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The Singing Tree
In the novel, various characters’ hairstyles are associated with their identities, as well as the degree to which they feel happy and free in those identities. One of Sal’s defining features is her long black hair—it’s a trait that characters like Ben, Tom Fleet, and Mrs. Partridge immediately notice and comment on when they meet her. Momma had the same long black hair, but she cut it off just before she left for Lewiston, Idaho, insisting that she needed to go to Lewiston in order to figure out who she really was. Sal frames Momma’s haircut as a symbolic act—something that Momma did to free herself, suggesting that Momma associated her long hair with feeling trapped in Bybanks and in her role as a wife and mother. The fact that Momma and Sal had their hair in common makes the haircut even more significant, as it set Momma apart from Sal (who calls herself a “mirror” of Momma) physically and emotionally. When Sal then gathered Momma’s hair and saved it, she was symbolically refusing to let go of her perception of and relationship to Momma—it was inconceivable to Sal that Momma would ever need to search for meaning or purpose outside of their family.
Mrs. Winterbottom also cuts her hair when she leaves her family for a week. Phoebe is shocked and angry to discover that her mother cut her hair into a short, fashionable style. Just as Sal rejected the possibility that Momma might feel trapped in her role as a wife and mother, Phoebe does the same. Ultimately, though, Mrs. Winterbottom’s short haircut seems like it’s a permanent change, just as Mrs. Winterbottom’s time away seems to have permanently bolstered her confidence and sense of self. In this way, hairstyles in the novel are tied to characters’ identities, and their satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) with who they are.
Hair Quotes in Walk Two Moons
The Walk Two Moons quotes below all refer to the symbol of Hair. 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:
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Chapter 15
Quotes
My long hair floated all around me. My mother’s hair had been long and black, like mine, but a week before she left, she cut it. My father said to me, “Don’t cut yours, Sal. Please don’t cut yours.”
My mother said, “I knew you wouldn’t like it if I cut mine.”
My father said, “I didn’t say anything about yours.”
“But I know what you’re thinking,” she said.
“I loved your hair, Sugar,” he said.
I saved her hair. I swept it up from the kitchen floor and wrapped it in a plastic bag and hid it beneath the floorboards of my room. It was still there, along with the postcards she sent.
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Chapter 38
Quotes
“They sat there on the bench having a gay old time. If I could toss rocks like you can toss rocks, I’d have plonked them both in the back of the head. Did you notice her hair? She’s cut it. It’s short. And do you know what else she did? In the middle of talking, she leaned over and spit on the grass. Spit! It was disgusting. And the lunatic, do you know what he did when she spit? He laughed. Then he leaned over and he spit.”
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Get the entire Walk Two Moons LitChart as a printable PDF.
Hair Symbol Timeline in Walk Two Moons
The timeline below shows where the symbol Hair appears in Walk Two Moons. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...but she’s quiet and keeps to herself. The other kids all touch Sal’s long black hair, and one girl, Mary Lou Finney, keeps saying odd things like “Beef brain!” or “Omnipotent.”...
(full context)
Chapter 9
...at Sal, and out of the blue, he asks if she can sit on her hair. Sal says she can, so Ben draws a cartoon of a lizard with long hair...
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Chapter 15
...up and down the river before she follows them in. She lets her long black hair flow out behind her and remembers Dad asking her to never cut it. That was...
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...a $50 bill from Gramps, but he refuses to take it. The boy compliments Sal’s hair, tells her not to cut it, and says the river wasn’t actually private property.
(full context)
Chapter 38
...nothing happened; Mrs. Winterbottom and Mike just sat and laughed. Mrs. Winterbottom has cut her hair, and at one point, she even spit in the grass. Phoebe says it was disgusting;...
(full context)
Chapter 39
Phoebe almost faints for two reasons. Mrs. Winterbottom now has short hair and is stylish, with makeup and earrings. And second, Mike Bickle is standing in the...
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Chapter 44
Momma’s postcards and her hair are still hidden in Sal’s bedroom, under the floorboards. Sal reread the postcards when she...
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