Flowers (symbol)
Flowers, which are mentioned often in this story, are symbolic of Myop’s innocence. She is just ten years old, and at the beginning of the story, she is still a careless child, who likes running in the woods, playing in the yard, and singing songs. However, her innocence is as fleeting as a flower, and it ends on the day she finds a corpse and a noose.
The Woods (symbol)
The woods symbolize the world surrounding Myop, which can be both violent and beautiful. Myop had “explored the woods behind the house many times,” but, for the most part, she did it with her mother was nearby. That was the main reason why it felt like an adventure. However, on the day of the story, she goes alone and makes the terrifying discovery of the dead man—symbolizing the harsh realities of her own race from which her mother could not shield her forever.
The End of Summer (allegory)
At the end of the story, after Myop notices the noose next to the dead man, she lays down her flowers and the narrator declares that summer is over. Myop has undergone a tremendous transformation from an innocent child to a more mature person with a clear understanding of the world and its violence. Like the summer, her childhood is over now.
The Dead Man (symbol)
The dead man whom Myop finds is also a symbol of the violence faced by African-Americans. Myop does not know this man's name, nor his identity, but judging from the rotting noose she finds nearby, presumably he was lynched and murdered by a mob. His death—and his body, lying forgotten in the woods until a little girl literally steps on him—represents the many African-Americans who died due to racial hatred.
The Pink Rose (symbol)
A pink rose has grown up within the circle of the rotting noose on the forest floor. In contrast to the ugliness of the dead man (who, paradoxically, provides sustenance for it), the rose is beautiful and robust. This suggests that something beautiful might still come out of violence: in Walker's stories flowers often symbolize care, recovery, and redemption. Violence is not a final end, but rather a place of suffering from which to begin again.
