Symbolism?

Thanks to the fact that I have the chronic tendency to judge books by their covers, some of what struck me about the prologue of the book was the fact that there is no actual description of Jane in the opening passage, only “She has a red dress. She wants to play;” it is never actually stated that Jane is white, but this fact is implied by the context (Morrison 5). On the cover of my edition, there is a picture of Claudia—wearing a red dress. Although I am not sure what the world thought of such things as Dick and Jane stories and “blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll(s),” in the 1970s when this book was published, in the 2000s these are symbols for the stiff subjugation of women and minorities in the United States between the 1900s and the 1960s (Morrison 20). Also, if "Jane" is supposed to represent Claudia in this story, then perhaps "Dick" could be Frieda, "Mother" could be Mrs. MacTeer, and "Father" might be Mr. Henry or someone that hasn't been introduced yet.

I noticed that someone said they thought this would be an archetypical journey of self-discovery for Claudia, and I agree. “Outdoors was the end of something, an irrevocable, physical fact, defining and complimenting our metaphysical condition,” Claudia says; to me this suggests a threshold into the world around her from the safe little world of the home that she has known, and her growing awareness of the journey she must take into the unknown (Morrison 17). Through the first few pages, there is a sense of anticipation, or waiting for something to begin. They are waiting for the arrival of Mr. Henry, Claudia and Frieda are waiting to grow up, and there is a distinct sense of foreboding in the line, “Even after what came later, there was no bitterness in our memory of him” (Morrison 16).