Tender At the Bone Symbol

The symbol I chose in Tender at the Bone were the included recipes added inside the chapters. I believe the recipes serve more than their presence--that they are a pattern the book mimics itself. In every chapter, I notice the continuing sentence complex of the characters doing one thing after another, for instance, in, "I slammed the door behind me, took The World of Suzie Wong out of the laundry bad in which I had hidden it, and unearthed some cream puffs from beneath the bed," (62). She uses this syntax numerous times throughout the novel and I believe it mimics the way the recipes are included in the way the ingredients are included and steps are followed to get a result. The periodic sentences, like, "Impeccable and elegant, Madame du Croix looked askance at her daughter's rumpled suit and my frizzy hair," (64) also imply the directions followed and then the outcome. By adding these recipes to the chapters it allowed the author to give the reader a precipitated idea of where the novel was headed to, serving a greater purpose than just steps to make food.