In the story Flower Garden, the main character, young Mrs. Winning, chose to marry into the town’s most prominent family, and lived in their great home on top of a hill. In the beginning of the story she spent time dreaming about the people that would move into a small cottage that she once thought might have been perfect for her to fix up and grow a beautiful garden around. When the new owner, a widow, Mrs. MacLane, and her son Davey moved in, Mrs. Winning was excited to become her friend and spend as much time as possible with her. She was most interested in how Mrs. MacLane decorated the house and to hear her plans for the elaborate garden she intended to grow all around the cottage. Mrs. Winning was happy that Mrs. MacLane’s plans were almost exactly as hers would have been if she would have been able to move in. The two ladies and their sons remained friends until Mrs. MacLane was friendly toward a half black boy from town and hired his father, Mr. Jones to help her with the garden. All the other people in the town looked down upon that and talked badly about them behind their backs.
Although there are many significant literary elements going on in this story, the one that is the most obvious to me is the person-against-self conflict that surrounds the protagonist, young Mrs. Winning. To begin with Mrs. Winning seemed somewhat disappointed with how her life played out. Evidence of this is the quote, “For a while, when she was twelve and the grocer’s son was twenty, Mrs. Winning had hoped secretly that he would want to marry her.” Unfortunately, her wish was not her fate.
The author painted a contrasting picture between the two homes and lives of the two women to further show how Mrs. MacLane lived in the place where Mrs. Winning longed to be. The cottage was shown to be a small cheerful place that symbolized hope and happiness that was Mrs. MacLane’s. The Winning home was shown to be dark, dull and routine, just like Mrs. Winning’s life. Mrs. Winning showed jealously toward Mrs. MacLane when she noticed to herself that Mrs. MacLane “is pretty,” and came right out to Mrs. MacLane with more regret and said, ”It’s just that I’ve been wanting to live here myself for so long” referring to the cottage. Later she expressed more disappointment and regret about her life when she said to Mrs. MacLane, “I’d give anything in the world to live in your house.”
Further conflict occurs later in the story when Mrs. MacLane’s garden began to grow to be more luscious and beautiful, and she had Mr. Jones, a black man, help her do the gardening. At that point, Mrs. Winning found it hard to be friends with Mrs. MacLane because it made Mrs. Winning look like she approved of her friend having a “shirtless” black man help make her garden beautiful. When Mrs. Winning said to her, “Of course you won’t have him any longer than just today?” and Mrs. MacLane answered, “But surely.” Mrs. Winning became indignant and embarrassed and went home. Their relationship was never the same after that time.
Although I don’t think I would have felt the same way in all of the situations that Mrs. Winning found herself in, I did connect with her feeling of jealousy. Just like the example of Mrs. Winning longing for Mrs. MacLane’s cottage and garden, there have been times in my life when I have wanted something for a very long time, and someone else just stepped in and got it. Those times have made me angry, so I can understand how Mrs. Winning felt, like a loser.
