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Taylor Lamartine
ENGL/WMNST 4194
13 November 2014 page 186 “And as Flora twirled … it cannot be contained”
The significance of this scene is that throughout the novel many of the characters feel trapped. But here Susie shows that horror cannot be contained and she uses a simile to compare horror to a flower and to the sun. It means when the sun is out it cannot be captured or contained.
The novel is the story of her family and it is part of Susie’s way of surviving her grief and taking away her pain.
The novel shows how many of the characters feel trapped and one of them is Susie. Susie is the main focus of this novel. She tells us her story as a “ghost.” She's only fourteen when she's beaten, raped, and murdered by her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Susie loves taking pictures and learned photography from her mother, Abigail. Susie feels as if she is trapped in heaven and unable to help her family get revenge on her rapist and murderer. Even though she feels this way, throughout the novel Susie’s observations start to make more sense and become clear which shows readers that Susie is growing even though she is not alive.
Another character that feels trapped is Ruth Connor. Ruth is Susie’s age when Susie dies.
They recently became friends before she died and connected through Ruth’s art. Ruth always wishes to be where Susie is, dead, and Susie always wishes to be where Ruth is, alive. Ruth feels

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as if she is trapped on hell on Earth and constantly sees the dark side of the world. Ruth and
Susie’s relationship seemed to get stronger after Susie’s death because Ruth can see Susie in the afterworld. After the first moment Ruth has seen Susie she has become obsessed with rape crimes. She also becomes a vegetarian which connects to the slaughter of Susie to the slaughter of animals. Seeing Susie in the afterlife really