The Flower Garden by Shirley Jackson is a story about a mother and her son who move to a small town. The story is about how racism effects the family’s ability to fit in the community. The two main characters were Mrs. MacLane and Mrs. Winning. They were friends until Mrs. MacLane hired an African American to work in her garden.
The literary element I chose to explore was person against society. When Mrs. MacLane first comes to town she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.” She is very welcomed by her new friends and pleased about how nice everyone is to each other. Things change for Mrs. MacLane when she hired Mr. Jones, an african american man to work in her garden. She then saw the racism of her small town. By going against those around her she led herself to be alienated by her neighbors. Mrs. MacLane held a belief that was contrary to those that lived around her. After she was shunned for hiring a black man, Mrs. MacLane said, “ And now no one ever does more than speak to us... and no one ever smiles, or anything.”
In the end of the story Mrs. MacLane questions herself, whether she should give up. She has a loss of hope and feelings of despair.
Good work, Tyler! You succinctly summarized the essence of the story and identified the primary conflict. You have good supporting details in the middle paragraph.
ReplyDelete4/5 points. Keep working on mechanics. For example: "african american" should be capitalized. Expand your concluding paragraph to include more ideas and capture the big ideas. Just like in a literary essay, you need to restate your thesis (or main point) and close it with your own ideas.