← All themes
There Is Confusion · Theme
Art and Self-Expression
How There Is Confusion develops Art and Self-Expression.
Dance, music, and theater are portrayed as powerful means of personal and cultural expression, with Joanna’s artistry symbolizing the struggle for recognition and the potential to transcend racial boundaries through creative achievement.
Where it surfaces
- VII
Joanna's spontaneous dance and her teaching of the barn dance highlight the theme of artistic expression as a joyful, communal activity.
- XXVII
Joanna's audition and the Board's serious discussion of dance emphasize art as a means of expression and overcoming prejudice.
- XXVIII
Joanna finds solace among Miss Sharples' artist friends and uses her art as a means of expression, though she begins to see it as covering up life's bare bones.