Conflicts and Religion in "Roselily"

451 Words1 Page

This short story "Roselily" by Alice Walker is written as thoughts between reciting wedding vows. A paragraph will go by, and then a short wedding sentence will spawn the next paragraph. For instance, "We are gathered here..." and then the new paragraph begins. The central character is a woman named Roselily and the setting is in Mississippi during her wedding ceremony in an open house wedding. The central conflict involves the emotional dilemma that she is having about getting married and leaving everything that she has ever known. Other conflicts are race, having to give a child away (has 3 others), and religion. The whole time she talks about leaving childhood friends. Nervousness is one of her character traits and a good quote to show this is, "Her fingers at the last minute busily removing dry leaves and twigs. Aware it is a superficial sweep." She is hopeful of the future and what it has to bring her and her new family. Roselily also cares deeply about her children and thinks, "Her children at last from underneath the detrimental wheel. A chance to be on top." Anothe...

Open Document