god myths.”
—Northrop Frye (1912–1991)
“The poetic act consists of suddenly seeing that an idea splits up into a number of equal motifs and of grouping them; they rhyme.”
—Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898)
“How clean the sun when seen in its idea,
Washed in the remotest cleanliness of a heaven
That has expelled us and our images . . .
The death of one god is the death of all.
Let purple Phoebus lie in umber harvest,
Let Phoebus slumber and die in autumn umber....”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)