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Birch Tree
The flowers that grow in Lucy’s back yard on Francis Street, in Sagastis’s garden in Saskatchewan and elsewhere in Five Little Indians represent the resilience and strength of the book’s Indigenous characters. Although they sign the lease after the bloom has passed, it’s the thought of the blossoms on the ornamental cherry trees out front that convinces Lucy she’ll be able to make a home for Kendra there. And she makes the place her home base—and Kendra’s, and Clara’s, and Kenny’s—in part through cultivating ornamental plants in the back yard. When Howie plants tiger lilies on his mother’s grave, this act marks his return to her after many years away and shows how he’s redeemed some of the suffering both he and she went through by surviving.
Flowers Quotes in Five Little Indians
The Five Little Indians quotes below all refer to the symbol of Flowers. 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:
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Chapter 8: Clara
Quotes
She didn’t have to call [John Lennon] this time. With the car back in order after the border pillaging, Clara walked around toward the driver’s door and that was enough for him to know. He ran to her through the purple flowering weeds, tongue lolling and happy. Weeds. She remembered George telling her once that Indians were like weeds to the white people. Something to be wiped out so their idea of a garden could grow. He told her weeds were indigenous flowers. “Clara, you’re an indigenous flower. Don’t ever think of yourself as a weed.” That’s what he said to her.
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Chapter 16: Howie
Quotes
He knelt and started planting the tiger lily bulbs in front of the headstone, remembering a time, when he was very little, when she would tell him the old stories about Tiger Lily and Weesageechak, and the living stories of her parents and theirs. He knew she would love having a bright-orange spray rising, year after year. The flowers reminded him of her sturdy beauty. He rose and shook the dark earth from his work gloves, picked up his tools, gave his handiwork one last look and headed for his truck.
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Get the entire Five Little Indians LitChart as a printable PDF.
Flowers Symbol Timeline in Five Little Indians
The timeline below shows where the symbol Flowers appears in Five Little Indians. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 16: Howie
...death, Howie and his relatives finally place a headstone on her grave. Afterwards, Howie plants tiger lilies next to the headstone while he thinks about her. He turned down her last offer...
(full context)
