Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Flowers by Alice Walker


“Myop carried a short, knobby stick…and worked out the beat of a song on the fence around the pigpen.”
                Myop’s young and carefree mind allows her to see the good present in everything. She has neither worries nor concerns. She is able to see the beauty in a piece of wood and turn it into a musical instrument. She is able to sing and dance around her parents’ farm feeling safe and secure. She is playful with animals and sees all the good that is present around her, unaware of the danger that is present in the outside world. The ten year old is in her own peaceful world that she has created where there is no bad.

“The air was damp, the silence close and deep.”
                As Myop walks through the forest, a mile away from her home, the atmosphere is not as bright and exciting as it was shortly before. The damp air directs the idea that something bad is approaching and the deep silence creates a scary mood. The silence represents the transition of Myop growing up. Her turning point in life to grow up is near. It will be quiet and quick when she sees the realization of what people in the world are truly capable of, the darkness that is present among her.

“Myop laid down her flowers. And the summer was over.”
                Alice Walker’s main character Myop is a young ten year old girl who has no cares in the world and is free and joyous. She is innocent. Never has she done horrible wrongs or witnessed anything wrong. However, after coming upon what seems to be a lynching of a man, her eyes have become open to the violence of humanity within the world, particularly racism. She processes the dead corpse in front of her and at that very moment she begins to grow up and see the world in a different light. She must leave her carefree childhood behind.

golden-bright metallic or lustrous like gold
              full of happiness prosperity or vigor (The Flowers, ln 3)
rooted-to become fixed or established
                to pull tear or dig up by roots (The Flowers, ln 11)
haunts-a place frequently visited (The Flowers, ln 19)

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