Roselily

My reaction to Alice Walkers piece ARoseLily@ was quite interesting and confusing. Interesting in the way she wrote the wedding ceremony different from the main story. Confusing because you, the reader, have to read really carefully to see what the plot was. Overall, once I got the hang of reading her style it became clear to me how she felt and what the story was that she was trying to introduce. There was definitely a lot of symbolism in the story. First of all, the name A Roselily @ means A beauty and perfection, happiness and grace and lily means purity, and guiltless@(Symbolism in literature pg.3)

But this symbolism doesn’t come across in the story, instead the exact opposite of there definition comes across. For instance, from the beginning of the story she talks about having three kids with her at the time of the ceremony which definitely means she=s not as pure as the lily portrays her to be. One of the other things that strike me about this reading is how she thinks of marriage. “She thinks of ropes, chains, handcuffs, his religion”(Walker pg.1). She uses the ropes, chains, and handcuffs as a way of letting the reader know that by getting married, she thinks that’s going to weigh and tied her down. But then she contradicts herself by letting the reader know that after the ceremony the couple will be moving to Chicago to try and rebuild something better then what they have now.

As the ceremony goes on it seems like her whole life must be flashing before her eyes. She starts to think about a fourth son that she had, but that she let the father keep him since he was pretty well off money and education wise. She goes on to say he couldn’t live with “Roselily”, which brought me to the conclusion that maybe her name is Roselily. Which of course brings light to the picture because everything her name stood for she wasn’t, except for the fact that she was trying to be righteous in getting married and making a new life for her other three children.

Another thing about this reading that stood out at me was the fact that on her wedding day she was still having mixed emotions.

She doesn’t even agree with the rules of his religion. The idea of the man marrying one of her sisters seems better to her then him marrying her. She thinks she’s too old for a change this drastic and that her sisters are ready for something new and fresh. She doesn’t like the life that he wants her to have. “Her place will be in