Myo Myop's Innocence In The Flowers By Alice Walker

Alice Walker explores Myop’s development of being a little girl in her own world to facing rough and sad reality. Myop is a ten-year-old African American girl and is in her own little world but when she goes into the woods by herself and comes across a dead body, she realizes that life isn’t what she lived every day, it’s way different and she just faced reality. In the short story,

“Day of the Butterfly” by Alice Munro is a story involving two girls and their short lasting friendship. In their sixth grade class, Myra does not socialize. She spends most of her time taking care and watching her little brother Jimmy. For the first time in years one of her classmates, Helen, feels slightly bad for her and makes an effort to connect with her. Right after their meeting, Myra is sick with leukemia and she becomes the most talked about person among her peers. They visit her in the hospital bringing gifts and kind words. Helen also brings a gift for her but feels that everything her classmates have given Myra are “guilt-tinged offerings”. They have similarities and differences. Myra and Helen are both are poor and

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 a happy young innocent girl as the story begins. “It seemed to Myop as she skipped lightly from hen house to pigpen to smoke house that the days had never beam as beautiful as there.” (498). And she was just going by her song, happy and as nothing else existed. And matured as she left into the woods alone to discover the decayed body. “Myop gazed around the spot with interest. Very near where she’d stepped into the head with a wild pink rose…Myop laid down her flower” (499) Myop laid the flower on the decayed body. The setting provides a pleasant environment for Myop with the beautiful air and crop harvesting made for a golden surprise at a young age. “The air held a keenness that made her nose twitch. The harvesting of the corn and cotton, peanuts and squash, made each day as a golden surprise that caused excited little tremors to run up her jaws.” (498). Myop lived on what seemed to be a farm, with warm peaceful days and she played as a young girl. But, as she matured it was nothing but peaceful. “It seemed gloomy in the little cove in which she found herself. The air was damp, the silence close and deep.” (499). Walker changes the setting to help show the transformation beginning to occur, as Myop is beginning to have to see all the hardship of the world that her mother cannot protect her from anymore. She is

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 1920s were filled with segregation and discrimination against the African American community. Alice Walker, the author of “The Flowers,” wrote this story to the African Americans to remind them of historic sacrifices that were made to better future lives. In the story we see the main character, Myop, on a journey as she loses her innocence when she comes across the skeleton of a dead man. Walker uses a historical lens, and helps the reader remember the tragic, violent events of the 1920s. Through the use of the audience, structure, tone, symbolism, and allusion Walker is able to further prove that this story is a historical lens.

America, United Stated of America (USA), is a land of immigrants. The country was built by immigrants but gradually immigration to this country became harder. Several contagious nations of American continents have lot of population living in poverty and were strongly convinced to immigrate to USA illegally, by travelling on foot for several days, crossing deserts, mountains and the southern border of USA, to get a decent and secured better life for them and for their kids. Eric Schlosser in his article " In the Strawberry Fields" honestly assessed the conditions of the migratory work force in California straw berry fields while providing facts and evidences to support

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.

Next Walker presents the reader with a change in direction. Although Myop's innocence is still represented, Walker introduces a darker setting. "She had explored the woods behind her house many times" Walker creates a security by showing that Myop is familiar with these surroundings but she is "vaguely"

Although everyone is their own individual, society determines who is considered “normal.” In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon struggles to fit in with the people around him because of his mental illness. Elie Wiesel faces the same struggles while trying to survive in a concentration camp in Night. Charlie and Elie have both been challenged by the concept of identity. In Flowers for Algernon and Night, these characters have faced many conflicts including not having their identity accepted by society, having insecurities about their identity, and being mistreated based on their identity.

The author thinks that many characters have lost their innocence. Raymond was awake the whole time, aware of what was going on around him. Page 98, paragraph 7, tells us that Raymond was speaking, and therefore, must have been awake. Kate was in a situation endangering the lives of the children on the bus and her own life as well. From the reading, we know that Kate knows she is going to die. Bill felt as if he has failed both his country and his father. Robert Cormier tells us how Bill felt and how he reacted to these feelings. These three characters have lost their innocence in some way.

Walker shifts from the delightful imagery used earlier in the text into macabre and straightforward details. “His head lay beside him”, she writes, further stating “he'd had large white teeth, all of them cracked or broken” (Walker 21). The impact on Myop of this situation is palpable because of Walker’s effective use of imagery. Although Walker never outright answers how the man’s teeth were broken or why a rotting noose is found lying next to the body, it is clear what the circumstances of death must have been. The explanation of what has happened to this man lies within what is not explained at all. In other words, the imagery provided is explanation enough. In the end, however, Walker does not digress in her usage of symbolism or imagery. She reserves the most significant symbol of the story for the final two sentences by writing about Myop’s response to her traumatic encounter with death that “Myop laid down her flowers. And the summer was over” which further drives the plot to conclusion (Walker, 21).

As indicated in the lines Myop loved being near home the things she could so freely, such as seeing things

On of the works of art that I have come across this term is an oil on canvas titled “Young Mother and Two Children” by Mary Cassatt, an American Impressionist painter, measures 92.08 x 73.66 cm. The subject matter of a mother and her two children done in the Impressionist style depicts a lifelike representation with an almost ethereal viewpoint There is also a sense of unity as it is a closed composition, which directs the eye to the piece and although there are three subjects within the painting, it seems as one unified and self contained image.

“The Color Purple” written by Alice Walker is a story highlighting the values and ideals of the culture and society in the beginning of the 20th century. During this time period certain women were alienated from society due to their clothes, beliefs, and their actions. Although every woman in this book was alienated from society the extent of alienation differed depending on how their words and actions were perceived by society.