Blog Post #3: "The Flowers" by Alice Walker Timed Writing and Reflection

Timed Writing:

"Today, [Myop] made her own path." It is only when the main character of Alice Walker's "The Flowers" decides to make her own path, that the the story's purpose becomes more evident. Walker takes the reader along for Myop's journey, using diction, setting, and symbolism to unveil the meaning of "The Flowers".

Walker introduces the story in an ambiance of happiness and innocence with her skillful use of diction. During the harvest season, the main character, Myop, has never seen days "as beautiful as these". Myop is enveloped in "excited little tremors", dances to the "tat-de-ta-ta-ta" of an imaginary song, and feels "light and good in the warm sun". Walker uses this simple diction to evoke a casual innocence from Myop and the setting. The words, "excited little tremors", "light", "good" and "warm" creates an atmosphere of an easy, carefree childhood.  The onomatopoeia "tat-de-ta-ta-ta" builds on this by adding an airy, blithe rhythm to Myop's childhood experiences.

In the third and fourth paragraphs, the setting and the diction begin to transform. Myop watches the "tiny white bubbles [of the spring] disrupt the thin black scale of soil". The disruption of the soil by the bubbles insinuates that Myop's easy childhood will be soon interrupted. Soon after, Myop "[makes] her own path" away from her home, into the woods. When Myop makes her own path to explore the unfamiliar woods, she is walking away from her current world.

As Myop journeys down her new path, things are different from her usual expeditions in the woods. She is wary of "snakes" and collects "an armful of strange blue flowers". The "strangeness of the land" makes her haunt "not as pleasant" and "the air was damp, the silence close and deep". Myop's isolation, paranoia, and strange new experiences coupled with the clever diction ("damp air", "deep silence") creates a claustrophobic sense of foreboding that prepares the reader for something dark and unexpected at the end of the story. A whole new setting is created as the diction transforms the scene from a beautiful "golden" carelessness into a "gloomy" and "damp", unfamiliar land.

Myop attempts to escape from this uncomfortable, new setting back into the "peacefulness of morning" that she knows. However, Myop is unable to escape from the inevitable and unpleasant truth. The reader's fears are confirmed in the sixth paragraph when Myop steps "smack into [the] eyes" of a dead body with a dismembered head that "lay beside him".

Myop's unpleasant surprise at encountering death is soon transformed into irreproachable curiosity as she "gaze[s] around the spot with interest". She soon discovers a "wild pink rose", a symbol of beauty and innocence. This creates a large juxtaposition to the dead body she found, a symbol of death. Myop then spots the "rotted remains of a noose". Upon seeing the noose, Myop's character transforms. Myop's innocence is "hung" when she lays down the rose and her flowers next to the decaying body. By giving up the beautiful rose and her flowers, Myop is also giving up her innocence. She places the flowers next to the body as if she is at a funeral-- for both the dead man and her innocence. For Myop, the warm, sun-lit "summer" of her youth, described at the beginning of Walker's story, is "over".

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Reflection:

There are a lot of things you can do in 40 minutes: make tea, paint a picture, read a magazine..... write a prose essay. On Thursday, we were asked to write a prose essay after reading Alice Walker's "The Flowers" (see blog post #3 for this essay). While I didn't fail miserably in my attempts at this, I still have lots of room for improvement.

I, surprisingly, had some good aspects in my prose essay. First, I started off the essay with a quote much like the "high-scoring" example prose essay did. This is good because I wasn't simply restating the prompt. I also successfully recognized Walker's usage of imagery, diction and symbolism to foreshadow the ending of the story. I picked out the large "Bildungsroman" and loss of innocence themes. My transitions were adequate and I was able to finish my essay (although I scrambled crazily at the end).

This isn't to say that I didn't make an abundance of errors. In my introduction paragraph, I stated that Walker made the purpose/meaning of the piece more clear as Myop traveled down the path. However, I didn't actually explicitly state this meaning or purpose. Even though I revealed the meaning of "The Flowers" later on, I failed to divulge Walker's complexity immediately.  Also, my essay was rather predictable. I didn't state the little nuances and details of the piece, even if I noticed them. For example, although I stated the setting changes, I failed to note the season and time changes (summer to fall and morning to noon) and analyze their meaning. I also tend to be too verbose and fail to get to the point, while missing key analysis points (shame on me).

In order to improve, I shall, once again, practice achieving three goals I set for myself.

1. I, Ruby Liu, shall manage my time successfully. Even though I finished my essay, I scrambled crazily at the end. I spent too long analyzing the piece and then, in a mad panic, I carelessly plopped my words on the paper when I started to write. In 5STA5, it gives a very nice time-management plan that I shall use from now on when writing my essays (less than 10 minutes to read, plan and analyze, 20-25 minutes to write, and 2-3 minutes to proof read). Next time I write an essay, I'll be that kid patiently timing herself in the corner instead of frantically cranking messy words out (the legibility of my handwriting would make any English teacher weep).

2. I will attempt to notice (and to include in my essays) the deeper and less noticeable meanings that lie within the piece. As I mentioned in my weaknesses, although I scraped the surface of many of the ideas, I didn't dive into them. This goal can be combined with my multiple choice question goals when I read short prose essays or poems (delivered via Google). I will read over them multiple times and attempt to write out the complexity and subtle (but important) details of a piece. By the end of the year, I will hopefully not still be looking at things in a rudimentary manner.

3. I will stop boring the reader with my flowery language and unnecessary words and dive straight into the main points of the passage. This will not only save time, but it will make my writing more concise. I plan to do this by allowing myself time to proof my essay. This way, I can pick out my painfully verbose sentences and send them to their deathbeds. By the time I've completed AP Lit, I'll be able to get straight to the point.

I have to admit, I actually enjoyed doing this time writing (NERD). Although, it was not my best work, I was still able to gauge a lot from this experience. Hopefully, in my next reflection essay, I can happily state that I had no problem areas (oh writing gods, let this day come eventually).