Symbolism
Definition of Symbolism
The definition of symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
Cereus Plant
The Cereus plant is a flower. Another name for the Cereus plant is the Night Blooming Cereus. Its scientific name is Epiphyllum oxypetalum. It is a flower that blooms in the night and stays blooming all night, and closes when it is morning. They are approximately the size of a dinner plate. The Cereus plant also emits an intoxicating fragrance. Cereus plants bloom in waves mostly during the summer months. Sometimes, as many as 15 Cereus flowers bloom at once during the summer.
Poem
Night Bloomer
Mrs. Brown's
cereus plant bloomed on Saturday night.
She sent word
after promising I could come see it.
I rubbed my gritty eyes with swollen hands.
My stomach grizzled as I
made my way through the dark
to her house.
Ma wouldn't have let me go at all.
My father just stood in the doorway and
watched me leave.
It was almost three in the morning when I got there.
A small crowd stood around.
Mrs. Brown said,
"The blossom opened at midnight,
big as a dinner plate.
It took only moments to unfold."
How can such a flower
find a way to bloom in this drought,
in this wind.
It blossomed at night,
when the sun couldn't scorch it,
when the wind was quiet,
when there might have been a sip of dew
to freshen it.
I couldn't watch at dawn,
when the flower,
touched by the first finger of morning light,
wilted and died.
I couldn't watch
as the tender petals burned up in the sun.
September 1934
(Pages 81-82)
Mrs. Brown's
cereus plant bloomed on Saturday night.
She sent word
after promising I could come see it.
I rubbed my gritty eyes with swollen hands.
My stomach grizzled as I
made my way through the dark
to her house.
Ma wouldn't have let me go at all.
My father just stood in the doorway and
watched me leave.
It was almost three in the morning when I got there.
A small crowd stood around.
Mrs. Brown said,
"The blossom opened at midnight,
big as a dinner plate.
It took only moments to unfold."
How can such a flower
find a way to bloom in this drought,
in this wind.
It blossomed at night,
when the sun couldn't scorch it,
when the wind was quiet,
when there might have been a sip of dew
to freshen it.
I couldn't watch at dawn,
when the flower,
touched by the first finger of morning light,
wilted and died.
I couldn't watch
as the tender petals burned up in the sun.
September 1934
(Pages 81-82)
Symbolism
My opinion is that the cereus plant symbolizes Billie Jo. When it is in the sun, the cereus plant withers and dies. Billie Jo also feels like she is "withered", or worn out. For example, "I had swollen lumps for hands, they dripped a sickly pus, they swung stupidly from my wrists, they stung with pain." (Page 65) The cereus plant symbolizes how Billie Jo is emotionally and physically harmed. The situations of when her mother and her baby brother dies and having swollen hands makes her feel withered or worn out, like the cereus plant was when it was revealed to the scorching heat of the sun. Billie Jo feels defeated. In conclusion, what the cereus plant symbolizes in the story is Billie Jo.