Explain the signifacance and symbolism of the woodrose creeper in the story.Story name is - The Woodrose
Answers
Answer:
Wood rose is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
Dactylanthus taylorii, a parasitic plant endemic to New Zealand
Hawaiian baby woodrose (Argyreia nervosa)
Rosa gymnocarpa
Species in the genus of Merremia.
MENU
What are the symbols and their representations in "The Flowers," by Alice Walker? What is the significance of the word flowers in the title?
print Print document PDF list Cite
Expert Answers info
TAMARA K. H. eNotes educator | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
One of the most important symbols in Alice Walker's short story "The Flowers" is Myop's "family's sharecropper cabin." Myop is described as walking away from the dirt road of the cabin to the stream behind the house and deeper into the woods beyond the stream. In addition, while taking this walk, Myop is described as being extremely happy. The story is set during the final days of summer when the harvest begins, and in Myop's mind, these final days of summer are the most beautiful ever, especially because the scents of the harvest excite her as if each new day holds a "golden surprise." Yet, the image of a sharecropper cabin is an extremely sorrowful image; it's an image tied to extreme poverty, a black man's continued subordination to white masters despite the end of slavery, the denial of education needed for a black man to break these chains of subordination, and racism, making the image of a sharecropper cabin symbolic of poverty, subordination, and racism. Yet, Myop, at the start of the story, is apparently innocent of an understanding of the extent of her family's suffering. Therefore, the image also foreshadows and symbolizes the suffering and racism she will soon come to understand as she leaves her childhood innocence behind.
In the woods, Myop strays a mile from home gathering wildflowers. She is just starting to head home when she discovers the corpse of a hanged man. Myop notices the noose that serves as evidence of a lynch mob hanging the moment she sees a single wild rose. In describing the wild rose, author Walker intentionally creates a very incongruous image. Walker describes Myop as picking the rose and seeing "a raised mound, a ring, around the rose's root." The problem is that wild roses do not grow from single rooted stems; they grow from bushes. Yet, Walker has intentionally chosen not to mention the bush. The incongruous image of the wild rose helps the reader see that the members of the lynch mob used the wild rose in mockery of life and that, in the story, the wild rose symbolizes a mockery of life. Rather than protecting the life of the more than likely innocent man, as a wild rose should, it was used by members of the lynch mob to cause his painful death, all because of racism. It is when Myop is described as having "laid down her flowers," as if laying down flowers on a tomb, that Myop seems to have come to fully understand what she is seeing. The act of laying down these wild flowers symbolizes her awakening--no longer does she see life as a joyous wonder; she is now fully aware of the existence of death and will soon become more aware of the fact that racism causes death and destruction. Hence, the story is titled "The Flowers" because her act of laying down flowers at the side of a deceased man portrays her new awareness of death and suffering.