I love this intro:
“Quiet as it's kept, there were no marigolds in the fall 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father's baby that the marigolds did not grow. A little examination and much less melancholy would have proved to us that our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout; nobody's did. Not even the gardens fronting the lake showed marigolds that year. But so deeply concerned were we with the health and safe delivery of Pecola's baby we could think of nothing but our own magic: if we planted the seeds, and said the right words over them, they would blossom, and everything would be all right.
It was a long time before my sister and I admitted to ourselves that no green was going to spring from our seeds. Once we knew, our guilt was relieved only by fights and mutual accusations about who was to blame. For years I thought my sister was right: it was my fault. I had planted them too far down in the earth. It never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. We had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecola's father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt. Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair. What is clear now is that of all of that hope, fear, lust, love, and grief, nothing remains but Pecola and the unyielding earth. Cholly Breedlove is dead; our innocence too. The seeds shriveled and died; her baby too.
There is really nothing more to say--except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.”
Upon reading it, I thought that perhaps this was symbolism for what happened with Pecola, and it is. The “seeds” represent Pecola’s baby. They all shriveled up and died, because the “unyielding earth” and the harshness of society acting on Pecola did not allow fruit to be produced. Marigolds are supposed to represent a renewal of nature, but this year, no marigolds bloomed, and Pecola’s cycle was perverted by her father’s actions. The seeds mentioned in this passage represent a loss of innocence. Once Cholly dropped his seeds, Claudia and Frieda’s “innocence and faith” had been corrupted. In the last chapter of the story, we can finally understand the full meaning of the prologue. Seeds had literally been planted in exchange for Pecola’s baby to live. The unyielding earth is the black community that disproves of Pecola‘s baby staying alive because they look down on her and complications with incest. There are surely some complications with having a baby by people in the same family that caused Pecola’s baby to die. It is revealed that the reason why the seeds are the sole determining factor in whether Pecola’s baby lives is because Claudia and Frieda make a bet with God, and the blossoming marigolds would guarantee that everything would be okay. Alas, nothing was okay and the marigolds were planted “much, much, much too late” to be of any good.
+
“Quiet as it's kept, there were no marigolds in the fall 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father's baby that the marigolds did not grow. A little examination and much less melancholy would have proved to us that our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout; nobody's did. Not even the gardens fronting the lake showed marigolds that year. But so deeply concerned were we with the health and safe delivery of Pecola's baby we could think of nothing but our own magic: if we planted the seeds, and said the right words over them, they would blossom, and everything would be all right.
It was a long time before my sister and I admitted to ourselves that no green was going to spring from our seeds. Once we knew, our guilt was relieved only by fights and mutual accusations about who was to blame. For years I thought my sister was right: it was my fault. I had planted them too far down in the earth. It never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. We had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecola's father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt. Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair. What is clear now is that of all of that hope, fear, lust, love, and grief, nothing remains but Pecola and the unyielding earth. Cholly Breedlove is dead; our innocence too. The seeds shriveled and died; her baby too.
There is really nothing more to say--except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.”
Upon reading it, I thought that perhaps this was symbolism for what happened with Pecola, and it is. The “seeds” represent Pecola’s baby. They all shriveled up and died, because the “unyielding earth” and the harshness of society acting on Pecola did not allow fruit to be produced. Marigolds are supposed to represent a renewal of nature, but this year, no marigolds bloomed, and Pecola’s cycle was perverted by her father’s actions. The seeds mentioned in this passage represent a loss of innocence. Once Cholly dropped his seeds, Claudia and Frieda’s “innocence and faith” had been corrupted. In the last chapter of the story, we can finally understand the full meaning of the prologue. Seeds had literally been planted in exchange for Pecola’s baby to live. The unyielding earth is the black community that disproves of Pecola‘s baby staying alive because they look down on her and complications with incest. There are surely some complications with having a baby by people in the same family that caused Pecola’s baby to die. It is revealed that the reason why the seeds are the sole determining factor in whether Pecola’s baby lives is because Claudia and Frieda make a bet with God, and the blossoming marigolds would guarantee that everything would be okay. Alas, nothing was okay and the marigolds were planted “much, much, much too late” to be of any good.
+
By the way, that second picture is marigold seeds.
No comments:
Post a Comment