Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The Joy Luck Club

This is quite possibly one of the best paragraphs I have read in my entire life. It is words at their finest, strung delicately together by a true artist. 

Standing perfectly still like that, I discovered my shadow. At first it was just a dark spot on the bamboo mats that covered the courtyard bricks. It had short legs and long arms, a dark coiled braid just like mine. When I shook my head, it shook its head. We flapped our arms. We raised one leg. I turned to walk away and it followed me. I turned back around quickly and it faced me. I lifted the bamboo mat to see if I could peel off my shadow, but it was under the mat, on the brick. I shrieked with delight at my shadow's own cleverness. I ran to the shade under the tree, watching my shadow chase me. It disappeared. I loved my shadow, this dark side of me that had my same restless nature. - From The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan 

What an absolutely enchanting way to relate such a typically forgotten discovery. I think tomorrow morning I will spend some time getting reacquainted with my shadow - it seems its been to long. 


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