How does the author use descriptive language to show how Myop changes throughout the story? After reading the story 'The flowers' by Alice Walker I observed that Myop, the main character in the story, slowly matures throughout

‘Myop watched the tiny white bubbles disrupt the thin black scale of soil and the water that silently rose and slid away down the stream’ this shows that she is getting more observant of her surroundings and if fascinated by a small happening. She is becoming more adventurous as the story progress’s. She wonders in to the part of the forest that she had never been on her own before. ‘Bouncing this way and that, vaguely keeping an eye out for snakes’ this means she is slightly scared of unwanted and harmful things and unaware of her path she is taking. Myop starts gathering different flowers beautiful flowers and observes them. Later on she has become more confident of herself as she had wondered ‘ a mile or more from home’. As she is not with her mother she finds the land more unusual and different to when she visits with her mother. She chooses a strange path to follow as she enters into a gloomy and quiet place that shows her suspicion gets the better of her and it is almost like she is drawn to this path. The descriptive language is beginning to get darker and more mysterious as she ventures further and further.

 She is intimidated by her new surroundings and travels back to the safety of her home. ‘Back to the peacefulness of the morning’ this suggests that she sees her home as a haven and she was venturing into unknown and dark places.

At the end of this story you can see that Myop is growing more and more mature within her action and thoughts. The language used in this part of the story is not very complexed but is winded together to illustrate the more adult thoughts of Myop. She accidentally steps into a dead face that has been lying underneath the growth and plants. ‘She reached down quickly, unafraid to free herself’ this shows that she is not immediately frightened by this experience but is rather calm with the situation. It is only when she spotted his unusual smile did she yelp in surprise. Myop did not run off screaming or cry but observed the man trying to work out what, why and how he had got there. Although his appearance was old and rotten ‘she gazed around the spot with interest’ and wondered upon the man.

Next to where she had stepped onto his head was a beautiful flower. To me this suggests the new life of the man, from one life to another. She picks it and added it to the rest of her flowers. ‘It was the rotted remains of a noose’ Myop realises how he had died and feels guilty that she had picked his new life so lays them down on top of him as a sign of respect. ‘ The summer was over’ this is when Myop is full in her maturity and has grown older in mind from her experience.