Apposition with Title and Juxtaposition within

Also consider "Imitation of Life" (1934) one of most important films in history, having viewed this some three dozen times (since circa 1990), so agree with many positive remarks among viewers' Comments.

But notice a recurring notion among them that this film's title pertains to the character of Peola (alone).

Wouldn't "Imitation of Life" describe the storyline theme of several characters here? To how many characters might we appose its title?

When we study this film, we notice its three-part construction over a period of fifteen years. At its most modern potential, Part One would be set in 1919, with Delilah's meeting Beatrice, and introducing their pre-school-age daughters.

As young mothers desiring the best for their daughters, Beatrice and Delilah share some of their backstory here, at a time before the use of automobiles became commomplace even around New York City, its primary setting. Later, we'll hear Delilah's commenting about preferring horse-drawn carriages to "the smell of gasoline."

Part Two would take place in 1924 (with its final scene perhaps during the winter of 1925), when Peola and Jesse attend elementary school. Also, we meet the character of Elmer. "We're certainly a lot better off than we were five years ago," Beatrice comments to Delilah.

Part Three would, therefore, begin its scenes at the dancing party in 1934. "No, no, the tenth anniversary," Beatrice tells her admirers, as Peola has by now turend 19, and Jessie thrives in her private school. Beatrice meets Stephen, whom everyone knows as a dedicated Ichthyologist, owning his private NYC aquarium (complete with hermit crabs), and traveling to remote South Seas' islands.

Delilah's self-appointed purpose in life centers around serving Beatrice, Jessie and Peola. Given an opportunity to advance beyond her daily struggles in this "rags-to-riches" movie, Delilah opts to perpetuate her labors.

Beatrice, meanwhile, embraces dreams of granting Jessie material blessings. "For me, she's the beginning and end of everything," she remarks to Stephen. But how far will Beatrice go to live vicariously through her daughter? "The thought of her unhappiness is more than I could bear," she later declares.

Stephen, too, leads a nonconventional existence. Complete? Incomplete? Genuine? Artificial? "Have you only loved characters in books?" he is asked.

Peola, the personification of someone who rejects her race, "Couldn't be happy there," referring to her attending the college in Virginia founded for students of African descent. Where could she find happiness? "What is there for me anyway?" she pleads to Delilah.

Jessie, meanwhile, "matures" into a bit of a snob. For her, despite her mother's "sacrifices"--or maybe because of them--only the finest which life has to offer will suit Jessie.

Elmer doesn't "know about that," referring to a prospective employment position, which Beatrice offers him back in Part Two. He initially seems somewhat content with the life of indolence, which life has hitherto handed him. But yet he takes his future responsibilities soundly and steadfastly, as he continually drives himself to protect Beatrice and Jessie.

If you might apply the title to any major character here, then also consider the long-lasting friendship between Beatrice and Delilah, and how they must disguise their comradery as an "Employer/employee" relationship--notes one documentary commentator.

How many points of juxtaposition do you spot in "Imitation of Life" (1934)? Most emphasised, perhaps, would have to be that famous staircase scene after they "talk the party over" in Part Three, in which Beatrice, adorned in long evening gown and jewelry ascends the open stairwell, while Delilah, in housedress and with dismal countenance, descends into the lower quarters.

Interesting, too, that Peola would run off to one of the Red States, to avoid discrimination. Maybe her thinking is that her mother wouln't be permitted inside the restaurant in which she has taken a position. Back in the Blue States, Delilah would draw the customers to her restaurant, which seems to appear remarkably similar (in set design) to the one in Virginia, in which its proprietor doesn't hear Delilah's plea to Peola, but listens to every word which Beatrice speaks, causing Peola to realize that she cannot pass.

Also, of note, in this regard, at the beginning of Peola's final scene in Part Three, she passes through the crowd of dark-complected onlookers outside of the church until she reaches two fair-skinned ladies, to stand between, in order "to blend in with them," perhaps?