The Blue Bouquet
Ever been warned not do to something, but still do it anyways? For example, a mother or father warning their child if not wearing a jacket, eventually will lead up to a cold or, even worse, hyperthermia? Similar to the child, the protagonist from “The Blue Bouquet” is given numerous opportunities to justify his decisions, however his naïve and foolish decision will expose him to great harm and dangerous threats. Paz uses a variety of literary elements such as word choice, symbolism and foreshadowing to justify that the transition from innocence to experience is impactful. In Octavio Paz’s story, “The Blue Bouquet” the reader should understand that the transition from innocence to experience will be risky and dangerous. This is a result of
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At the beginning of the story Paz uses a scorpion to symbolize the protagonist and his character. The encounter of the antagonist and the main character represent a very similar scenario at between the scorpion and the protagonist. The scorpion is imagined to be vulnerable, unprotected and small where the protagonist is cautious of “to step on” a scorpion. A scorpion itself symbolizes independence, control, and transition. Similar to the scorpion the protagonist is seen to appear as a small unit of life compared to the “enormous” night. Portraying as being isolated and vulnerable to the unknown world. Both are seen the beginning of the story to be safe when their in their “hideout” protecting them from the world just outside their door. When leaving that hideout for that “fresh air” they are immediately seen as a threat for being unprotected and exposed to the harm the world as to offer. The protagonist’s naïve decisions and inexperience subconscience is the reason for his threat by the antagonist. The protagonist is fully aware of the dangerous the night as however along his journey he ignored those signs and warnings like when the plaza owner's warns him “stay put” (p.163) and that there are “ no streetlights”. In other words the protagonist is in a state of acting on situations with a blind eye. An individual's inexperienced subconscience can affect one’s decisions and awareness of the unknown
At the beginning of the story Paz uses a scorpion to symbolize the protagonist and his character. The encounter of the antagonist and the main character represent a very similar scenario at between the scorpion and the protagonist. The scorpion is imagined to be vulnerable, unprotected and small where the protagonist is cautious of “to step on” a scorpion. A scorpion itself symbolizes independence, control, and transition. Similar to the scorpion the protagonist is seen to appear as a small unit of life compared to the “enormous” night. Portraying as being isolated and vulnerable to the unknown world. Both are seen the beginning of the story to be safe when their in their “hideout” protecting them from the world just outside their door. When leaving that hideout for that “fresh air” they are immediately seen as a threat for being unprotected and exposed to the harm the world as to offer. The protagonist’s naïve decisions and inexperience subconscience is the reason for his threat by the antagonist. The protagonist is fully aware of the dangerous the night as however along his journey he ignored those signs and warnings like when the plaza owner's warns him “stay put” (p.163) and that there are “ no streetlights”. In other words the protagonist is in a state of acting on situations with a blind eye. An individual's inexperienced subconscience can affect one’s decisions and awareness of the unknown