In five pages this paper discusses the protagonists in each of these stories in an analysis of the lessons they learn. Five sources are cited in the bibliography.
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their "place" as African Americans within the society of the American South. The little girl in "The Flowers" provides the reader with a more subtle and compassionate outlook at the
situation of African Americans as the girl matures into a women from her knowledge and realization of what has occurred in her environment and what ends a beautiful summer for
her and pushes her into maturity. The narrator in "Battle Royal" experiences a much more brutal realization that he was na?ve and blind, and blind folded, in his outlook of
race relations in the South. Both stories tell of the unfortunate realities of the South which changed the lives and teach "life" lessons to the protagonists. "The Flowers" provides a
much more subtle approach however as "Battle Royal" tells of the brutal realities which the protagonists must face in their daily battles as African Americans in the South.
Alice Walkers short story "The Flowers" tells of the lost innocence of a little African American girl. The story begins brightly and beautifully as Myop
is out picking flowers. She skips happily as her senses are brought alive by her "keenness of her nose" which allows her to enjoy the "harvesting of the corn and
cotton, peanuts and squash ... that cause excited little tremors to run up her jaws" (Walker, 2002). Clearly, Myop was a happy
ten year old as she sang her way around the farm yard and the narrative and vocabulary reflect this. Her "dark brown hand" tells the reader that she is black,
the "rusty boards" provide detail that her family is no doubt poor and the description of the crops of cotton and peanuts allow for the fact that the story takes