How Does Irene Use The Presence Of Flowers In 'In My Hands'?
Claire S. Johnson
Mrs. Gordon
English Comp II
27 February 2023
In My Hands
In her memoir, In My Hands, Irene uses the motif of flowers in different ways throughout her story and the meaning of the presence of flowers in the story changes from a way of describing her everyday life into a longing and nostalgic feeling to highlight that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
The motif of flowers can first be seen changing meanings at the very beginning of the book. “It was dusk, and the breeze carried the scent of lilacs” -Pg. 5 was one of the first times flowers were mentioned in the story, the way it was used in this context was to bring back a sense of nostalgia in Opdyke's childhood (and possibly in the reader as well) and to connect
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Flowers turn from a sign of nostalgia into a sign of hope. Flowers begin to appear in scenes where Irene feels the most hope, especially as the war begins to end and slow down in ferocity. “On the other side, a patch of yellow flowers glowed in a spotlight of sun slanting through the trunks” -Page. 188. This quote was used to represent the hope that Irene was giving the Jews, while she delivered them supplies in the forest. Irenes definition of hope changes throughout the story, hope changes based on her circumstances, and her idea of hope became very different from what she thought it was at the beginning of the story. The theme of this story directly lines up with the motif of flowers. As Irenes idea of hope changes so does the meaning of flowers, for example, at the beginning of the story hope takes the form of nostalgia and wishing for a way to go back to the way things were before the war, but as the story goes on Irene begins to mature and realize that things may never go back to the way they were before, and that hope might have to grow in the cracks in her life, just as the flowers do in there story. “Afterwards, Janek and I walked along a stream that was line with yellow, starlike flowers. Sunlight danced off the water and onto Janeks face”- Page. 243. This quote is another example of the ever changing idea of hope that Irene has. In the next paragraph she mentions to Janek how her country is still war torn, her family is missing, and many people are still dead, but despite all of this she is happy and hopeful. Even if the circumstances are less then
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