The skull and—more generally—the rotting corpse both represent the continued legacy of the United States’ racist and violent history. Myop accidentally puts her foot all the way into the skull, signaling that she can no longer avoid this history: it has literally engulfed her foot and has kept her from continuing her journey home. Unaware of the full impact of slavery (as well as the larger social history of lynching as a means of terrorizing and controlling Black Americans), Myop initially views the skull with mere curiosity. She notes its broken teeth, which leads her to observe the corpse more carefully. This observation then leads her to understand that the present—and her future—are shaped by forces of history she does not yet fully understand.
The Corpse and Skull Quotes in The Flowers
She had often been as far before, but the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts. It seemed gloomy in the little cove in which she found herself. The air was damp, the silence close and deep.
Myop began to circle back to the house, back to the peacefulness of the morning. It was then that she stepped smack into his eyes. Her heel became lodged in the broken ridge between brow and nose, and she reached down quickly, unafraid, to free herself. It was only when she saw his naked grin that she gave a little yelp of surprise.
Myop gazed around the spot with interest. Very near where she’d stepped into the head was a wild pink rose. As she picked it to add to her bundle she noticed a raised mound, a ring, around the rose’s root. It was the rotted remains of a noose, a bit of shredding plowline, now blending benignly into the soil. Around an overhanging limb of a great spreading oak clung another piece. Frayed, rotted, bleached, and frazzled—barely there—but spinning restlessly in the breeze. Myop laid down her flowers.
And the summer was over.
The Corpse and Skull Symbol Timeline in The Flowers
