Flowers in Fairytales

I seem to keep running into the idea of smelling flowers as a meaning for something. In the Wizard of Oz, the lion, Dorothy, Toto, and even the mice all fall subject to the powerful properties of the Poppies. And then in Carrol's Alice's Adventures Under Ground, the original manuscript, the rabbit doesn't drop a fan but a type of flower (Nosegay) that makes Alice shrink. Nosegay means gallantry and Red Poppies means consolation. (Go to if you want more flower meanings)

I have been debating over the significance in each piece of work. In the Wizard of Oz the poppies play a key role in almost stopping the group. I have looked at this scene, using consolation as my guide, and I feel that the Poppies are a type of hinderance but also a type of motherly love. They are a hinderance because they stop the travel of the group, but why do the poppies actually stop them? This is where my idea of motherly love comes into play. If the poppies mean consolation, or an alleviation of grief, couldn't the poppies be looked at as a mother, possibly even 'the mother,' the Blessed Virgin Mary.



The way I see it is that the poppies are the womb or the mother's embrace. Dorothy, lost with no way home, and the lion, without courage, are so affected by the embrace that they can't make it out of the field. (An important note I think is that if the tinman and the scarecrow were human at the time, God's children, that they would be equally effected) The poppies are the motherly embrace by trying to keep these people within its clutches, holding them, comforting them, letting them forget their problems. The slipping into sleep is a symbol of the warmth and comfort found by a child in his/her mothers arms. This point is especially relevant when looking at how scared Dorothy must be in a different place, and how scared the lion is because he lacks the confidence that mothers (parents) instilled in their offspring.



In Alice in Wonderland the possible meanings behind the flower are more concrete (I am not sure if thats the word I want). Gallantry, or heroic behavior, the meaning of Nosegay, is seen in Alice. The first thought that came to mind was the fact that she was so quick to follow the rabbit, not worrying about what might happen, and then not worrying about getting hurt while falling for a long time. I haven't thought as much about how flowers perform in this text and hope to expand on some ideas when I have more time.