Celestial's Wedding Ring

Celestial’s wedding ring is a symbol of the promise to care for one another that they both made when she and Roy got married. Even when she begins dating Andre, Celestial does not remove her ring because it remains a symbol to her of the man she cares for even if she no longer loves him the way she loves Andre.

The "Baby Prisoner" Doll

The “baby prisoner” doll that Celestial makes—and for which she gains considerable fame—is a symbol of the increasingly separate worlds that Celestial and Roy inhabit. Celestial inhabits a world that treats mass incarceration as a fitting topic for art; meanwhile, Roy is living an incarcerated life—a crucial and painful difference that he points out.

The Davenports' House

The Davenports’ elegant, expansive mansion in Atlanta, Georgia is symbolic of a newly upwardly mobile black population in...