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Loss Of Innocence In Myop's 'The Flowers'

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In “The Flowers” the author 's major theme that is being represented is loss of innocence. I believe the author used symbolism, foreshadowing, and epiphany to represent this theme of aging.
Symbolism is a major part in showing the theme of loss of innocence. One of the biggest and most import symbols in “The Flowers” is Myop’s sharecropper cabin. As Myop skips lightly and sings her song, the author describes the “days had never been as beautiful as these.” Myop is described as extremely cheerful and happy as she explores the woods, yet the thought of a sharecropper cabin is deeply depressing. Very symbolic images that come from sharecropper cabins are racism, a black man being freed but still not being qualified as a man, and poverty for an abundance of people. Myop may be innocent at the beginning of the story, but this appearance of the word “sharecropper cabin” symbolizes the suffering and pain that are to come and abolish her innocence. Another example of symbolism is the flowers and Myop’s innocence. When myop is picking flowers, this represents her innocence and the happy, good beauty she sees in the world. But, she then comes across a dead man, who is representing the evil and death is the world that she now realises is surrounding her. The act of laying down the flowers symbolises that she is aware of death and is maturing. She is …show more content…

And the summer was over.” Myop encounters death when she steps “smack into his eyes.” She is unafraid as she frees herself and “gazed around the spot with interest”. Ironically, she encounters death, then notices a “wild pink rose” that represent innocence, then she sees the noose and has the realization. The realization of the negativity that comes with sharecropper cabins are about to rain upon her with her loss of innocence. For Myop, the summer is over, meaning she can no longer return to the flower picking, skipping, happy little girl that she

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