If you were going through a big change, wouldn't it feel good to crawl under a beautiful old quilt? We're guessing the answer is a resounding yes. But pulling against that is the darkness she hints at, what with the challenges of the times (remember, this was the Great Depression), the racism (it's implied Daddy is denied union membership because he's Black) and her family's situation (since we're pretty sure Daddy flew the coop.) On one hand, Cassie's memories and daydreams seem to represent all the warmth and color and happiness of a quilt. Tar Beach is the first quilted painting in this series which follows Cassie Louise Lightfoot, a young girl growing up in Harlem. Those colorful fabric squares of the quilt that surround the page give the book a warm, cozy feeling, which is interesting to compare and contrast with the story itself. Acclaimed artist Faith Ringgold seamless weaves fiction, autobiography, and African American history into a magical story that resonates with the universal wish. We can make a guess that quilts remind Cassie of her parents, and her family's heritage. (Before Tar Beach was ever a book, it was a fine-art quilt.) More generally, quilts are a symbol of family and tradition.Īre quilts important to Cassie's family in particular? Hard to say, but the spread on Mommy's bed looks like a quilt to us. The quilted squares that border the pages represent an actual quilt-a work of art made by the author that lives in the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Faith Ringgold did a lot of sewing to bring this story to life-and we're not talking metaphorically.
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