The African American Community In The Flowers By Alice Walker

Alice Walker, the author of “The Flowers,” wrote this story to the African American community. In the story we see the main character, Myop, on a journey as she loses her innocence when she comes across the skeleton of a dead man. Walker uses a historical lens, and proves that a historical lens is used through multiple elements. Walker wrote this story for the African American community and it reminds them of the awful historical events that happened during the 1920s. Walker wants them to remember the discrimination that occurred, and to be reminded of the sufferings others went through to make life better for the future generations. In the story, Walker writes about what Myop finds in the woods and how she has discovered a piece of history that she has not been exposed to yet; once she is exposed to it, she sees first hand what people went through to help her live a happier life “It was the rotted remains of a noose...Around and overhanging limb of a great spreading oak clung another piece.” (Walker) The noose and the description of the oak tree suggest a lynching and historical violence against African Americans who were isolated through …show more content…
Walker uses time, weather, and seasons to help effectively shift the setting of the story in order to remind her audience of this tragic time. “By twelve o’clock… the strangeness of the land made it as pleasant… It seemed gloomy… The air was damp, the silence close and deep.” (Walker) This shift in setting allows the reader to feel the transition from when Myop was an average, innocent ten year old to a ten year old who has been exposed to a sacrifice that was made for her freedom. When Myop steps on the man’s face she realizes that there was a price for her to roam freely in the woods. Walker not only uses the shift in setting to help remind the reader, but she also uses