Blog #3: "The Flowers" Essay & Reflection

In the short story "The Flowers", Alice Walker conveys the theme of losing childhood innocence through the main character's experiences and adds elements of imagery and narrative pace throughout the story. Walker paints a dreamlike setting in which the child is free to roam and play in what seems to be a perfect world, but later, her discovery of death—highlighted by Walker's stylistic choices—allows the child to recognize the iniquity that exists in the world. 

The narration is full of sensory imagery as the audience takes in everything Myop experiences. The descriptions convey bliss and peacefulness. Walker notes details such as “strange blue flowers with velvety ridges and a sweetsuds bush full of brown, fragrant buds”. At this point in the story, the narration takes a slow pace as the author takes the audience through the natural beauty of the landscape. The story takes a tone shift in the fifth paragraph when Walker states, “the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts…the air was damp, the silence close and deep”. The last sentence is brief and short. This contrast between the liveliness of the woods and the cold silence that Myop now experiences prepares the reader for the ending of the story and a more rapid narrative pace.

Briefly after the shift in tone, the child discovers a dead body. Her discovery of the body feels sudden, interrupting her routine as she was carelessly playing in the woods. The abruptness is evident in the language that Walker employs, including lines like “she stepped smack into his eyes” and “a little yelp of surprise”. The appearance of the corpse in the midst of the beauty of the woods serves to tarnish the harmony of the setting. Myop, however, does not appear frightened. Instead, she picks up a wild pink rose that she finds near the body. This flower symbolizes her maturing because she shows no signs of being frightened. The last line of the story—“and summer was over”—serves as a final echo that her childhood innocence has ended as she discovers maturity.

Reflection:

For the first ten minutes of the timed essay, I sat and read the passage. I thought, "This isn't too bad". I did some annotating; I underlined, bracketed, and marked tone shifts; I went through the "typical" routine. I picked up on the underlying theme of the loss of innocence pretty quickly after carefully reading the ending of the story. Essentially, I had recognized the obvious themes, rhetorical devices, and tone shifts that stood out as I read the story. Just as I was beginning to feel confident in my analysis, I remembered the significance of addressing complexities. It was then when I began to feel an overpowering sense of uncertainty. I felt like I didn't have the capability to provide an in depth interpretation. I lacked confidence in my interpretations, so I didn't carry it through into my writing. My self-doubt also affected my focus on thinking deeper about how small differences in diction could affect the overall purpose of the piece; as a result, I failed to recognize the subtleties and nuances.

Despite all my difficulties, I am relieved that I at least identified specific references to image, diction, narrative pacing, and setting to support my thesis (which adequately responds to the prompt). Additionally, my thesis is distinct in that I address the significance of Myop's discovery at the end of the story in order to show how she changes as a person through the course of her excursion (I did not simply restate the prompt). I also mentioned that Myop discovers maturity in the end of the story, which is an aspect of the "Bildungsroman" since she ends her journey as a changed individual. I also mentioned the pink rose by the corpse in my essay; however, I failed to acknowledge the paradox between the pastoral and Gothic imagery, which would have added complexity. 

Since it was the subtleties that was lacking in my essay, my number one goal would be to be able to pick out more complexities in prose passages. Basically, my goal is to adapt myself into a certain way of thinking about intricacies. To make this a habit every time I read a new passage, I will ask myself the following questions: Are there details that contradict each other to show contrast? What kind of imagery is being used so that it affects mood and tone? How is the author shifting his/her tone? How does the author change pacing? And if all else fails, how does the author use diction and syntax to create meaning?

My second goal is to be more successful in my active reading and planning stage of the timed essay. I did not write a very thorough or complete essay (I only got the opening and two body paragraphs done, yikes) simply because I did not accomplish a lot in the pre-writing stage. I was too hesitant with my interpretation, from now on; I will dedicate the first ten minutes of the timed essay to not only writing an effective thesis, but also to accomplish my first goal of picking out the complexities in the passage in addition to the obvious references and details. This way, I can be more efficient when it comes to the actual writing part. My final goal would be organize my second goal. I think that if I bullet out which details I am going to use as evidence for each of my body paragraphs, I will be able to organize my thoughts better. Also, I think that it would benefit me to assign one or two literary techniques to each paragraph. Effective organization will ultimately allow me to write a more complete essay without so many struggles in between and give me more self-assurance in my writing.