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Anne Kathrine Porter's Flowering Judas

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A flowering garden in the spring crafts conceptions of fertility, beauty, and bliss. Certain people are similar to plants: some are functional, others radiate beauty, while the worst are those that kill. Not all plants are welcome such as the purple flowers from the Judas tree that should be kept at bay from the hearts of the tender because of their morbid connotation. While Laura in “Flowering Judas” by Anne Kathrine Porter is seemingly sweet, a deeper analyzation exposes the true intentions of this dynamic character. Porter conceived the ideas in “Flowering Judas” from her time in Mexico during the Marxist Revolution in the 1920’s. Some authors speculate the main character Laura is an extension of another strong female lead, Miranda, from previous short stories on female principles (Untrue). Laura is a powerful central character embodying dishonesty of true Judas figure as seen through characterization, allusions, and symbolism. …show more content…

Her actions symbolize she did not truly want him to pursue her. The miscommunication may not have been intentional on the surface, but her subconscious mind allowed her to, once again, delude her true intentions behind well-meaning actions.
Allusions, symbolism, and characterization wrap into the central theme of a beautiful lady on the outside that corruptly deceives the world. With these elements of duplicity in “Flowering Judas” portraying Laura as a great false saint, she is ironically sinful by a Cristian definition with Braggioni as her God. Relatedly, while lavender, violets, hydrangeas are beautiful, be aware of the ominous plants with a secretly evil nature stemming from the Judas tree. People are like a springtime garden, some are pretty on the outside, but have more sinister

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