What is innocence? Is it just a being’s ignorance? Does it last forever, or is it just like a fragile little angel that can be easily crushed in the hands of reality? In the short story ‘The Blue Bouquet’, Octavio Paz uses foreshadowing and symbolism to illustrate that innocence is often hunted by the cruel reality of life. The visitor had an innocent mind full of philosophical opinions on the universe when he first arrived in town. However, innocence does not often last forever and it could change or disappear completely due to the naive nature of it. Paz illustrates that innocence can cause grief, which can ultimately cause the change from innocence to experience through foreshadowing of the incoming danger the innocent visitor experiences during his visit to a town in Mexico. When the visitor experiences his life-changing event, he willingly or unwillingly transitions from being an innocent individual to an experienced one. Innocence can be perceived as one’s naive perception of the world. The visitor in the short story has many positive visions of the universe. Paz personifies the visitor’s surroundings, giving a gentle and cozy mood to the story. First of all, the visitor suggests, “One could hear the breaking of the night, feminine, enormous.” Where he perceives the night as a gentle and motherly figure. His philosophical thoughts are innocent and pure like a “white wall”. Moreover, he sees “the crickets [bivouacking] in the tall grass,” and “the stars too had