Summary

This short story by Alice Walker is written in a stream-of-consciousness style. It is set in Mississippi, at the wedding ceremony of the main character, Roselily. The story has been broken into segments with each segment beginning with a line from the wedding ceremony.

The wedding is being held on the front porch of Roselily's house. There is traffic passing by on the nearby highway, interfering with the tranquility of the ceremony. Roselily thinks that the white people in the cars are on their way to some place more exciting than this wedding; in contrast, the groom feels as though they are usurping the wedding. Roselily feels as though she is in a dream, moving through quicksand. She feels like a little girl dressed up in her mother's wedding dress.

The groom does not come from the same community as Roselily...