Theme of Innocence in The Flowers by Alice Walker Essay Example

The mind of children has long been the epitome of innocence. Their carefree attitude and naive eyes to the world makeup for what one may believe to be gullibility. Yet innocence is something taken for granted, never knowing when it can be taken, perhaps stolen, from one. Exemplified in Alice Walker’s short story, “The Flowers”, the idea of thieved innocence transpires. The main character, Myop, lives on a sharecropper’s farm. She has never seen the world outside the protection of her mother until she stumbles upon the body of a lynched black man, revealing the racial discrimination against people of her race. From the events of the incident, trauma forces Myop to learn about the harsh reality of the society she was born within. The realization unveils to the reader how innocence cannot be protected forever. For the youth to become an adult, one must “break free” from their child-like ideologies. Maturing is realizing the responsibility and consciousness one must take forward within their daily life. Walker uses symbolism of the flowers to serve as a symbol of purity, and foreshadowing the venture into the forest, to further explain the theme, innocence can never be forever protected.  

Firstly, the short story emphasizes that innocence cannot forever be protected, in a persistent manner. Throughout the short story, Walker uses the symbolism of flowers to represent the innocence and purity of Myop. The setting is in the summertime, a season in which flowers predominantly bloom. Throughout the introduction, Myop has a very carefree attitude and is almost naive to the world outside her own. On the way into the woods, as Myop is picking up flowers, she stumbles upon a corpse. She then lays her picked flowers on top of it, resembling Myop setting aside her childhood ideologies. Walker enters, “Myop laid down her flowers. And the summer was over'' (120). The summer ending reflects Myop’s childhood coming to an end. Based on the new perspective, one can infer flowers are a symbol of Myop’s innocence. Flowers have a universal meaning of youth, joy, and life, but as they grow old, and start to wilt away, flowers represent fragility and ultimately death. When entering the forest, Myop carries an armful of blue flowers. The colorful, and strange array of flowers represent her childish view of the world. Compared to the eyes of an adult, children see the world in more color and tend to avoid seeing dull images. Once greeted by the lynched body, she noticed the noose around the wild roses. Roses become the central object Myop focuses upon. Roses, often given to grievers at funerals, represents mourning and death. Flowers reflect the emotional status of Myop. When Myop was first holding bright, blue flowers, she was naive and oblivious. Once she sets down her flowers, the story's tone shifts. Myop has now become mature and has reached the end of her childhood. Once fall comes, the season after summer, the flowers will die, as will one's purity and naïveness to the world. 

In addition, the story further emphasizes the inability to protect innocence forever, with foreshadowing of Myop’s quality. Protected by a sharecropper’s farm, Myop has not yet experienced what life is outside of protection. By having the woods as a backyard, one can infer that a large forest surrounds Myop’s home. The isolated area keeps Myop from having any interaction with the outside world. Through the introduction, she is very unworried and untroubled to the world around her, almost to the point where she seems naive to everything. Every time Myop went to gather nuts in the forest, her mother would always be by her side. It was almost as if she was protecting her, “She had explored the woods behind the house many times. Often, in late autumn, her mother took her to gather nuts among the fallen leaves. Today she made her own path…'' (119). One day Myop decides to explore the world independently, wanting to feel more grown-up and mature. Upon entering the forest, Myop discovers the dead body of a murdered man. The discovery leads to a consciousness of the gruesome truth of the world she lives within. The author expresses her foreshadowing, “Today she made her own path…” (119). By creating a large contrast from being sheltered for so long to wander off on her own, it is inferred that something big is awaiting Myop, bad or good. The foreshadowing reverts to the theme, in which innocence cannot last forever. Even by always staying by Myop’s side when picking fallen nuts, Myop’s mother could still not stop Myop from going off on her own. Eventually leading Myop to find out the truth on her own, seeing the world from a new viewpoint.

In the final analysis, the symbolism of Myop’s innocence and her foreshadowing in “The Flowers”, display the corruption of innocence. Walker illustrates how flowers, a recurring scene throughout the story, are an ideogram. Flowers embody the dismantling of a child’s innocence as they proceed into adulthood. The foreshadowing of Myop also helps the story build-up and create an intense feeling when Myop finds a new perspective of the world she lives within. The realization that shapes how one comes to understand they cannot think naively anymore and must use their comprehension of the world around them is one everyone experiences. Whether one finds out the truth in a small manner, like Santa Claus, a fictional image, to be unreal to the understanding of how the society was not built upon equality, can range significantly from person to person. However, it doesn’t only matter that someone can realize a great truth, but what they can do with the information they now hold. Whether they use this new potential for a greater good, or just one small feat, will affect the surrounding people. The significant image of a child is the global symbolization of youth. The corruption of Myop’s persona truly reflects off of impure innocence.