Oultlook on Life Depicted in Alice Walker's, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose

Friends and strangers visited the garden regularly and would ask to stand or walk amongst her mother's art. Her mother's garden represents an undying love of beauty and creation, symbolizing the weaving of her creative spirit with nature's hand. Envision the roots in the garden woven together, creating a network of support for the other plants.e other plants. When Alice Walker went in search of her mother's garden it became a journey about uncovering her own true self. Her mother was her strength and her role model.

For as long as I can remember, the best part about visiting my grandmother’s modest little home was playing in the garden that she had created in her backyard. There was a sense of happiness and exhilaration when I saw the array of colors shining in through the screen door from her dull, gray family room. It was quite obvious she had spent more time in her backyard nourishing her garden than actually being inside of her home. The garden exudes a beam of light and life that no other part of her home can truly undertake because my grandmother had put such a significant amount of her time and effort into nurturing every single plant that she grew there. It goes to show that simplest things can carry a very significant value depending on the amount of attention and care that the person gives to it.

The peddler is the first person to want to enter her world. Later Elisa decides to let him into her garden, and with that act, breaks the barrier that has isolated her from the outside. The chrysanthemums themselves and her clothes illustrate a great deal about Elisa's struggle to find her own identity. The chrysanthemums meant a great deal to her. She grew them with the work of her hands and the care of her heart.

In line 7 “carefully pruned” signifying its importance the idea of protection is also present as the tree could have grown tall been “split by lightning” instead it is coddled and cared for. Line 9 -10 “every day as he whittles back the branches” it suggest that the gardener takes good care of the tree. Bonsai trees are subject to pruning root reduction, potting, defoliation and grafting. Just like these trees, women were restricted from reaching their full potential. Women are considered prized in the poem.

Medlock. Mrs. Medlock is only in charge of Mary, but little do they know, they both have alot in common relating to the garden. The garden also connects to Mrs. Medlock’s feelings such as when she sees Colin walking in the garden, when she opens up the windows, and when she is asked “you locked her in?”. When Mrs. Medlock sees Colin walking in the garden, she is very happy and excited for him but she is also a little emotional. She may be emotional because of how successful he has become and is glad that he is happy.

Elisa cherishes the flowers like a mother protecting her son or daughter. She goes to the extent of surrounding her chrysanthemums with wire fencing (“Kassim” 1). During the day, it is pertinent for Elisa to keep the area clean. She also strives to keep the chrysanthemums clean and neat. “Her terrier fingers destroy such pests before they can get started,” this means she is cleaning the area around her precious “babies.” As a mother protecting her child against an unknown force, she fights off nature from harming her precious flowers (“Kassim” 1).

Symbolism in The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck At first glance John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums' seems to be a story of a woman whose niche is in the garden. Upon deeper inspection, the story reveals strong symbolisms of children, vulnerability, and connection--being the most important, of the main character. Elisa Allen is the main character who is at her strongest and most proud in the garden and weakened when she becomes vulnerable and loses her connection to the outer world. Elisa shows a new aura of confidence when she makes this connection to a peddler, who also is the cause of her realization of reality and her crying. The chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa's "children."

Often reflecting back on her former life Beatrice, wonders why her father trapped her in a garden. Beatrice, is able to recognize the love Rappaccini had for her but, she is still unable to comprehend why this love drove him to such severe actions. Nonetheless Beatrice, loved him all the same. Returning now to her garden she, walks around stopping at almost every tree and every flower, grasping them with her hands. With this new ability Beatrice is able to touch anything she pleases without completely destroying it.

More often than not, she shows her intelligence and free thought, a trait of the Romantics. One of Pearl's Favorite activities is playing with flowers and trees. The reader will recall that anything affiliated with the forest was evil to Puritans. Hawthorne, however, thought that the forest was beautiful and natural. "And she was gentler here [in the forest] than in the grassy- margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage.

"The Chrysanthemums" introduces us to Elisa Allen, a woman who knows she has a gift for things, but can't make more use of it than to grow her chrysanthemums. She is trapped in the Salinas Valley, where winter's fog sits "like a lid...and [makes] the great valley a closed pot." Her human nature has made her complacent in ordinary life, but the short glimmers of hope offered by her flowers and a passing stranger reveal that there is more to Elisa than her garden. Her environment may be keeping her inside her small garden, but inside her heart there is a longing for more. When we are first introduced to Elisa, she seems to look more like a man from afar than a woman who is gardening.