“Herbal” by Nalo Hopkinson can be interpreted in many ways. Some readers may presume that the story talks about anxiety and depression, while others say it is about drugs and possibly abuse. I believe that the story is about the main character, Jenny, and her life with an abusive partner. The story shows that a victim in an abusive relationship will always have feelings for their partner, even when the partner is no longer in his or hers life. There 's always that desire for the abusive partner because our human nature is to desire and be desired by someone.
Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of foreign people or ideologies, and is the forefront theme in the short story The Glass Roses by Alden Nowlan. Deeper than the idea of unsolicited hatred in society, is the idea of support and understanding which is heavily influenced by the aforementioned prevailing theme: xenophobia.
Symbolism can be identified in the short play, “Naked Lunch” written by Michael Hollinger (2003). The play opens and the characters Vern and Lucy are sitting at a dining room table. Hollinger describes flowers on the table, “There is a small vase with too many flowers in it, or a large vase with too few.” (pp. 823) A bottle of wine has been open and the couple is having dinner.
Chrysanthemums are beautiful, delicate flowers, which often symbolize happiness. In the short story, “The Chrysanthemums,” John Steinbeck walks the readers through the lives of Elisa and Henry Allen. They live on a foothill ranch in Salinas Valley, California, where they spend most of their days living a simple lifestyle. The Allens focus their time on maintaining their ranch, but in the eyes of Elisa, this meant more time for her to tend to her beloved chrysanthemums. Steinbeck incorporates quizzical diction and repetition to characterize Elisa and to define happiness, to convey the message that it is more important to be happy than to try to please everybody else.
Actions provoked by fear and desperation nurture perturbed emotions, particularly in adolescence. The impenetrable will of hopelessness is dissected and empathized in Eugenia Collier’s short fiction story, Marigolds. The study sync excerpt revolves around a young impoverished teen, Lizabeth, who seeks hope in a bundle of rage, sorrow, and uncertainty. She, a person of color during The Great Depression, sought entertainment/joy by meddling with an elderly woman in her neighborhood, Miss Lottie. However, the supposed “meddling” would lead Lizabeth into a (dire or empathetic) reality which The Great Depression proposed for all.
The Chrysanthemums Literary Analysis One of the themes of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck is gender inequality. In this short story, the main character Elisa Allen was a strong, smart woman who was stuck being a common housewife. Elisa wishes she could go out and be like the tinker, sleeping under the stars and adventuring every day of her life. Elisa’s husband owns a ranch of some sorts, and when he tells Elisa of the business deal he’d just made he gave her an unspecific explanation, or a dumbed down one so he doesn’t “confuse her”.
The Beauty of the Southern Flowers “Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between.” (Lee 278). When it comes to the topic of flowers, most of us will readily agree that they represent development, growth, beauty and happiness. For instance, Roses are known for signifying love and deep passion while Lotus flowers are known for purity of the heart. Nonetheless, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee utilizes flowers to symbolize the strength and character that women of Maycomb possess.
The Emotional Impact of Flowers Peony roses have a positive emotional impact on people upon receival such as the immediate boost of happiness, increased emotional connections in relationships, and increased long-term effects on mood for the reason of just having them displayed; therefore, people should give peony’s as gifts because everyone wants to be happy. Dodinsky once said, “Flowers are those little colorful beacons of the sun from which we get sunshine when dark, somber skies blanket our thoughts.” Flowers such as peony roses turns a bad day into a positive, thoughtful day. Receiving peony roses can make a difference in someone’s facial expressions. These roses can have an impact on how focused you are such as productivity.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter takes place in a Puritan town in the 1600’s. In his book Hester Prynne, who is the protagonist, commits adultery and out of it came a baby and a scarlet letter which she has to wear for the rest of her life. The person she committed adultery with was Reverend Dimmesdale, yet only Hester, Pearl (Her child), Roger Chillingworth
In the story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier there is a lot of imagery and diction. The imagery was mainly focused on how the town looks and the contrast between the town and Miss Lottie’s house. In the text is states how that the only beautiful part of the house is the marigolds, “Miss Lottie's marigolds were perhaps the strangest part of the picture. Certainly they did not fit in with the crumbling decay of the rest of her yard”(Collier 23). This quote is trying to say that her house was a very old house that no one really cared for but, the marigolds were always taken care of and that was the only beauty in the whole yard.
Masculine and Feminine Roles in Steinbeck’s “Chrysanthemums” In the story “The Chrysanthemums”, by John Steinbeck, Elisa Allen lives an unsatisfactory life as she desires more than what is bestowed upon her. The reader learns Elisa’s husband is culpable for not seeing the beauty of his wife, leaving an open door for the antagonist, a traveler, to prey upon Elisa’s. Steinbeck uses Masculine and Feminine roles of the early 20th century, Internal Conflict, and an antagonist, to show Elisa’s struggle for Identity. Steinbeck illustrates Masculine and feminine roles of the 20th century in the “Chrysanthemums” to show Elisa’s struggle with identity.
It seems the older Wives are seeking to hang onto their attractiveness and fertility by decorating themselves with flowers and tending gardens. Serena Joy seems to enjoy mutilating the flowers ; flowers being the symbol for the Handmaids. This shows her hatred for the Handmaids . What the Handmaid’s never get to experience is freedom as they are supposed to blindly follow the rules set for them. In the text, the Eyes of God are Gilead’s secret police.
“Miss Lottie died long ago and many years have passed since I last saw her hut, completely barren at last, for despite my wild contrition she never planted marigolds again… And I too have planted marigolds.” (Collier 287) The flowers serve as a symbol of hope and optimism. Although all of Miss Lottie’s hope was gone after her flowers were destroyed, it was passed onto Lizabeth.
The author uses the marigolds as a symbol but, their meaning varies between each character. To a young Lizabeth , the marigolds symbolise beauty in a place that it doesn't belong. These beautiful flowers anger a young Lizabeth because she thinks they didn’t belong in the old dusty town she grew up in. To an adult Lizabeth these flowers hold a different meaning, they now represent hope to her. These flowers hold a different meaning to Miss Lottie, to her they represented what was left of love, hope, and beauty in her life.
Visual Analysis The first image: This image, The Ultimate Confrontation: The Flower and the Bayonet, was taken by French photographer Marc Riboud during the 1967 anti-Vietnam march in Washington D.C. First of all , it is not difficult to define it as a photojournalism, because Marc took it in order to record a true event and tell a news story. This one shows the anti-war activity in the National Mobilization Committee clearly, which is a historic event. At present, it still appears in some anti-war demonstrations used as an important symbol, such as the activity about against the Iraq War in London in February 2003, so it also has political significance.
