POPPY SEEDS

by Jerome Advanier

This extract presents us a story of a woman, whose husband had a nervous

breakdown. This woman had to sell their farm in order to deal with the money matters
considering her husband’s health. Suddenly she came across a clump of poppy flowers
that reminiscently reminded her about a man she had been infatuated with ten years
ago. Recollection by recollection she realized that it was a murder and, moreover, it was
her husband who killed her undercovered lover and buried him at the place of poppy-
seeds growing. Finally she decided to take an armful of these flowers and bring them
upstairs to her husband’s room.

The problem raised by the author can be defined as the problem of genuine love,
infidelity and vengeance.

The main line of the thought of the author is quite obscure throughout the flow
of the story, but it becomes clear in its end: the truth will be revealed undeniably.

The story is narrated in the 3d person with the author not interfering with its plot
and observing his characters externally. There is not much action in the narration. It
consists mainly of the woman’s memories. The actions take place in the past and at the
same moment are held in the present via the heroine’s mind. The descriptions of this
woman are concentrated on her inner state, while the outer portrait is given to her
secret lover and it is noteworthy that both kinds of characteristics are of the same value,
namely they give us two vivid characters.

I tend to think that the prevailing mood of the story is melodramatic and
emotional as almost every passage contains the description of emotions and feelings
related to the relationships between the heroine and either her husband or her
inamorato.

Logically this story can be divided into several compositional parts. They are

- exposition, that includes the outline of the settings, some facts, such as
illness of the hero, and that his wife is waiting for a solicitor;
- development of the plot, that begins from the point when poppy flowers
are found by the woman (“she came upon an unusually large clump of wild poppies”).
Here we can also observe the changing, crucial point in the narration, when “story in
real life” is being replaced by the “story in the head of the woman” (“and when it
dawned on her”). Then this “inner” plot is developing gradually, increasing tension
and intrigue, covering more and more details and reaching its highest point in the
rhetorical questions (“Why had he bought the poppy seeds if he hadn't intended to
come back? Was it just a trick of his?”) that appear just right before the climax.
- Climax overturns the inner side of the story back into the external one.
Undoubtedly it is the moment when the heroine contemplates on three facts that prove
her guesses about the true origin of the poppy flowers, and carries on with her digging
at the place the flowers are growing.
- Denouement is the last part that can be separated according to the
compositional division of the story. It is presented by the fact that the solicitor comes
and the woman tells him that she has changed her mind, concerning her former wish of
selling the house. And the last thing we can see – she takes an armful of flowers and
brings them upstairs, to her husband’s room. That is why we can regard this ending as
an open one. We don’t know for sure, how her husband will react and what will
happen next.
In general, the plot structure seems to be a frame, in a way its beginning and
ending take place in the moment of narration, but the most meaningful middle part is
limited by the woman’s memory, but still appears to be inseparable from the narrative
surroundings.

I hold the view that the most significant artistic detail the author used is colors.
According to the first descriptions of the farm and the husband, life of this woman
seems to be extremely dull and monochromic. The first bright spot that appears in the
story is poppy flowers. The narration bursts with colors after that (and thought of the
flaxen-haired boy in the green beret, who had brought so much sunshine into her life in those
days / vivid lips and her glowing complexion; and when she had blushingly told him etc.). It
seems that these descriptions cover all the necessary colors, required by our eyes.
Obviously there is a contrast between the description I have already mentioned and the
further life on the farm (her husband had stumbled into the cottage, splattered with mud and
with one black gumboot missing, and with that horrible, vacant look in his eyes, she had
experienced no emotion at all). I would say that all the colours were unexpectedly
withdrawn out of her life as her lover disappeared. Her happiness was plucked with
the roots out of her soul like the poppy flowers out of the ground. One more connection
to flowers can be found in the phrase “her inability to share her anguish with anyone,
had made her dry up inside”. It reminds us abandoned flowers that have been suffering
from the lack of water. Love didn’t fuel her heart and emptiness of the broken dream
just dried up her inner world.

As for the title of the story, it is noteworthy that poppy flowers mean restful
sleep and recovery, a lively imagination, peace in death, messages delivered in dreams,
resurrection and eternal life in different cultures. All the meanings can be applied to the
text under analysis. The main thing is that we deal with poppy seeds but not with the
flowers themselves. It can be the symbol of the beginning of feelings and emotions, that
have not been fostered to flourish, but still, finally, they brought fruits to the plot.