Periods of Time

After starting to read All Aunt Hagar’s Children the first theme that popped into mind was the meaning of time. The title of the first chapter is In a Blink of God’s Eye. Used in society today is the simple phrase, “in a blink of an eye,” which refers back to a tiny second. For an example, a fellow student was telling a story about how a teacher she was observing in a high school, just blinked for a second and a high school student was drinking something out of a beaker. Thus, in a simple term, it is a split moment in time, something short and sweet. Throughout the first chapter newly married couples leave behind the familiarity of rural life to pursue lives of urban promise only to be challenged and disappointed. With that, it seems as if a chapter of a book talks about a single time, not moving forward so quickly in one chapter, which is ironic since the title of the chapter is In a Blink of God’s Eye. Nevertheless, a short period of time, or a long period of time is all relative to the reader, the audience. To me, it could mean that the author, Edward P. Jones, covered an extensive period of time for a single chapter, whereas another reader could believe that it was a short period of time covered.