Finally I can send on to you the information regarding my former query.
Thanks for your patience. What follows is my original query and then the
background information from my colleague.
Jameela Lares
Department of English
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, MS 39406
> On Fri, 31 Jul 1998, Jameela Ann Lares wrote:
>
> > At the end of Toni Morrison's new novel _Paradise_, a character named
> > Piedade appears. Does this character represent an allusion to a famous
> > character in Italian literature, e.g., in Dante's _Paradiso_?
> >
> > Any leads are appreciated. Thanks.
> >
Jameela was kind enough to post the above query for me. Here's the little
bit Morrison tells us about Piedade:
The last section of Morrison's Paradise is devoted to two characters:
Consolata and Piedade. Consolata shows up regularly in the novel; she's a
mother figure, a caretaker with the mystical power to raise the dead. She
preaches the need to value both body and spirit. In a previous section, she
has been shot in the head (presumably fatally) and is perhaps herself
resurected by another woman with similar powers. The passage below, however,
is the first time Piedade's name appears
.
In the passage that follows (literally the end of the book) the woman with
the emerald eyes is Consolata:
"In ocean hush a woman black as firewood is singing. Next to her is a
younger woman [Consolata] whose head rests on the singing woman's lap. Ruined
fingers troll the tea brown hair. All the colors of seashells --wheat,
roses, pearl,fuse in the younger woman's face. Her emerald eyes adore the
black face framed in cerulearn blue. Around them on the beach, sea trash
gleams. Discarded bottle caps sparkle near a broken sandal. A small dead
radio play the quiet surf.
There is nothing to beat this solace which is what Piedade's song
is about, although the words evoke memories neither one has ever had: of
reaching old age in the company of the other; of speech shared and divided
bread smoking from the fire; the ambivilant bliss of going home to be at
home -- the ease of coming back to love begun.
When the ocean heaves sending rhythms of water ashore, Piedade
looks to see what has come. Another ship, perhaps, but different, heading to
port, crew and passengers, lost and saved, atremble for they have been
disconsolate for some time. Now they will rest before shouldering the
endless work they were created to do down here in Paradise."
Any Help would be greatly appreciated!
Genevieve West
Department of English
University of Southern Mississippi
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