"There were flowers: delphiniums, sweet peas, bunches of lilac, and carnations, masses of carnations. There were roses; there were irises... but she looked older, this year, turning her head from side to side among the irises and roses and nodding tufts of lilac with her eyes half closed" (Woolf, 13)
In this novel, and in many other works, flowers have two significant pieces of symbolism. The first is that flowers symbolize women. This happens because the actual flower on the plant is the plants female reproductive organ. Flowers are an important element in this novel because women are obsessed with their beauty and youth.
The second important symbolism of flowers is that their beauty is quick to fade. It is only a short time in their lives that they are considered beautiful. In some sense, human life is the same, and our short time on earth fades quickly once we're gone. Clarissa has many flashbacks to her youth, and begins to understand that she has wasted her short life.
No comments:
Post a Comment