Critical Essay on The Flowers by Alice Walker

Paper Type:  Essay
Pages:  4
Wordcount:  1006 Words
Date:  2022-10-10
Categories: 

Introduction

Myop is happy, carefree and playful as she runs around the cabin with her family playing with the animals. She doesn't look past the beauty of her happy childhood. She decides to go on a hike in the woods, just as her mother did with her many times in late fall while collecting nuts. Myop leaves her sharecropper cabin in safety to go looking for new and beautiful flowers.

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She sets out on her own this summer morning and discovers she is only a mile away from her home in unfamiliar surroundings. The cove that she found was dark, damp, and mysteriously silent. She tries to regain the joy of the morning and finds her way back home to her cabin. But she comes across the remains of a man clearly killed in a lynching. When she saw his "large white, cracked or broken teeth", she was struck by the fragility of his death. This suggests that he might have been beaten prior to his murder.

The rotten remains of a noose are visible as she looks up at the tree. "Myop put down her flowers" was her sign of letting go of her youth, and she was forced into facing one of life's unavoidable truths. The story ended with the statement, "And the summer had come to an end." This was a recognition of the destruction of her childhood innocence. Alice Walker's dramatic portrayal of the impact on a child shows how fast it can happen. She also shows how easy it is to lose your childhood innocence when you realize how prevalent racial violence was during segregation in rural Georgia.

Analyse of the Story: Alice Walker's story "The Flowers" is a timeless tale about a child's struggle to lose innocence. Understanding and acknowledging its use of symbolism is crucial to fully comprehending this story. Walker uses a variety of symbols to illustrate Myop's life from childhood innocence to the harsh realities of adulthood. We are introduced to imagery that has deeper meanings from the beginning of the story.

The season of summer is summer, and it's importance in "The Flowers" must be taken into consideration. People, especially children, view summertime as a time of joy and relaxation. The common view of summer as being synonymous with light-heartedness is a good example of how Myop and most children see summer. Myop, like the summer, represents innocence in a child. Myop also represents the mental and physical ideas of most young children.

She is often unaware of the world around her. Myop is at the center of her universe and doesn't see the world outside of her. Myop, a short version of myopia (meaning lack of insight), is a symbol for childhood ideals. "She felt light and happy in the warm sunshine," is a quote. Walker often speaks of Myop's oblivion when she was ten.

Myop also picks flowers as a symbol of innocence. Myop is drawn to flowers as they are universally associated with joy and life. We see that she is desperately trying to hold on to her childhood innocence and that she holds onto these flowers whenever she feels her innocence might be at risk. Walker says the following to Myop as she begins exploring the woods: "Today, she made her own way, bouncing here and there, vaguely watching out for snakes."

"She found, along with various pretty, common ferns, leaves, an armfull of strange blue flowers, velvety ridges, and a sweet-suds bushes full of brown, fragrant buds." This is an excerpt that shows how Myop was always watching for adult situations (represented by the snakes) during her happy-go lucky frolic in the woods looking for flowers. The story's mood has been cheerful and bright up to this point. The tone changes dramatically when Myop discovers that she has gone too far into the woods.

These woods are symbolic of the fear unknown. They are dark, damp, and gloomy. The tone is reflective of the woods' characteristics. Myop is there that she encounters the one thing that will cause her to lose innocence. It's here that she finds the corpse of an executed man. Myop stumbles accidentally into the face and remains captivated by childhood joy, despite being startled. She inspects the site where the remains of the man were found and discovers one pink rose. She grasps at the flowers to keep her innocence while ignoring reality, as she has said before.

The flower is her escape from the corpse. Myop is certain of the truth when she bends down for the rose and sees the remnants of a noose. According to the legend, Myop "put down her flowers." The summer was over. Walker illustrates the moment when a child loses their precious innocence by using the whole scenario of the noose, corpse, and rose. The unquestionable event that causes the loss of innocence is the corpse. The rose symbolizes the inability of a child or adult to lose their innocence. The noose represents the impossible possibility of being innocent forever.

Myop "set down her flowers," which was basically her innocence. She couldn't live in her small world anymore and "the summer," her childhood, was over. Alice Walker shows us the core theme of the story by using all these symbols. This theme is something that everyone can relate to, subconsciously or consciously. It is the undisputed truth that everyone tries to hold onto their childhood innocence. But, at some point, the innocence in all of us disappears.

A short summary of the details of the body is also included. This adds context to the death and leads to the conclusion. The "threads" of blue denim that he wore from his overalls can be interpreted as a workman. Although it is best to avoid making generalizations, the large bones and teeth of the man, along with his occupation and death cause, suggest that he may have been an African American like Myop. It is also possible to deduce that Myop was subjected to one of the most brutal forms of racism.

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Critical Essay on The Flowers by Alice Walker. (2022, Oct 10). Retrieved from https://midtermguru.com/essays/critical-essay-on-the-flowers-by-alice-walker

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