The Man Who Loved Flowers

“He had that look about him. He was dressed in a light gray suit, the narrow tie pulled down a little, his top collar button undone. His hair was dark and cut short. His complexion was fair, his eyes a light blue. Not an extraordinary face, but on this soft spring evening, on this avenue, in May of 1963, he was beautiful.”

King’s parallel structure and short syntax call attention to the ordinary nature of the young man, who is romanticized on this beautiful spring evening. He looks the part of a respectable gentleman, embodying The Joy of Young Love. This description reflects irony, as looks turn out to be deceiving.

“He loved to see her eyes light up with surprise and joy when he brought her a surprise—little things, because he was far from rich.”

The idea of little things making a difference in a relationship resonates here. However, the repetition of the word “surprise” is important given the surprise in both the protagonist’s eyes and “Norma’s” when they finally meet. The surprise of the nameless young woman is not caused by the joy of receiving flowers but by fear.

“If this kid were sick, they’d have him in intensive care right now.”

Watching the young man at his flower stand, the old man reminisces about The Joy of Young Love, likening it to a sickness. The use of this metaphor indicates the power of love. It is also ironic as, unbeknownst to the old man, the protagonist exhibits signs of psychosis due to the loss of Norma.

“Nothing good comes cheap, my young friend. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that?”

Discussing the price of tea roses for Norma, the young man is at first taken aback at the price. However, the flower vendor reminds him that everything comes at a cost, including wooing a young woman. Thematically, this also references the psychological cost of love, which is often pain and loss.

“Hey, kid!’ one of them called. ‘You wanna buy a weddin’ ring cheap? I’ll sell you mine…I don’t want it no more.’”

During the young man’s flower selection, two men shooting nickels in the proximity watch the exchange. They, too, remember what it was like to be young and in love; and it is written all over him. However, the man who calls out to the protagonist expresses a jaded perception of love. His offer of an unwanted wedding ring underlines love’s fleeting power.

“The flower vendor Scotch-taped the seam of the paper spill and advised the young man to tell his lady that a little sugar added to the water she put them in would preserve them longer.”

As the flower vendor sends him off to meet his girl, the old man uses Scotch tape to hold the bouquet together and suggests ways to preserve the life of the roses. However, Scotch tape is a weak fastener and will not protect the symbolic gesture of love. The flowers later become a symbol of mortality as they spill out around the dead woman’s body.

“But certain things did impinge: a mother pushing her baby wagon, the baby’s face comically smeared with ice cream; a little girl jumping rope and singsonging out her rhyme: ‘Betty and Henry up in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, here comes Henry with a baby carriage!’ The two women stood outside a washateria, smoking and comparing pregnancies.”

After his flower purchase, the young man makes his way to see Norma. The passage’s syntax juxtaposes his anticipation with reality. The extract starts with “But,” a clear distinction between what should be and what is. The images of children and pregnancies “impinge” on the protagonist as they remind him he will never start a family with Norma. This is a subtle foreshadowing technique.

“A group of men were looking in a hardware store window at a gigantic color TV with a four-figure price tag—a baseball game was on, and all the players’ faces looked green. The playing field was a vague strawberry color…”

Continuing down the street, the young man also comes across this scene. The irony of a gigantic and expensive television that cannot clearly broadcast images suggests distorted perception. The image does not reflect reality; and given the cost, viewers expect more. Instead, they see green faces suggesting sickness and a strawberry-colored field that should be green with life. Similarly, while the young man looks respectable and in love, he is experiencing the pain of loss, which manifests in murder.

“The young man was alone now - no, not quite. A wavering howl rose in the purple gloom, and the young man frowned. It was some tomcat’s love song, and there was nothing pretty about that.”

Turning down the dark lane, the protagonist is alone, hoping to meet Norma. Instead, he hears the ugly howl of a cat, and the “purple gloom” creates tension. The “purple” diction suggests mourning and foreshadows the upcoming murder. Nothing on this street is pretty, and the young man frowns, his mood darkening by degrees as the brutality of his loss begins to envelop him.

“It was always a surprise seeing her for the first time, it was always a sweet shock—she looked so young.”

Surprise is a recurring motif in the narrative, utilized to indicate both joy and fear. Here the protagonist’s surprise is ironic as “Norma” emerges. The “sweet shock” of surprise seems to emphasize his love, as if each time they meet, he is seeing her for the first time. However, his shock stems from the fact that Norma, who died 10 years prior, should not look this young.

“She backed away, her face a round white blur, her mouth an opening black O of terror, and she wasn’t Norma, Norma was dead, she had been dead for ten years…”

In the story’s climax, King ties all pieces of the narrative together, exposing the horror of what is about to happen and linking it to The Brutality of Love Lost. Intense description emphasizes the young woman’s fear, and run-on syntax mimics the young man’s riot of emotions. The “white blur” of her face indicates a symbol of impending death as well as the protagonist’s inability to focus. The “black O of terror” signifies the woman’s inability to scream as she is paralyzed by fear.

“…and it didn’t matter because she was going to scream and he swung the hammer to stop the scream, to kill the scream, and as he swung the hammer the spill of flowers fell out of his hand, the spill spilled and broke open, spilling red, white, and yellow tea roses beside the dented trash cans where cats made alien love in the dark, screaming in love, screaming, screaming.”

Powerful diction, repetition, and run-on syntax clearly depict the horror of the young woman’s murder at the hands of a serial killer. To stop the young victim’s scream, and in an attempt to kill his own pain, he swings the hammer over and over again. In doing so, the Scotch-taped flowers also spill onto the streets. The continual repetition of “spill” as related to the flowers symbolizes the woman’s blood spilling in this brutal act. This whole encounter, with “cats [making] alien love” in the background (Paragraph 48), conveys a love warped into psychosis and murder.

“A bounce came into his step as he walked on down Seventy-third street. A Middle-aged married couple sitting on the steps of their building watched him go by, head cocked, eyes far away, a half-smile on his lips.”

After the murder, the young man returns to the streets, and his earlier demeanor returns as if nothing happened. He can block out this incident’s horror, knowing that one day he will find Norma. With the familiar “bounce” in his step, and a look of nostalgic love in his eyes, his journey begins anew. However, the “half” motif again emerges. The “half-smile” returns to his lips, as he is still not reunited with the woman who will make him whole.