Love, Hope, or Sin?

     It's that time of year again- homecoming. Not a day goes by without me seeing pictures of an overly dramatic "proposal" (it's just homecoming, not a wedding) or overly excited girls toting around a bouquet of colorful flowers. After all, that's what the current culture uses flowers to symbolize- love. Beautiful, fragile, easily killed. However, these words could also be applied to the concept of hope. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a rosebush located outside of a decrepit prison is used to symbolize hope, "or some sweet moral blossom" (Hawthorne 46) in the otherwise sorrowful book.
     The Scarlet Letter isn't the only dated story that uses flowers as a symbol of hope. The Legend of the Cherokee Rose tells a story about the Cherokee tribe, traveling the trail of tears. Supposedly, the mothers of the tribe were grieving, as their children were not surviving the hardships they were forced to face. Flowers began to bloom where the mothers' tears fell, giving them the strength to carry on and hope that they would find a better future.
     While on the topic of the symbolism of flowers, I found it interesting as well that in The Scarlet Letter, Pearl claims that she "[has] no heavenly father" (Hawthorne 95) but was instead "plucked by her mother off of the bush of wild roses that grew by the prison door" (Hawthorne 108). This is, in fact, the very same rosebush used to symbolize hope. But, as we discussed in class, Pearl's name implies that she came from nature, implying that she is resemblant of sin. This fact could be applied to flowers as well, having risen up from nature, and not created by a 'heavenly father'. How is it that such a simple concept as that of a flower can symbolize not only the cliche love it is used to mean today, but also hope and, shockingly, sin? Something to think about the next time you feel the need to swoon over a bouquet of a beautifully represented symbol of sin.  
     And because no post of mine would be complete without a reference to The Walking Dead...

"It’s a Cherokee Rose. The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much ‘cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers’ spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow where the mothers’ tears fell. I’m not fool enough to think there’s any flowers blooming for my brother. But I believe this one bloomed for your little girl." -Daryl Dixon, "Cherokee Rose"