I read the short story titled "The Flowers" by Alice Walker. A thesis that I was think of was, Myop lacks the aspect of reality in the story through the shelter that she receives through her family, she is conditioned to a life that will give her hope until she meets her reality in the end of the story. The environment doesn't help her either, considering the time the story takes place with racism and ugly things happening to innocent people. One quote to consider is when it states "Around an overhanging limb of a great spreading oak clung another piece. Frayed, rotted, bleached, and frazzled-barely there-but spinning restlessly in the breeze. Myop laid down her flowers. And the summer was over." This quote is so powerful when talking about the rope that laid there. She realizes what was done to this corpse and realizes what kind of time she lives in. This is so gruesome for a child to experience, especially one who was sheltered for so long.
Another quote from the story to consider is "When she pushed back the leaves and layers of earth and debris Myop saw that he'd had large white teeth, all of them cracked or broken, long finger, and very big bones." This quote leads up to the previous quote, when she discovers this corpse it's such a gruesome image to even imagine a human being put through this pain before they were to die. The parents shelter tries to avoid this kind of punishment to a child but at the same time she needs to see it to know her own reality before it's too late.
A last quote to consider is "She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song, the stick clutched in her dark brown hand, and the tat-de-tata-ta of accompaniment." This shows before both quotes above on how her innocence shines, this girl was not ready for this kind of reality to hit her, and when it does hit her, it hits her hard! She almost seems to go numb at the very end of the story when it states "And the summer was over." But was summer really over? Or was her summer over?
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