Style
Welcome back! I am now halfway through The Red Tent, and my understanding of it has definitely developed throughout this reading. One of the elements I have enjoyed the most in the first half of the novel is the author Anita Diamant's stylistic choices, which is what I will be focusing on in this week's post.
The primary stylistic element I noticed throughout this reading was imagery. Diamant utilizes imagery a lot in her writing, which, in my opinion, is very effective in getting her point/ideas across to readers. One example of this is when Dinah, the narrator, describes Laban's tent. She explains how it "was dark as a dry well . . . . and the air was fetid and stale" (page 101). While reading this description of the tent, I could picture its darkness and mustiness, which made me understand the feelings of the characters better, something I think is important for understanding the novel.
Another powerful use of both imagery and personification can be seen when Dinah describes having to travel through a river, as she and her family journey to Canaan. She explains how she was afraid at first, but soon realized "[t]here was nothing to fear! The water held no threat, only an embrace [she] had no wish to break" (page 112). I found this quotation especially powerful, because it allows the reader to picture the water and its physical and mental hold on Dinah, which in this situation, seems to serve as somewhat of a metaphor for the apprehensiveness that Dinah has about this journey.
Speaking of water, I have noticed it being used as a motif throughout the novel. This can be seen from the initial character introductions, when Rachel's beauty is described. Dinah says that "Rachel smelled like water. Really! Wherever my aunt walked, there was the scent of fresh water. It was an impossible smell, green and delightful and in those dusty hills, the smell of life and wealth" (page 9). I found the words "life and wealth" in that description especially interesting, because the water motif does seem to come up in discussions of things that coincide with life and wealth, such as the aforementioned journey to Canaan. Similar to this, Dinah is told later that same night, after feeling the "embrace" of the river, that "[y]ou are a child of water. Your spirit answered the spirit of the river. You must live by a river someday, Dinah. Only by a river will you be happy" (page 112).
I am going to continue paying careful attention to the water motif as I read the next section, because it definitely seems to hold a lot of significance.
Another aspect of the novel that I find interesting is the general setup. The story is separated into different sections (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, etc.), and these parts each have their own chapters. This can get confusing at times, because there are multiple chapter 1's, etc., but I think it is effective in terms of breaking the story down. The plot takes place over an extended period of time, and contains important events, such as the journey to Canaan, so I think that having different sections helps to give the reader a better understanding of time in the story.
Finally, something I discussed in my last post, that I think it is worth mentioning again, is the narration of the novel. The story is narrated by Dinah, but she serves as a first-person peripheral narrator in Part 1, meaning she is, for the most part, telling a story that isn't her own. Although she is describing things that she witnessed, the events themselves are often centered around her mother, Leah, and Jacob's other wives, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah. I find this especially interesting, because readers still get a pretty good sense of Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah, even though their stories are being told through Dinah. I think this connects well to the novel, because Dinah often refers to her time in the tent with the women, where they tell her many stories about their lives. It can be inferred that parts of this story are simply these stories retold. This stylistic element is, in my opinion, very important, because it is essentially the main idea of the novel - to focus on the struggles and experiences of women during this time, which are often overlooked. In Part 2, however, the narration style shifts to regular first-person, which allows the story to feel more personalized to Dinah, for example the way she constantly describes Jacob as "[m]y father" (page 105), and uses "I" more often. Like I said in my last post, I love that Dinah is the narrator, because she makes the story feel a lot more personalized, and more like a friend telling a story than a typical narrator of a novel.
Overall, I enjoyed this section of the book. I feel that I am now understanding more of the plot and the different characters, and I am looking forward to reading the next part of the novel. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week!
The primary stylistic element I noticed throughout this reading was imagery. Diamant utilizes imagery a lot in her writing, which, in my opinion, is very effective in getting her point/ideas across to readers. One example of this is when Dinah, the narrator, describes Laban's tent. She explains how it "was dark as a dry well . . . . and the air was fetid and stale" (page 101). While reading this description of the tent, I could picture its darkness and mustiness, which made me understand the feelings of the characters better, something I think is important for understanding the novel.
