Is this my last post of 2024?

If so, going out with a mini annotating guide for Paradise by Toni Morrison feels right. When I finished Paradise by Toni Morrison yesterday, the scent of mint in the book haunted and fascinated me. When I looked deeper in the text and realized how often mint showed up in the book, I had to create this guide.

Top Examples of The Smell of Mint in Paradise

• 🌱 Rogue mint and phlox permeates the air at K.D.’s & Annette’s wedding.
• 🌱 Lone releases nervous energy by chewing on minty fresh doublemint gum.
• 🌱 At the Convent, wintergreen oil gets rubbed on shorn heads. This is very scent that Jeff and Arnold Fleetwood follow into the game room on the massacre day.

Annotating Guide for Mint in Paradise by Toni Morrison

You will need 18 tabs for this annotating project, including one for your tab key.

🌱 Mint Plants 🌱

• Seneca p89
• Divine p143 (twice), p144
• Patricia p216

💚 Mint Green Color 💚

• Mavis p24, p36
• Seneca p124
• Consolata p 228

🍬 Doublemint Gum 🍬

• Ruby p12
• Lone p276, p289

🍬 Breath Mints 🍬

• Mavis p29
• Seneca p120

🍃 Wintergreen¹ 🍃

• Ruby p7
• Lone p284, p286

Suggested Reading:

• Food Writing in Toni Morrison’s Books (Harper’s)
• Mint Traditions in Black American Culture (Blog Post)
• Wintergreen Botanical Info
• Mint Botanical Info

1. Wintergreen has a mint-like scent, but botanically is not a mint family plant. ↩︎