Analysis Of The Flowers By Alice Walker

In “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”, Alice Walker looks to educate us on the hardships that almost all black women face when trying to express themselves through things such as art. She delves into many sociological and psychological concepts that have affected black women throughout human history. These concepts and ideologies created a realm for mass exclusion, discrimination, and oppression of many African American women, including Alice Walker’s Mother, who Alice utilizes as one of her particular examples. The writing thematically aims to show how these concepts of sexism, racism, and even classism have contributed to black women’s lack of individuality, optimism, and fulfillment for generations. The author does a tremendous job of defending and expanding upon her arguments. She has a credible background, being a black woman that produces the art of literature herself. As well as being raised by one, Walker’s first-hand experience warrants high regard. Therefore, her use of abstract and introspective language is presented clearly and convincingly. Also, her use of evidence and support from sources like Jean Toomer, Virginia Woolf, and Phillis Wheatley, all produce more validity for her stance through poems, quotes, and even experiences. All these individuals have their own accounts pertaining to the oppression of black women and their individuality. Successfully arguing that the artistry plights of black women described in “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” are

As the literal meaning of the story, “The Flowers” is about the lynching of African Americans at that time. Even though this story is fiction, it definitely represents what could have happened in that day in age. It is historically accurate in that it very well could have happened and most probably did happen based on the time period it was written. The lynching of African Americans was a huge problem at that time in the south. Black men were being blamed for crimes they did not commit and were hanged for it without proof. Racism and segregation were ramped in the United States. Thus, inducing the civil rights movement that would fight for the end of segregation and racism. In the story itself, there were signs of how common it was for a black man to be lynched at the time. When Myop stumbles across the body of a recently lynched black man, she immediately realizes what had happened to him and does not really freak out. As expressed in the book, the moment she realized what she had stepped on she let out a little yelp of surprise but then took interest in her discovery. This reaction insinuates that it was almost normal to see such a thing. In the end, she laid down her flowers next to the man and continued on her way home. On the other hand, this story can be taken for more than its literal meaning.

Myop is shown as an innocent young girl as the story begins to unfold. “She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song, the stick clutched in her dark brown hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment.” (498). This passage allows the reader to see Myop as a young innocent girl, playing outside her

One of the most important techniques employed by walker to reflect childhood innocence and the loss of it is symbolism. Walker has enriched her piece with symbolism to highlight the innocent days then the sudden maturation of the protagonist. Even the title of the story is symbolic “The Flowers” stands for the childhood purity and its loss. Throughout the story, Walker uses flowers to depict both innocence and the loss of it. Moreover, she specifically has named the little girl Myop – short for Myopia. That is because Myopia stands for the inability to see things deeply so it shows her childhood innocence. The story beings showing the setting of it which is the harvesting of corn, cotton, peanuts and squash; therefore, it illustrates that she is on a farm. It is also post-civil war days because “sheer cropper cabin” are a new development during this time-her family are sheer croppers.

“The Violets” by Gwen Harwood is a lyrical poem that deals with a woman who is going through a dark period in her life and she looks to her childhood memories, in particular, her parents for sustenance and support. The poem consists of many themes one of which include memory of childhood, the persona of the poem is going through a rough patch in her life and uses her childhood memories The persona concludes, in the present, that neither time nor death can take away our precious memories or those people or places that belong in those memories. Throughout the poem, the tense shifts between past and present as the speaker reaches back in time to a childhood memory, in order to make sense of the present. Another theme that was highlighted was the importance of memories, this is an important theme because due to the retained power of rejuvenation and reflection that memories hold. The violets is a lyrical poem and it

In Alice Walker's "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self”, her view of beauty changes through different stages of her life. In her childhood Walker has a misunderstanding of beauty. She is concerned with superficial signs of beauty and fails to appreciate her inner beauty. A tragic mishap as a young child leaves her right eye blind and deformed. She enters a period of depression her life, living her life in shame and disappointment because she believes her beauty to be lost. Even getting surgery as an adult doesn’t help defeat her demons. She continues to struggle until she finds her inner beauty through her daughter’s love. As a child, Alice Walker got her definition of beauty from her family, in her teens she turned to her peers to define beauty, her perception finally changed again in adulthood when she discovered an inner beauty.

