58 pages • 1-hour read
Reel
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness.
The Magic Hour
In the first Prologue to the book, Canon’s time spent with his mother during what he calls the “magic hour” symbolizes how he is trying to capture her spirit and preserve her memory even as he recognizes that his time with her is diminishing. Photographers use the term “golden hour” to refer to the periods of daylight that occur shortly after sunrise and just before sunset, when the angle of the sun on the horizon creates a diffuse, soft, orange-gold glow unlike the aspect of light at other times of day. Others refer to this time as the magic hour, and this becomes the title of the documentary that Canon creates to share his mother’s story and her inspiring advice.
Like the light during the so-called magic hour, Remy Holt’s advice is warm and inspiring, at least for Neevah. Remy’s ability to enjoy her life despite the advancing stages of her chronic illness reminds Neevah to make the most of the opportunities she has. The Magic Hour as a documentary symbolizes the heart and effort that Canon puts into his work, as well as the ability that his work has to reach and inspire others. As a title, the phrase captures the love and inspiration that Canon draws from his mother during the sunset of her life.
The Savoy
The Savoy Ballroom, located on Lenox Avenue in Harlem, became a center of the lively nightlife and artistic culture that developed during the movement loosely called the Harlem Renaissance. The replica that the set design team builds for the film Dessi Blue symbolizes the commitment that those making the movie feel toward doing justice to the innovations in music, dance, and performance developing during the Harlem Renaissance, reflecting The Importance of Recognizing and Celebrating Black Artists. The exact specifications that they reproduce, and their dedication to getting the details right, reflect the passion and focus that Canon takes toward his project.
Neevah shows this same commitment, putting her all into learning the dance moves that represent the skill and achievement of the dancers who performed at the Savoy, including Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, a dance troupe that included Frankie Manning. When Neevah meets with Lucia, the choreographer, to review footage of her rehearsals and discuss how she can improve, the backdrop of the designs for the set of the Savoy remind her of what the film is trying to achieve, a dimension of Canon’s ambition and a project that has become dear to her heart as well.
The passion and energy that Neevah that brings to her work might also be what aggravates her lupus, becoming a sacrifice she hadn’t anticipated making, just as she didn’t anticipate falling in love with Canon. In the Bonus Epilogue, when Canon proposes marriage, he chooses the replica of the Savoy as his setting to reflect how much the movie means to both of them not only as an artistic accomplishment but also as the vehicle that brought them together. Their vows of love inside this reproduction of the famous Savoy place Canon and Neevah’s partnership inside the legacy of inspiring Black artists and creators whom they’ve done their best to celebrate and share with the world through their film.
Our Town
The three-act play Our Town, written by Thornton Wilder and first performed in 1938, won a Pulitzer Prize and has become one of the most popular and well-known works of American theater. It is particularly beloved as a play for school-age and amateur theater groups given its relatively short length and thematic depth. The play reflects on the nature of daily life and ultimately conveys a message about appreciating the ordinary or even the mundane. Neevah’s role as the Stage Manager, which is a key role, suggests that even in high school, her talent was apparent. Her attachment to this play symbolizes her love of performing as well as the energy and passion of her character, which is the light that Canon perceives when he sees her act.
The Stage Manager serves as the narrator, commenting on the play’s larger themes and questioning how many people truly are aware of, engage in, and make the most of their lives. The Manager answers this question with the line “saints and poets maybe” (4). In the second Prologue, Neevah forgets this line, which suggests that she has not yet learned this lesson or grasped this theme. Later, she gets this phrase tattooed on her hand, and it becomes a symbol of her theatrical aspirations and how she has sacrificed her family to get where she is since the day she missed that line in rehearsal was the same day she learned that Terry and Brandon were having a baby together. Later, it emerges that Neevah’s last name of Saint is a stage name and that her birth name is Mathis. It’s implied that she took on this name to remind herself to be one of those people, like the saints and poets of Our Town, who make the most of every moment of their life.
Unlock the meaning behind every key symbol & motif
See how recurring imagery, objects, and ideas shape the narrative.
- Explore how the author builds meaning through symbolism
- Understand what symbols & motifs represent in the text
- Connect recurring ideas to themes, characters, and events