Written by Joshua Maslin
Often times, characters face certain events, people, or ideas that result in an internal change of character. These events, people, or ideas that the characters come across may be scarring, affecting them negatively. Similarly, In Alice Walker’s short story, “The Flowers”, Myop undergoes a drastic change in character. When Myop stumbles upon the rotted skeleton of a lynched slave, and undercovers the horrific truth behind it, her initial childlike innocence is lost. Walker uses the development of Myop’s character and the eerie shift in the setting to highlight her gained maturity, and in doing so, displays the theme that when one is confronted with a dark history, it may lead to a loss of innocence.
It is evident through Myop’s characterization that she undergoes a loss of innocence, once she is troubled with the dark history of the skeleton. Before Myop undercovers the truth about her past, “...nothing existed for her but her song, the stick clutched in her dark brown hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta of accompaniment” (Walker ). Through this quote, Walker establishes that Myop’s initial character, before her realization, is of the pure innocence. She knows of nothing other than her own little world, which is abundant with light-hearted skipping, beautiful days of exploring, and picking flowers. In addition to this, after Myop comes across the decayed skeleton, presumably a lynched slave of her own kin, she “... gazed around the spot with interest”, indicating that she is unfamiliar with fear; she does not need to become aware of the presence of danger, considering how she has never come face to face with anything threatening or disturbing before (Walker). This aspect of Myop’s initial characterization indicates how, before her realization, Myop has a care-free nature. It isn’t until she plucks a flower from “... the rotted remains of a noose” does the realization of her past strike her (Walker). The blue denim overalls of the skeleton indicates that this man has once been a farmer, or perhaps a slave, while the remains of the noose denotes that this man has been lynched. As Myop pieces this together, she realizes that this skeleton is the remains of a man who has been murdered, with his dark skin (similar to hers) persumably being at fault. After Myop is burdened with the undesirable truth behind her unusual finding, she “laid down her flowers” (Walker). This displays the theme that the confrontation with a dark history can result in a loss of innocence.
Likewise, Walker’s manipulation of the setting in her short story stresses Myop’s acquired maturity. Before Myop finds the skeleton of the lynched slave, the initial setting of the story takes place at her family’s sharecropper cabin. “The air held a keenness that made [Myop’s] nose twitch”, and the sun was out and warm (Walker). Myop is playing around the spring, where “... silver ferns and wildflowers grew. Along the shallow banks pigs rooted. Myop watched the tiny white bubbles disrupt the thin black scale of soil and the water that silently rose and slid away down the stream” (Walker). It is evident through Walker’s descriptions that before Myop’s loss of innocence, the setting of the story is serene and dreamy. On the other hand, in the scene where Myop comes across the rotten remains of the skeleton, she finds herself in a gloomy little cove, where “the air was damp, the silence close and deep” (Walker). This second scene is a sharp contrast to the first, which efficiently highlights Myop’s maturity before and after she crosses paths with the skeleton. This emphasises the fact that Myop obtains a great amount of maturity from the beginning of the story to the end, and in doing so, it presents the theme that a loss of purity may be the result when one is confronted with an upsetting history.
Myop’s acquired maturity conveys the theme that the confrontation with a dark history may lead to a loss of innocence. Walker expresses Myop’s obtained maturity through her characterization, as well as the significant shift in setting. While Myop’s actions showcase her change in character, from child-like and innocent to mature and understanding, the setting of the story also shifts from a cheery one to a darker one. Such changes in one’s character can often be the result of a scarring event, as it was for Myop.
Joshua Maslin is a 15-year-old dedicated writer from Liverpool. He loves to write about politics and current events that occur on a global scale.
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