Another instance of death by drowning is Chicken Little's accidental death in the river. In describing this death, Morrison notes that "the water darkened and closed quickly over the place where Chicken Little sank." The phrase "the closed place in the water" becomes a metaphor for death.
Many minor examples of water associated with men are scattered throughout the novel. These include Nel's father, Wiley Wright, who is a ship's cook on one of the Great Lakes shipping lines; Ajax's idea of bliss on earth as a hot bath; the deweys' wildly fighting against the threat of being bathed — a fear that foreshadows their deaths by drowning; and, on seeing Hannah burning in the yard, the reaction of Mr. and Mrs. Suggs, who together "hoisted up their tub of water in which tight red tomatoes floated and threw it on the smoke-and-flame-bound woman" — the water puts out the flames, but the resulting steam sears all that is left of the once-beautiful Hannah.
