As a novice quilter, I have the requisite quilt gathering dust, half-finished in the bottom of a closet. I love quilts and the story they tell.
Quilting has recently surfaced in my life again as the library bookclub met to discuss “The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd. Quilts play a prominent role in the storyline. The novel opens in Charleston, South Carolina in 1903.
We are introduced to the parallel stories of young Sarah Grimke, a member of white, privileged, Southern society and Hetty “Handful”, a young, black slave.
On Sarah’s 11th birthday, Handful is ‘given’ to her as a gift. Sarah attempts to ‘return the gift’ only to meet the resistance of her parents. So begins the beautiful and tragic story of two girls living very different lives under the same roof.
The author creates vivid pictures with her intense, often brutal, poetic style.
As Sarah describes her very first memory of slavery “As she speaks, an older slave, Rosetta, is dragged from the cow house, dragged by a man, a yard slave. She fights, clawing at his face. Mother watches, impassive. He ties Rosetta’s hands to the corner column of the kitchen house porch. She looks over her shoulder and begs. Missus, please. Missus. Missus. Please. She begs even as the man lashes her with his whip.” I can easily conjure this image of abuse in my imagination.
In the Grimke family, all sons are introduced to the law as a profession but the girls are not encouraged or even allowed to read more than fairy tales, let alone pursue an education.
“A Grimke daughter would marry a son of the planter class who would study law, medicine, religion, or architecture in order to occupy himself until he inherited.”
Sarah quickly bucks this philosophy when she teaches Handful to read, a practice that was absolutely forbidden. When she is caught, the library is locked and all books removed from her room. This ignites Sarah’s sense of inequality not only between races but in gender.
As the story progresses, Handful and her mother, Charlotte create a quilt with blocks of appliqued scraps that depicts their life story.
The quilt is discovered by the slave owners and we are given a glimpse “Standing there, waiting for the little missus’ steps to fade, I looked down at the quilt, at the slaves flying in the sky, and I hated being a slave worse than being dead. The hate I felt for it glittered so full of beauty I sank down on the floor before it.” The quilt is a powerful symbol throughout the story and at times, serves as the only power these characters possess.
This is an engaging read which is strongly based on historical events. (references are well documented at the back of the book) I invite you to pick it up and give it a read. I might even drag out that quilt and start stitching again….
The library bookclub meets monthly from September through May. Details and copies of the reading list are at the library service desk – Everyone welcome.
Sue Kline is the Community Librarian at the Summerland Branch of the ORL.
