The Flowers Alice Walker Essay
The Flowers – critical essay
Question: Choose a novel or short story in which there is a clear turning point. Briefly describe what leads up to the turning point and explain the effect it has on the rest of the novel or short story.
Answer
The short story, “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, has a clear turning point. There are many clues in the story which symbolise the turning point coming closer. The turning point is when the main character, a young girl, steps into the skull of a lynched black man and in the process, loses her innocence.
This short story is based in 1950s America, when whites hated blacks. It is based in the time in which the Third Ku Klux Klan was active, they were notorious for abducting and murdering blacks. Myop, the girl in the story, goes through the woods collecting different flowers with assorted colours, which symbolises her approaching the turning point, when she steps into the skull of a lynched black man. The climatic turning point symbolises the end of Myop’s innocence.
“The Flowers” starts with the words “it seemed”, which shows Myop’s carefree innocence in the story as everything “seems” perfect. She may be like this because her parents have protected her from the dangers of the world, which is to no avail later in the story. Myop’s carefree innocence is further emphasised when we are told “she skipped from henhouse to pighouse to smokehouse”. Myop’s naivety is shown when the author says that she thought “ the days had never been as beautiful as these.”
The first true warning we get of the turning point is when Myop senses something. There was a “keenness” in the air “that made her nose twitch”. The twitchy nose reminds us of dog’s sharp sense of smell, or a rabbit’s nose twitch when it senses danger. So in effect we get the impression that she senses something will happen, we don’t really know if it will be good or bad until we read on.
We are reminded of Myop’s protected innocence when we are told of her
Question: Choose a novel or short story in which there is a clear turning point. Briefly describe what leads up to the turning point and explain the effect it has on the rest of the novel or short story.
Answer
The short story, “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, has a clear turning point. There are many clues in the story which symbolise the turning point coming closer. The turning point is when the main character, a young girl, steps into the skull of a lynched black man and in the process, loses her innocence.
This short story is based in 1950s America, when whites hated blacks. It is based in the time in which the Third Ku Klux Klan was active, they were notorious for abducting and murdering blacks. Myop, the girl in the story, goes through the woods collecting different flowers with assorted colours, which symbolises her approaching the turning point, when she steps into the skull of a lynched black man. The climatic turning point symbolises the end of Myop’s innocence.
“The Flowers” starts with the words “it seemed”, which shows Myop’s carefree innocence in the story as everything “seems” perfect. She may be like this because her parents have protected her from the dangers of the world, which is to no avail later in the story. Myop’s carefree innocence is further emphasised when we are told “she skipped from henhouse to pighouse to smokehouse”. Myop’s naivety is shown when the author says that she thought “ the days had never been as beautiful as these.”
The first true warning we get of the turning point is when Myop senses something. There was a “keenness” in the air “that made her nose twitch”. The twitchy nose reminds us of dog’s sharp sense of smell, or a rabbit’s nose twitch when it senses danger. So in effect we get the impression that she senses something will happen, we don’t really know if it will be good or bad until we read on.
We are reminded of Myop’s protected innocence when we are told of her