Designer Handbags in Novels

Photo: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

School is out, so I can’t find English Literature professors to ask them
about the definition of fiction and non-fiction.

Loosely defined, fiction is playing house, make-believe, if you will. The John and Mary in the novel, we will call Handless Hands, don’t exist. They are characters the writer made up, to tell the story.

Non-fiction is real life like the U.S. during World War 11. President Truman bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, when he knew that Japan had already surrendered.

Fiction pretends to be real life so we assume that Mary carries a handbag, a back pack or money belt around her waist. Mary is not poor. She has a job. Maybe she is a trust fund baby. How do we tell the reader that? We mention the brand name of her handbag.

Handless Hands becomes a best seller. Jordan Peele directs the movie version. Women who cannot decide anything without watching royalty and movie stars buy the handbag. Therefore, the author gave handbag manufacturers free advertising.

Characterization. Writers grapple with it. A poor character is no problem because they can say she pushes a grocery cart with all her belongings or the soles of his shoes are wide open like a shark yawning.

Making up a rich character without mentioning a brand is very difficult in a world that puts more emphasis on brand names than family history.

One author worked around it by saying the lawyer character, put her feet on the desk. She was wearing shoes with red soles. Red soles. She didn’t mention the brand but people in the know, like my sister, know.

Authors should welcome the challenge to develop rich characters without mentioning that scarf or that handbag. It should be a true test of their craft. Saying the character lives in a castle does not cut it either, because it might be owing two million pounds in taxes.

More originality. Readers will appreciate it.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.