"A Detail Transforms the Whole" by Orlando Bartro
One word—placed at a key point—changes the meaning of a story, such as when Jane Austen “engages” two of her characters in conversation, thus foreshadowing via a pun on “engaged” that they will be engaged to be married by story’s end.
Similar transforming details appear in paintings, such as Ingres’ magnificent Jupiter and Thetis.
Note that Jupiter, while being supplicated by the goddess Thetis, is resting his elbow on a cloud!
The viewer can sense the weight that is being placed on the cloud by Jupiter’s elbow. This detail makes Jupiter float along with his mammoth throne. It disembodies the bodily bodies and sets the painting in myth.
Or consider Michelangelo’s Holy Family.
Note the tiny sprig on the border of the white wall to the left of the central figures. It is obviously there, but tiny.
This tiny sprig has been identified as hyssop. Hyssop was used in baptism to sprinkle water on the one to be baptized, and a young John the Baptist, dressed in camel’s hair, stands behind the sprig.
But a hyssop branch was also used to give Jesus a drink of vinegar when he was hanging on the cross. This sprig changes the meaning of Michelangelo’s intimate family scene, foreshadowing the crucifixion and the baptism of death that Christ will endure.
* Orlando Bartro is the author of Toward Two Words, a comical & surreal novel about a man who finds yet another woman he never knew, usually available at Amazon for $4.91.