Write other alternative ending for the story THE PRICE OF FLOWERS
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Answer:
The Price of Flowers’ is an excellent story by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay. The main theme of the story is the love of a girl for her dead brother. There are also other themes like the hardships of the poor people, the dangers of war, unfulfilled desires and dreams of ordinary people and superstitions.
The style of narration has been very simple. The story is moved forward through the dialogues among the three main characters of the story – Maggie, her mother and Mr. Gupta. The language used is lucid and easy to understand. The words and expressions used make a fine impact on our minds. The story takes place in London but in the end we see the narrator placing some flowers at the grave of Frank, the brother of Maggie, at Fort Monroe. Characterization has been superb.
The character of Maggie is drawn in an exemplary manner, The poor girl of 13 or 14 with her large, sad eyes, her hair streaming .down her neck, wearing shabby clothes, living in an uncomfortable house with her old mother and working in a shop for small wages is portrayed exquisitely. She is so poor that she eats her lunch only on Saturday, the payday.
Her inquisitive nature, her ideas about India, her superstition, her love for her brother and mother, etc. are powerfully pictured. The dialogues are short and sweet. There are no lengthy and boring dialogues. The story is moved forward through apt dialogues. There s fine imagery in the story. No person with a compassionate heart can end reading the story without shedding a tear. Mukhopadhyay through his ‘Price of Flowers’ has proved that he is a fine story teller.
HomeReviewThe Price of Flowers – Review
The Price of Flowers – Review
Summary / Review / Appreciation
The Price of Flowers is a touching story by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadyay. The story is set in London in the pre independence era. It is narrated through the point of view of Mr Gupta, an Indian civil servant undergoing training in London.
Mr Gupta meets a teenaged girl in a restaurant. Her interest in him arouses his curiosity. He later becomes friends with her and learns her story. She lives with her widowed mother in a poor neighbourhood. Her only brother Frank is in India serving the British army. They have no information from him for several months and they are worried.
When Mr Gupta visits their home Mrs Clifford, the mother requests him to look in to the crystal on a ring sent by Frank from India. They believe that the ring has magical powers and a Hindu will be able to see the future and past if he concentrates on the crystal. Mr Gupta tries but fails. This disappoints her.
Later Mrs Clifford falls ill. Maggie requests him to look once again into the crystal and tell her mother that Frank is alright. As this will help her to recover, he agrees to tell this harmless lie. But by the time he tells this, Frank was already dead. When Mr Gupta returns to India, Maggie gives him one shilling to buy flowers for Frank’s grave.
The story is a really touching one. The one shilling that Maggie gives him is hard earned money. At first Mr Gupta thinks of returning it. But later he decides to take it as he does not want to deny her this joy of sacrifice. What is the price of those flowers? It is not certainly one shilling. The flowers are priceless when we consider Maggie’s feelings towards her brother. So the title of the story is an apt one.
The western misconception of India is revealed through the words of Maggie and Mrs Clifford on many occasions. The story opens and ends with the meeting between Mr Gupta and Maggie. The characters are portrayed with utmost care. The careful selection of words and phrases arranged in a simple language adds to the beauty of the story. There is an abundance of dialogues in the story, which helps the reader to build an emotional connection with the characters