The Loss of Innocence in "The Flowers"

In “The Flowers”, the author uses symbolism to explore the loss of innocence of young black people in America. Walker first establishes that Myop is entering new ground when she writes "the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts" (Walker 120). In this excerpt, Walker uses the forest as a symbol of Myop's current knowledge of the world. In stepping into unfamiliar territory, Myop is passing beyond the realm of the known. When she steps on the dead man's skull and "reached down quickly, unafraid, to free herself" (Walker 120), symbolism is used to express how at…