The Girl Who Smiled Beads

by

Clemantine Wamariya

Beads  Symbol Icon

Throughout The Girl Who Smiled Beads, beads symbolize the fragmented personal narrative and sense of self that is unique to the refugee experience. When Clemantine Wamariya is a girl in Rwanda, her nanny Mukamana tells her a story about a magical girl who wandered the earth and smiled a trail of beads. In the story, no one ever sees the girl—her presence is only known by the trail of beads she leaves behind. As Clemantine grows up and becomes a refugee of the Rwandan Genocide, traveling through six African countries and eventually immigrating to the United States, she uses this story to give meaning to her life. She feels that although places, memories and her sense of self lie in fragments, these pieces are beautiful like a trail of beads.

Clemantine wants to string together the narrative of her life as one would string together beads, so she starts collecting odds and ends that represent memories or places she has been. She hopes to one day line these pieces up in a coherent order. Later on, Clemantine literally strings together something beautiful from jumbled pieces by making bracelets from a collection of beads that her American host family gives her. Throughout the memoir, beads represent Clemantine’s fragmented life. However, in calling these fragments of her life beads, Clemantine asserts that her life is nonetheless beautiful. Therefore, beads also represent her desire to appreciate her life for what it is and string her story together into a coherent narrative.

Beads Quotes in The Girl Who Smiled Beads

The The Girl Who Smiled Beads quotes below all refer to the symbol of Beads . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Trauma and Faith Theme Icon
).
Prologue  Quotes

Often, still, my own life story feels fragmented, like beads unstrung. Each time I scoop up my memories, the assortment is slightly different. I worry, at times, that I’ll always be lost inside. I worry that I’ll be forever confused.

Related Characters: Clemantine Wamariya (speaker), Oprah Winfrey
Related Symbols: Beads
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

My life does not feel logical, sequential, or inevitable. There’s no sense of action, reaction; no consequence, repercussion; no plot. It’s just fragments, floating.

Related Characters: Clemantine Wamariya (speaker), Claire
Related Symbols: Beads
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

The plot provided by the universe was filled with starvation, war, and rape. I would not—could not—live in that tale.

Instead, I would be the girl who smiled beads, my version of the girl who smiled beads, one who had power and agency over her life, one who did not get caught.

Related Characters: Clemantine Wamariya (speaker), Mukamana
Related Symbols: Beads
Page Number: 210
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

I had only a character, a rubric. The girl who smiled beads gave me a way to go through the world […] but I was still looking for a narrative that felt coherent and complete. […] I still, still, after everything […] longed for Mukamana. I wanted her to sit on the side of my bed, talk to me, and make my world feel not just magnificent but logical and whole.

Related Characters: Clemantine Wamariya (speaker), Clemantine’s Mother, Mukamana
Related Symbols: Beads
Page Number: 263
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Girl Who Smiled Beads LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Girl Who Smiled Beads PDF

Beads Symbol Timeline in The Girl Who Smiled Beads

The timeline below shows where the symbol Beads appears in The Girl Who Smiled Beads. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1 
Narrative, Memory, and Fragmentation  Theme Icon
...the world. Clemantine’s favorite story is about a magical girl who wanders the earth smiling beads. The story is open-ended, and Mukamana always concludes it however Clemantine wants her to. Clemantine... (full context)
Chapter 2
Narrative, Memory, and Fragmentation  Theme Icon
...the albums of host families, and other treasures. Clemantine hopes she can string all these “beads” into a narrative of her life that is beautiful and logical. (full context)
Chapter 14
Narrative, Memory, and Fragmentation  Theme Icon
Displacement and Identity  Theme Icon
...mother moved into a retirement community and gave Clemantine her large collection of buttons and beads. She made two bracelets for herself and then started making them to give to people... (full context)
Chapter 16
Narrative, Memory, and Fragmentation  Theme Icon
Displacement and Identity  Theme Icon
...Academy for Girls. In the lobby of the fancy school, Clemantine notices a display of beaded dolls with red bead eyes. The dolls are familiar to Clemantine, and she asks Claire... (full context)
Narrative, Memory, and Fragmentation  Theme Icon
Displacement and Identity  Theme Icon
...to the most beautiful girl in the world. When the girl smiles, a trail of beads flows from her mouth. The mother is proud and jealous and locks the girl in... (full context)
Narrative, Memory, and Fragmentation  Theme Icon
Displacement and Identity  Theme Icon
...character and let Clemantine fill in the plot. In this way, the girl who smiled beads became the answer to whatever problem Clemantine provided. Clemantine imagines that the girl who smiled... (full context)
Chapter 21
Narrative, Memory, and Fragmentation  Theme Icon
Displacement and Identity  Theme Icon
...that helps her survive; Clemantine only has “a character, a rubric.” The “girl who smiled beads” helps her feel like she has agency, but she still longs for a coherent narrative... (full context)