Symbolism in "The Geranium" Key

Symbolism in "The Geranium" Key to using symbols in a story is the goal of universalizing a particular cultural moment. O'Connor makes use of religious symbols to drive home a moral point in several of her stories, but in others, her symbolism is more specific and require some work to interpret. Her 1946 short story "The Geranium," which was in fact her first published one (Wood 56), O'Connor uses symbolism to represent the feelings of a stubborn old man, and convey the Southern feeling of cultural loss.

The central symbol of "The Geranium" is the eponymous flower seated high in a window sill across the street from Old Dudley. At ten-thirty in the morning the resident of that apartment puts it out to get sun, and at five-thirty it is taken in for the night. Old Dudley looks at it all day long, and even depends upon its regularity as an indispensable part of his day. However he may need it, however, Old Dudley feels disgust for it.

The geranium reminds Old Dudley of a young boy on a wheelchair he calls the Grisby boy. The practice of hunting and fishing can be seen as a symbol of masculinity. In the flashbacks to Old Dudley fishing with Rabie, the world of Jim Crow is in full form, juxtaposed with the present-day Yankee practice of racial tolerance. In Old Dudley's memory, African-Americans are good for stealing, fetching things, and attending to the white man.

Memories of hunting dogs and coveys mix in seamlessly with Old Dudley's domestic experience, and inform the reader of Old Dudley's inner motivation. Whereas in the present Old Dudley is merely carrying out a request he regards as silly, he is in a sense hunting for a pattern. As if caught between dream and reality, a "Bang!" In the world of memory has become a slip of the foot on the staircase. The staircase, in turn, is a symbol of New York.

Aside from Old Dudley's fixation on the geranium, this is where he encounters the outside world. As Old Dudley slips and falls down a couple steps, he reluctantly requires the aid of an African-American resident. In spite of his distaste for the African-American's demeanor, he must accept his help. Sadly, Old Dudley cannot accept the attitude of racial tolerance, as "the pain in his throat [is] all over his face now, leaking out his eyes." In liberal society, people need help from anyone in order to progress as an individual.

The tone of the story is stubborn reluctance. Old Dudley does not want to budge from sitting by the window, and is sick of his daughter's pressure to modernize and stay active. He does not want to lose the past social order, and regrets relying on African-Americans in the first place. For Old Dudley, the geranium is the faded image of the past, or at least an attempt to hold onto something normal.

Its crash is O'Connor's allegory of condemnation, a social-Darwinist proposition that the weak and vulnerable aren't meant to survive. Moreover, Old Dudley's shock at seeing the fallen geranium is an elegy for that little bit of continuity in his life. Ralph C. Wood's article compares this first story.