Amna Azhar 10C

The Woman’s rose

Q. Comment on how the writing showcases the theme of women in solidarity

The woman’s rose by Olive schreiner is a short story narrated by an unnamed narrator, who
seems to reminisce about a meeting with a beautiful, wavy-haired girl when she was
younger. Although she seems to have harbored this jealousy towards the wavy-haired girl,
the story ends with a heartful interaction between the two women, which relights the
narrator’s faith in women solidarity. The writer uses various literary devices like flashbacks,
symbolism and juxtaposition to further elaborate and emphasize the theme of women
solidarity in the text.

Firstly, the writer uses flashbacks paired up with the theme of women solidarity in the text. In
the text, it’s Witten that “spring cannot fail us” in the very beginning, when the narrator talks
about when her faith in women withers, the rose given by the wavy-haired lady 12 years ago,
its scent comes back to her to remind her of the lady and her interaction. Spring, from a
literature perspective is a symbol for hope, and new beginning. When she says this
sentence, she says it in her present time, as a hope for the future, that this hope about
women as companions of other women will come true someday where these women may
forget any rivalry and jealously between each other, but instead support each other against
the society and all. The writer says this sentence again at the very end of the story after the
narrator tells her whole story about she and the wavy-haired lady, and the interaction
between them which expressed their admiration for one another, being the last sentence and
then the story finishes, to re-emphasize the point that the narrator’s hope will someday come
true eventually as this interaction between them relights her faith in women solidarity.

Moving on, the writer uses symbolism to showcase the theme of women in solidarity with
one another in the text. In the text, the writer frequently brought up the rose the narrator
keeps with her, as written in the text: “but no one has my rose” at the very end of the first
paragraph, then, “but the rose is in the box still” after the end of the second paragraph, then,
“but the rose- the rose is in the box still!” somewhere at the last paragraph of the story. The
narrator frequently brought up the rose, which was given to her by the wavy-haired lady on
their first and for the narrator, the most cherished interaction in which the narrator and the
wavy-haired lady share a moment pure of femininity, the wavy-haired lady gives the narrator
her white rose and sticks it to the narrator’s hair because she feels the contrast of 2 different
colors look good on the narrator, and then complementing each other before they’re taken by
men for dancing. This rose, which he wavy haired lady gave the narrator 12 years ago, she
Amna Azhar 10C

still kept it safe despite the long time emphasizes the importance in the narrator’s interaction
with the other lady and shows the theme of women in solidarity.

A minor detail to notice in this interaction is also that it’s the men who took away the 2 ladies
away from each other for the dance, which shows that majorly in a society, it’s the men who
are usually the ones to create rivalries between women by comparing them with each other
by their appearance and having a bias opinion on them to further strengthen the rivalry
between them to see the drama, as if it’s some show of entertainment or a game for them.

Lastly, the writer uses juxtaposition as well to showcase the theme of women in solidarity in
the text. As written in the text: “ ‘How nice dark hair is; it sets off flowers so.’ She stepped
back and looked at me. ‘It looks much better there!’ ”. This was said during the interaction of
these 2 ladies, when the wavy-haired lady sticks the white rose onto the black hair of the
narrator and compliments her, saying her white rose looks much better with the narrator’s
dark hair. The stark color difference between the Wavy light-haired lady and the dark-haired
narrator also shows these 2 ladies are completely different in every way, and stand on
opposite sides. But the fact that this simple gesture brought them together from a side which
is quite the opposite to each other, showcases the theme of women solidarity in the text.

To conclude, the writer uses literary devices like juxtaposition, symbolism and flashbacks to
showcase the theme of women in solidarity, making the interaction between the 2 women
the primary focus and the strongest point to show this theme. Along with using the
patriarchal setup (the men taking away the women for the dance), and minor tools like color
difference and the repetition of symbols like the rose to further emphasize the theme of
women in solidarity, making it the most dominant theme in the story.