Previous
Bears
The smell of cherry blossoms symbolizes the surprising emergence of rare talent. Veteran hockey coach Sune claims he can smell cherry blossoms—a scent one would not normally expect in the midst of a Swedish winter—the first time he sees a player of phenomenal talent on the ice. This exclusive roster has included Peter Andersson, Kevin Erdahl, Amat, and the little girl who starts playing hockey at the end of the book.
Cherry Blossoms Quotes in Beartown
The Beartown quotes below all refer to the symbol of Cherry Blossoms. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 50
Quotes
None of them sees the first skate of the child who’s the last one out. She’s four years old, a scrawny little kid in gloves that are too big for her, with bruises everyone sees but nobody asks about. Her helmet slips down across her eyes, but the look in them is clear enough.
Adri and Sune come after her, ready to hold the girl up, until they realize that there’s no need. The four boys at the center circle will build a new A-team next season, but that doesn’t matter, because in ten years’ time it won’t be their names that make the people of this town stand taller.
And they’ll all lie and say they were here and saw it happen. The first skate of the girl who will become the most talented player this club has ever seen. They’ll all say they knew it even then.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Beartown LitChart as a printable PDF.
Cherry Blossoms Symbol Timeline in Beartown
The timeline below shows where the symbol Cherry Blossoms appears in Beartown. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...experienced, when he witnessed the birth of great talents. He likens it to “seeing a cherry tree in bloom in a frozen garden.” The first talent was Peter Andersson, more than 40...
(full context)
...to see Sune laughing. And there are tears in Sune’s eyes—he thinks he can smell cherry blossom .
(full context)
Chapter 50
...claim they knew it all along, “because people recognize the bear around here,” and “ cherry trees always smell of cherry trees.”
(full context)
