What does Melita do when her painting subject, plums, is not available, as they are out of season, and she has no plums to pose for her studio to paint?
Melita feels stressful and it shows in her face and back as she overeats and breaks out with pimples.
Ellen, aka The Princess of 72nd Street, suggests to her friend Melita, that she should try to paint the soul of a plum.
Um, I would suggest that Melita try to buy fake, plastic plums, to pose for her canvas.
Kraf, using her narrator’s voice, wrote some ideas on how to expand the scope of a painting subject, so that the artist can have variations of arrangements to paint:
“……. three plums on a horizontal canvas, or one plum all alone on a square canvas, or plums scattered about, or plums cut open, and occasionally plums on a white plate.”
(Kraf, p. 5)
How does Melita interpret how the soul of a plum would look like?
The Princess said Melita interpreted it as a “gigantic purple moon” in the sky. (Kraf, p. 5)
How does the reader know that Melita is obsessed with plums and the color purple?
Everything Melita has is purple: her dresses, towels, sheets, mascara, jewelry, shoes, bathing suit.
(Kraf, p. 7)
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