Flower Garden by Shirley Jackson is a short story that explores all different depths of social norms, racial discrimination, and women in society. The mysterious friendship of Mrs. Winning and Mrs. MacLane leaves the reader guessing what will happen next. Mrs. Winning is introduced as someone who seems to be the perfect friend and one who would challenge social norms, but turns into a pumpous and arrogant woman. Mrs. MacLane, a character who just seems perfect, challenges social norms in the story and is looked down upon for doing so. The story shows both "the perfect house wife" side to woman of the stories time period and also the gossipy, nasty side to these women.
When thinking about the assignment as I read the story, I noticed two elements; person-against-society and open-ending. Society in the stories time period is very austere and restricting. Mrs. MacLane was one to ignore the social-norms and do things the way she believed they should be done. The biggest example for this is by her asking a black man to help her with her garden and allowing his son to become friends with her son. In the society at this time, doing just this was extremely frowned upon. Her consequence was being ignored and avoided by neighbors and towns people who had previously been so nice to her before. She struggled with her society and trying to figure out what was so wrong with what she had been doing.
The story ends with a big open-ending/cliffhanger. The last lines in the story are, "Mrs. MacLane waved and called out, 'hello!' Mrs. Winning swung around without speaking and started, with great dignity, back up the hill toward the old Winning house." The ending leaves the reader wanting to know more; wanting questions to be answered. For instance, was Billy trying to get something from the MacLane's? Was Mrs. MacLane ever going to move back to New York? Had Mrs. Winning completely turned against her old friend? Not only does the story end with these questions, it ends with a total character growth from Mrs. Winning. The story leaves you thinking about her character and how one person could have changed so drastically in that fairly small amount of time.
I think any author's goal is to keep the reader interested and wanting more, and that is exactly what Shirley Jackson did with this story.
Thanks. You've done a nice job elevating your vocabulary in this entry. You also made some nice references to the time period. I wonder if you noticed any symbolism in the story. Perhaps, Mrs. Winning's name holds some sort of meaning for the reader? Thoughtful work, Sam.
ReplyDelete4/5 points. Mechanics. I think you mean pompous when you say "pumpous". The last sentence in the first paragraph is missing something. The word "stories" should be story's.
Nice job Sam. I liked the fact that you asked so many questions after the story. It would be cool
ReplyDeletethough if there actually was a sequel. Awesome post man!
Sam,
ReplyDeleteI would never have tought about those two elements. Cool twist to it!! Good Job!!!