The Flowers

Thematically, Walker uses The Beauty of the Natural World to build toward the exposure of Lynchings and Racial Violence Against African Americans. Through social commentary on racism, Walker explores Coming of Age: The Loss of Innocence, a byproduct of racial violence. To demonstrate the blossoming of social awareness, “The Flowers” enacts the process in which the protagonist comes of age.

Walker uses whimsical imagery and upbeat diction to characterize Myop’s wide-eyed naivete and set an idyllic mood. Like Myop’s worldview, the imagery and mood darken as Myop’s journey into the unknown woods progresses. The story opens with Myop skipping happily around her family’s cabin and concludes with the child laying down her flowers, which symbolize her innocence and optimism. Myop exchanges her naiveite for a sober-mindedness more characteristic of adulthood.

In the first sentence, the narrative hints at the disconnect between what “the days” are and what Myop understands to be beautiful about them. The word choice “it seemed” suggests that the protagonist’s vision of the world is not complete or actual.