The Flowering Judas is a second Porter’s story that is based on a vibrantly redolent narration. The story also lies in its captivating characters such as Laura and Braggioni. The story is quite magical and mystical in nature. The author of the book employed certain aspects that are interesting in nature and this makes the story capture the minds and the hearts of the most audience.
The author tried to stimulate the audience to know more about life and its characters. The use of the complexly-portrayed characters, the intense details in the story, and the stream of consciousness technique make all story to be very interesting and stimulating. The use of these great features proofs his ability to do a good job in his stories. There are provocative questions that dominate most parts of the story and these have stimulated many audiences to have a second thought on how characters such as Laura became idealistic revolutionary.
The story has garnered a lot of constructive criticism and crucial praise which is very impressive to most audiences. The author has also used symbolism which is liked by many audiences. Flowering Judas has been considered the most liked and interesting anthologies due to its sophisticated symbolism which has maneuvered diverse generations of scholars.
The author depicts the character of Laura as the protagonist and it is set against that of Braggioni who was the corrupt radical leader. The training that Laura underwent had faded away and it was meaningless at the moment. She felt disillusioned and incomplete hence she was not committed to revolutionary movements. She was not also dedicated to humanity even if she used to perform odd jobs that dictate the character of humanity. She used to bring cigarettes, food, and narcotics to political prisoners. Irony has been employed by the author to make the story to be more interesting to the audience. The fact that the author depicts Laura as someone who does not love Braggioni is quite interesting. She did not feel Braggioni shows her desperate complicated mind. It depicts how one disentangles psychological forces within oneself. Porter not only indicts Laura’s personality, but also indicts her world by evoking a sense of alienation, demoralization, and dreadfulness.
I liked the author for his thematically and stylistically unified legendary qualities. The final scene of the story is quite interesting. The dream sequence and the fact that Laura pays a visit to Braggioni led to the tale’s thematic hub on denial, betrayal, and death. The use of stylistic devices such as flashbacks has made me liked his story. The fact that Flowering Judas’ story does not have any formal storyline has made many readers and audiences develop a lot of interest.
What draws my attention to the story is the clarification that the author makes as he concludes his story. I like his job when he clarified certain moral and human ideas which emerge at the end of the story. The author reveals the way Laura viewed life in the nightmare. She sees life as very horrible. The symbolism employed by the author when Laura clung to the branch of Judas tree which was believed to have been used by Judas Iscariot to hang himself. Laura consumed the bleeding flowers which were regarded to symbolize the act of betraying her own spirit and spirit of humanity.
References
Porter, K. A. (1958). Flowering Judas.