Small Great Things

One of the novel’s first symbols to appear, Lou’s lucky scarf at first does not seem to carry much meaning. Ruth, remembering the miracle she witnessed as a child at the Hallowell’s, describes the scarf as “the soft one that smelled like [Lou], and that Rachel and [Ruth] fought to wear around the house” (4). From this first description, we can see the way in which the scarf prefigures some of the conflicts between Ruth and Rachel/Adisa. It also serves as a memory of Lou, and is something that continues to come up in Ruth’s sections, as her current trials prompt her to think back to the incidents from her childhood that help inform them.

The scarf, then, remains a largely implicit symbol until after Lou’s death, at which point, though she first keeps it for herself, Adisa gives it to Ruth, telling her she took it because she “figured [Ruth would] either take it for [herself] or bury Mama in it, and she didn’t need luck anymore, but God knows [Adisa does]” and then adds “And so [does Ruth]” (419). Ruth then carries this luck, in the form of her mother’s scarf, into the courtroom with her for the remainder of the novel.