The Symbolic Meanings of “Flowering Judas”

【Abstract】In the short story “Flowering Judas”， Katherine Anne Porter employed the writing technique ― symbolism. Among others， “Flowering Judas” is the most important symbolic image. This paper tries to analyze the symbolic meanings of “Flowering Judas”， so that the readers can understand the theme of the this story much better.

【Key words】“Flowering Judas”；symbol；betrayal；revolution

“Flowering Judas” is regarded as one of the best short stories by Katherine Anne Porter and it is praised as a stylistically and thematically unified masterpiece of the short story genre. The most distinctive feature of this short story is using the symbolic images. The title “Flowering Judas” is the most obvious and the most important symbolic image. It symbolizes betrayal， including Laura’s betrayal of Eugenio， betrayal of the revolution and betrayal of herself.

Laura is a “gringa” in Mexico， as Braggioni called her. She brings the prisoners food and cigarettes and a little money as well as messages disguised in equivocal phrases from the men outside the prison. And sometimes she brings them their favorite narcotics. The revolutionist Eugenio is one of the prisoners. He took all the narcotics that Laura brought to him and refused to allow her to call the prison doctor. He died at last. Although Eugenio commits suicide just because “he was bored”， Laura kills him indirectly. And as Judas was the direct cause of Christ’s crucifixion， so Laura becomes the murderer of Eugenio by carrying narcotics to his prison cell. Laura’s eating the flowers―the body of Judas， offered by Eugenio， symbolizes her betrayal of him.

Laura is a foreign revolutionist in Mexico， and people do not understand why she joins the Mexican revolution. Laura herself cannot make sense of her own mind. She has no clear motivation， no aim for the revolution. She has no emotion and no passion for the other revolutionists. She is a foreigner and she also feels bored to do the same things for the strangers. In fact， Laura has felt the disappointment. Still contributing to the revolution， Laura has no motive and no passion for the revolution. In this sense， she betrays the revolution.

The biggest betrayal is Laura’s betrayal of herself， including the betrayal of her religion， the betrayal of her emotion and feeling， the betrayal of her love， and the betrayal of her maternity and her nurturing nature. She believes in Roman Catholic， but she dares not reveal her religion openly. She cannot go to the big churches to pray on Sundays just because of the scandal， which means she has no firm faith towards her religion and she is not persistent to her religion. She denies or rejects her own belief.

She rejects her own feeling and will. For many times， in her own heart， she intends to do something， but in action she denies it and she is always against her own will. And she is accustomed to this mentality. She does not like to go to see Braggioni， but she goes every time. She longs to fly out of the room， down the narrow stairs， and into the street， but she does not leave. She is very tired of the efforts for the revolution but she continues to do it. She always represses her true feelings.

She denies everything and looks at everything without amazement. She never tries to regret or repent what she did. She becomes very cold-hearted， indifferent， and has no interest in anything. She denies her emotion， her feeling and her will. She lives deadly. Besides， Laura denies her erotic love and rejects her maternity as well as her nurturing nature. Three men show their love to her， but she responds to none of them. As an erotic lover， she is unable to participate in this kind of love. She even cannot love the children she teaches. Every day she teaches children， but they remain strangers to her. She cannot feel the proper emotion for them who scribble on their blackboards. She has been against her nature.

In this short story “Flowering Judas”， Katherine Ann Porter uses the image Judas tree to symbolize all kinds of betrayal on different levels. Like the old man in the poem “Gerontion”， Laura in this story is also a wasteland figure. It reveals people’s mentality of delusion.

Reference：

[1]Chang，Yaoxin.A Survey of American Literature.Tianjin： Nankai University，2003.

[2]Wu，Dingbo.An Outline of American Literature.Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，1998.

[3]刘海平，王守仁.新编美国文学史[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2000.

[4]高奋，秦泽.论《了不起的盖茨比》的象征手法[J].外国文学研究，1992.