Added to this, the writer’s use of symbolism strengthens this idea of attractiveness and inexperience, Myop’s name being the main symbol. Myop is short for Myopia. The name given to short-sightedness. This is used as a metaphor as Myop’s naivety, then as the story goes on Myop opens her eyes to see what the real world is like and the author mentions her name less. Another symbol used in paragraph 2 is the “warm sun”. This symbolises the light and life of the world. It is a time when people are supposed to be awake and no body should be sleeping but this is later contrasted further on in the story. All the setting and scenery described gives an image of the Garden of Eden- paradise – a place everyone wants to be, where nothing bad can happen up until one critical moment when Eve eats the apple and everything forever changes. This gives the reader an insight in to the rest of the story but still leaves them wondering what could happen next.

Two-year-old Alice Walker was as boastful and energetic as they come. She was a product of her environment;

She shows herself as cowardly when she was reeling after the accident, “For six years I do not stare at anyone, because I do not raise my head.”(444), she says, portraying her disgust for herself. Walker utilizes the tone of her writing to manipulate the progression of her attitude shift. For instance, in the stages soon after the accident she uses a very morbid and pessimistic tone to describe the events that are transpiring at that juncture of her life. Stating, “I do not pray for sight. I pray for beauty.”(445), proving that even though this accident has occurred she has still remained very resistant to a change in attitude. She also couples detail to multiply the effect that these strategies have on the reader because when she describes these events, the details she uses reflects the tone, so it visibly transmits the idea of her attitude at that phase, which would be much harder to achieve without these rhetorical techniques used appropriately. The dialogue also plays into this idea as well as it also reflects the current mood of the stage. For example, when she was still very young she used very flattering words as dialogue to complement the tone where she thought beauty was everything and being most beautiful was most important. “That girl’s a little mess.”(442), “And got so much sense!”(442), people bombard

As Myop continues her journey she began to feel uneasy of the unknown land so she starts to head back home where she feels safe which, is an automatic trait that we, as humans carry; go back to a place where you feel protected. As Myop is on her way back home, she “stepped smack onto his eyes” (Walker, 76.) Myop stumbled upon a dead man’s body but she isn’t afraid of the body, she’s more startled and confused at the sighting. She still hasn’t yet quite understood what she was actually seeing because she decides to get closer to pick up a wild pink rose that was near the head of the corpse. Myop deciding to pick up the wild pink rose despite her seeing the man’s body still shows that she still has her innocence and how she doesn’t quite fully understand what was going on. That quickly changes when she sees “the rotted remains of a noose” (Walker 77.) When Myop discovered the noose, she realized what had happened. Myop realized that this man was lynched. It all made sense now. From Myop seeing the man’s broken and cracked teeth indicated that this man was attacked by a group of people before he was lynched by

"She skipped lightly from hen house to pigpen". This shows how happy Myop is in this setting, we know she feels safe here, "She felt light and good in the warm sun" Her innocence produces an excitement to the reader as it gives the character and the text somewhere to go. We learn that

In Alice Walker's “Everyday Use” she uses a tactic to set a mood for the reader by bringing in the character Maggie. Walker's use of language when describing Maggie creates a picture of a physically scarred and unintelligent girl. Maggie's physical scarring is pointed out

It refers to the fact that Myop, for instance, at first does not at all seem scared when she steps down into the man’s skull. She is nearsighted—she does not see the whole picture and does not understand that the man was executed and left there to rot. She just gazes interested at the spot where he is lying, and it is first at the very end of the story, when she sees the remains of the noose spinning in the air, that she finally understands what is really going on and loses her ‘nearsightedness’.

This discovery is the end of Myop’s carefree existence; therefore, her innocence dies. Myop lays down her flowers, not only at the gravesite of the man but also at the gravesite of her childhood and her former self. The most obvious way that death is present as a theme is through the fact that Myop discovers an actual dead body in the forest. She comes to realize that all people die; some have harsh and cruel deaths. The details of the decomposing body: the eyes, teeth, and rotting clothes strengthen the theme. In the beginning from the description of Emily’s death-haunted life to the description of Emily herself, it is clear that death runs rampant for Emily. Emily is a fixture in her community, as a symbol of the south’s old dying ways. She tries to deny the fact of death at all. Her necrophilia first comes to light once her father dies. She is unable to admit that he has passed away and clings to his controlling love- the only love she knows. Reluctantly, she gives up his body. When Homer dies, she again refuses to accept it, even though she is the cause of his demise. In murdering Homer, she was able to ensure that he would never leave her. Homer and Emily’s repulsive marriage reveals Emily’s attempt to fuse life and death as one. Death ultimately conquers all.

Myop is far from home the character learns and matures. Myop learns that the world is not