Flowers BY ROBIN JENKINS Characterisation Jenkins portrays Margaret

Flowers BY ROBIN JENKINS

Characterisation �Jenkin’s portrays Margaret as an outsider and different from the outset. �“ Miss Laing pointed a chubby stern finger at the redeyed dissenter” �The word choice here suggests that Margaret may have bee crying but also that she is someone who is disobeying the rules or someone who is at odds with her surroundings. Here Jenkin’s begins to highlight the alienation and isolation that children must have felt when evacuated due to the war.

Characterisation continued “They all gabbled to one another in Gaelic, mysterious and hateful to her lowland ears” Jenkins makes it clear that Margaret is an outsider and is not even able to communicate with or understand the other children in her new school. Again, negative word choice is used to show Margaret’s confusion and frustration at the situation she has been placed in. It was perhaps the writer’s intention to force us to sympathise with Margaret and to encourage us to reflect upon the impact that war has on everyone. Even the children who are sent away to be protected from it.

Characterisation Continued “ She wished to see the shops , the tramcars of home…she didn’t want to be here in the highlands. She didn’t want to be safe from bombs” The writer makes a point of listing all of Margaret’s childish worries here and it as though we are almost hearing Margaret protest about these things. It also highlights again the difficulties she is experiencing in her new surroundings. She longs for the familiarity of the city so much that she would even risk her life. Again, Jenkin’s is making his anti-war sentiments clear by forcing us to sympathise with Margaret and see the damage and disruption caused to all children due to war.

Characterisation Continued “ The snake seemed to represent not only that detestable alien country but her own wickedness in disobeying” Here the country could be Germany as she has clearly been taught to hate the Germans but it is also the Highlands for Margaret as it is not her home. She is experiencing many conflicting feelings such as fear, hatred anger. All of these things help us to sympathise with Margaret but they are also a reflection of the effects of war, fearing and hating mankind which Mac. Caig deemed to be wrong and unnatural.

Characterisation “ Such obscure intensity of feeling was a new experience for her and she stood gazing in fascination and guilt along the seaweed rock and white sand” When Margaret notices the flower she returns to feeling the innocence of childhood and sees the beauty in her surroundings for a moment. Her feelings are still confused and Jenkins word choice makes it clear that she also feels bad for having hostile feelings towards the teacher , snake and the highlands. We are again forced to see Margaret as an innocent child and to sympathise with the confusion and uncertainty that comes with childhood. Jenkins is also making a point about the beauty of nature, soon to be disrupted by the presence of war. Jenkin’s is also suggesting that man kind appears to have dual impulses and we are drawn towards good and evil.

Setting “ She looked about her and saw with aversion, the bell heather streaming like fire along the top of the dyke” Here a, beautiful aspect of the Scottish Highlands is described through the eyes of Margaret in a negative way, reinforcing her feelings of fear and hatred at her new environment. The imagery used also suggests danger and something which could cause harm, perhaps foreshadowing events to come. The description of setting helps the reader to further understand Margaret but we can also read it as representing a garden of Eden which tempts Margaret into evil and brings out her anger. Perhaps Jenkins was hinting at the hidden dangers ahead.

Setting Continued “ The sea was in sight with gold and silver spangles swimming in it like wonderful swans when she abruptly stopped, drawing her breath in astonishment and awe” The beautiful imagery used here suggests that Margaret does recognise the beauty of her surroundings and that her childish imagination is still innocent. This brief episode reminds us again of the flower and how Margaret is still capable of viewing her surroundings. Jenkins describes the natural world throughout the short story and he is perhaps reminding us of the wonder and awe it is able to inspire. This is made all the more significant when the landscape is tainted by the presence of bombs – things that threaten to destroy nature and life. Again, the writer’s opposition to war is clear.

Setting Continued “ A black and white bird with red legs and a red beak rose up with shrill cries” Margaret seems to be noticing every detail of her surroundings and Jenkins again, uses the colour red to symbolise potential danger ahead. The sounds of the landscape also suggest something sinister and unpleasant ahead. The reader begins to feel tense at this moment as we become aware that Margaret’s rebellious nature has led her further away from the teacher and her classmates potentially putting her in danger.

Symbolism • The snake is spotted by Margaret just as she is looking at the sea and appreciating the beautiful scenery. • It represents temptation ( brings out Margaret’s fear and visciousness) and danger and reflects that Mankind can be innocent like Margaret but we are also capable of true evil. ( Hitler WW 2) • Could the snake also symbolise the serpent in The Garden of Eden which also causes the loss of innocence and the gaining of knowledge?

Symbolism Continued • When Margaret spots the yellow flower, at first she follows that same destructive impulse and then something moves her about it. She notices its ‘lonliness’ and holds it ‘tenderly’ to her cheek. • The flower can be seen to represent Margaret and her innocence and loneliness in her exiled situation. The flower also illustrates the fact that mankind have dual impulses- tempting us both towards good and evil. It is our free will that make us human. All viewed against the backdrop of the second world war the symbolism is made all the more

Symbolism Continued When Margaret discovers the decomposing bodies of the airmen in the water the beautiful yellow flower, symbolising , innocence, beauty and peace becomes “ crushed to a black mess in her hand” Jenkins is stressing the point that Margaret’s innocence has been shattered by the face to face reality of war. Nothing will be looked at with the same curiosity and innocence again. There is also irony present here as she was sent from the city to be protected from the impact of war.

Symbolism Continued The discovery of the dead airmen provides a chilling and sinister twist in this short story but is significant the way Jenkins has chosen to describe the bodies. “ One of the airmen with fair hair, had no face at all: while the other’s face was half gone and was unrecognisable as human” “ gleaming bones “ “ sweet nasty smell mingled with the tang of the sea” • All symbolising the dehumanisation of war Brutality of War/ horror of war/ pointlessness futility of war. War has also tainted the beautiful natural landscape Placing the men in the Eden like setting reminds us that since the time of Adam and Eve man is capable of Evil.