Another powerful use of both imagery and personification can be seen when Dinah describes having to travel through a river, as she and her family journey to Canaan. She explains how she was afraid at first, but soon realized "[t]here was nothing to fear! The water held no threat, only an embrace [she] had no wish to break" (page 112). I found this quotation especially powerful, because it allows the reader to picture the water and its physical and mental hold on Dinah, which in this situation, seems to serve as somewhat of a metaphor for the apprehensiveness that Dinah has about this journey.
Speaking of water, I have noticed it being used as a motif throughout the novel. This can be seen from the initial character introductions, when Rachel's beauty is described. Dinah says that "Rachel smelled like water. Really! Wherever my aunt walked, there was the scent of fresh water. It was an impossible smell, green and delightful and in those dusty hills, the smell of life and wealth" (page 9). I found the words "life and wealth" in that description especially interesting, because the water motif does seem to come up in discussions of things that coincide with life and wealth, such as the aforementioned journey to Canaan. Similar to this, Dinah is told later that same night, after feeling the "embrace" of the river, that "[y]ou are a child of water. Your spirit answered the spirit of the river. You must live by a river someday, Dinah. Only by a river will you be happy" (page 112).
I am going to continue paying careful attention to the water motif as I read the next section, because it definitely seems to hold a lot of significance.
Another aspect of the novel that I find interesting is the general setup. The story is separated into different sections (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, etc.), and these parts each have their own chapters. This can get confusing at times, because there are multiple chapter 1's, etc., but I think it is effective in terms of breaking the story down. The plot takes place over an extended period of time, and contains important events, such as the journey to Canaan, so I think that having different sections helps to give the reader a better understanding of time in the story.
Finally, something I discussed in my last post, that I think it is worth mentioning again, is the narration of the novel. The story is narrated by Dinah, but she serves as a first-person peripheral narrator in Part 1, meaning she is, for the most part, telling a story that isn't her own. Although she is describing things that she witnessed, the events themselves are often centered around her mother, Leah, and Jacob's other wives, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah. I find this especially interesting, because readers still get a pretty good sense of Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah, even though their stories are being told through Dinah. I think this connects well to the novel, because Dinah often refers to her time in the tent with the women, where they tell her many stories about their lives. It can be inferred that parts of this story are simply these stories retold. This stylistic element is, in my opinion, very important, because it is essentially the main idea of the novel - to focus on the struggles and experiences of women during this time, which are often overlooked. In Part 2, however, the narration style shifts to regular first-person, which allows the story to feel more personalized to Dinah, for example the way she constantly describes Jacob as "[m]y father" (page 105), and uses "I" more often. Like I said in my last post, I love that Dinah is the narrator, because she makes the story feel a lot more personalized, and more like a friend telling a story than a typical narrator of a novel.
Overall, I enjoyed this section of the book. I feel that I am now understanding more of the plot and the different characters, and I am looking forward to reading the next part of the novel. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week!
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI was most drawn to your blog post because while we talked about similar elements of style, we had slightly different interpretations of them. For example, we both picked up on water being a motif but focused on different aspects of its use. I talked about water as associated with Dinah--which you also mentioned--but strayed away from its connection to "life and wealth." To be quite honest, I didn't pay much attention to that passage, and I'm glad you were clever enough to. However, I did come across another passage that may suit your discussion. You talked about how you only saw water linked to life and wealth once, so here's something that might interest you: on page 41, during Leah's first birthing scene, Diamant uses the words "river of life." I also think, perhaps, water may be associated again to wealth by the sparkling grand rivers the family faces on their journey to a new home.
I hope you're enjoying the novel thus far!
Jennifer, good job paying attention to a motif in your novel. It's always helpful to follow those bread crumbs that authors leave us, even if they sometimes use motifs in ironic ways. Do you think there will be any ironic uses of water imagery, since it does typically represent life and birth or re-birth?
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