Symbolism of Water- Lemonade, Beloved, and Trying to Swim With God
By: Andrea Ragusa, Sasha Hyde, Leah Freeman
In both Beloved by Toni Morrison and Lemonade by Beyonce, water is a key symbol that is used throughout the context of the novel and visual album. The text and film both use water to symbolize similar concepts of rebirth, renewal, and clarity. At the beginning of Beloved, Beloved is directly connected to the symbolism of water through her birth. She is described as “A FULLY DRESSED woman walked out of the water.” (page 60) This action is synonymous with the beginning of the song “Hold Up” in Lemonade with Beyonce walking out through the doors in a yellow dress walking through water. This action symbolizes growth and escape for Beyonce, as water is tough to walk through, she is seen learning to walk through it while looking incredibly powerful. Both Beloved and Lemonade feature the same action of a woman fully dressed walking through water, which can contribute to the rebirth of a new person and the escape of some type of oppression. The section represents Beloved’s rebirth trying to show the journey that she has taken on as a character. Her rebirth is described “She had new skin, lineless and smooth, including the knuckles of her hands.” (page 60, 61) Sethe similarly connects to the same symbolism in Beloved through the birth of her daughter Denver. The birth takes place in a flooding canoe and Sethe’s water breaks which is synonymous with the flow of the river. “As soon as Sethe got close to the river her own water broke loose to join it. The break, followed by the redundant announcement of labor, arched her back.” (page 98)
The water serves as a place of rebirth/escape for Beloved and Denver and allows Sethe to renew her life. Sethe uses water as a source to deal with her past suffering and it allows her to deal with painful resurfacing memories that have impacted her and her daughter’s life. Sethe’s suffering is often referred to as “heavy knives” throughout the novel. “Her heavy knives of defense against misery, regret, gall and hurt, she placed one by one on a bank where dear water rushed on below.” (page 102) The water represents and symbolizes a way for Sethe to deal with her resurfacing past and oppressions she faced that she wants to protect her daughter from.
In addition, another text we read in class that shares a similar symbol of water is the poem Trying to Swim With God by Warsan Shire. In both Beloved by Toni Morrison, Lemonade by Beyonce, and Trying to Swim With God by Warsan Shire, the symbol of water is present to represent clarity and the idea of exploring your identity. There is strong symbolism within the poem of water which connects to the ideas in both Lemonade and Beloved. For example, line 7 states, “At home in the bath, my hair swells to the surface like vines, I stay submerged until I can no longer stand it, think of all the things I have allowed to slip through my fingers.” The girl is using water as a way to hide from her responsibilities and the issues she has to deal with in everyday life. The water is a safe space and environment for where she can feel comfortable in exploring her thoughts and her identity. This relates water being used as a symbol in Beloved to escape reality and to Beyonce in the Hold Up music video in Lemonade. Beyonce is fully submerged in water expressing her thoughts and feelings with the audience about what she has been going through, physically and mentally, for the past few weeks in relation to Jay Z cheating on her. This idea connects to the girl in the poem thinking of “all the things I have allowed to slip through my fingers.” Being fully surrounded by water allows the characters within the three works of literature to escape reality and dig deeper into their inner consciousness of what has been bothering them or hurting them.
Although there is a strong common symbol of water within Lemonade, Trying to Swim With God, and Beloved, the stories end in different ways. In the end of the Hold Up video in Lemonade, Beyonce was able to escape the water and emerge from it gaining a sense of power. She is shown similar to a goddess figure wearing a long, beautiful, yellow dress with the water rushing down below her feet. As the video continues, she is displayed as strong, powerful, and destructive as she struts down the street occasionally breaking car windows. This contrasts the end of the Trying to Swim With God. Line 14 states, “but the way she fell, face first, in the dirt, mouth full of earth, air, teeth, blood, wearing a white cotton baati, hair untied and smoked with ounsi, I wonder if Kadija believed she was going to float.” While Beyonce emerged from the water representing renewal and rebirth and Denver was born on the river (freed from the womb) in Beloved, Kadija drowned in the water; she could not physically escape. The three works of literature are different in some ways but very similar in the use of water and the symbolism behind it to represent certain important themes to the audience.
Hold Up Video:
