Beautiful Passage

“Their conversation is like a gently wicked dance: sound meets sound, curtsies, shimmies, and retires. Another sound enters but is upstaged by still another: the two circle each other and stop. Sometimes their words move in lofty spirals; other times they take strident leaps, and all of it is punctuated with warm-pulsed laughter- like the throb of a heart made of jelly. The edge, the curl, the thrust of their emotions is always clear to Frieda and me. We do not, cannot, know the meanings of all their words, for we are nine and ten years old. So we watch their faces, their hands, their feet, and listen for truth in timbre.” 

The above passage is one of the most beautiful in the entire book. The children are describing the conversation of adults as they see it. Morrison packs the passage with personification and imagery which gives insight to the imaginative minds of children. Instead of being spoken, the words “move in lofty spirals” and “take strident leaps”. This kind of personification is beautiful because it shows the innocence present in children. Several similes are also used in the passage to add literary beauty to it. The “conversation is like a gently wicked dance” and the laughter “like the throb of a heart made of jelly”. These comparisons make the passage more beautiful as well as reveal the mindset of children. The kids are so inexperienced in life that they compare things as simple as conversation and laughter to things they can relate with. This makes the fate of Pecola and the beatings of children even more difficult to understand. The diction used in the passage gives a gentle and moving feel to it. Words such as “lofty spirals” and “strident leaps” all add to this scenic and beautiful feel.