Walker, Alice. The Flowers.

“The Flowers”

1) How do you interpret the final line of the story? What is the effect of the brevity of that sentence?

Myop enjoyed the outside. Even in the very first one it says, “She skipped lightly from hen house to pigpen to smoke-house” (82).  It can be interpreted that she love going to the woods to “explore”. The author even states, “She had explored the woods behind the house many times” (82). Myop was frightening after finding that man in the woods. I think it scared her so much that she wouldn’t go back that summer. That is why the final line states that “the summer was over.” The outside things she enjoyed of summer she wouldn’t enjoy them anymore this year. I think the effect of that line is to make the reader understand how short her summer really was.

2) Describe the atmosphere and tone of the first three paragraphs. What emotions do they produce concerning Myop’s childhood?

Myop lived on what we would call a farm. In the first line it talks about the “hen house” and “pigpen.” Myop is happy with the way that she lives. There are many indications of Myop being happy. The story says she “skipped” and “worked out the beat of a song.” The author even states, “She felt light and good in the warm sun” (82). I can only think of positive emotions concerning Myop’s childhood in the first three paragraphs.

3) How might paragraph 5 be described as an example of foreshadowing?

I started to sense something was going to happen in paragraph 5. The author says, “She had often been as far before, but the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts” (82). The words “strangeness” and “not as pleasant” made me realize that something is different. This is a foreshadowing what is going to happen in the next paragraphs to come.

4) What is the conflict in the story? What is its climax? Is there a resolution to the conflict? Explain.

The climax of the story is exactly when the author says, “It was then she stepped smack into his nose” (82). The conflict has a lot to do with the climax. Myop will be haunted by the man in the woods. This will stop here from going into the woods for the summer. There is a negative resolution to the conflict. Myop will give up her love for “exploring” in the woods for the summer.

5) What do you think is the central point of the story?

The central point of the story is how one thing can dramatically change a person. This innocent child found a dead man. By the end of the story one can infer that this event has affected her for the rest of her life.  Before this event the tone of the story was cheerful. At the end of the story the tone is despairing. The author states that, “Myop laid down her flowers. And the summer was over” (83). Myop is done “exploring” in the woods.

Works cited

Walker, Alice. The Flowers.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9^th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2012. 84-90. Print.