Flower-eating: a symbol for sexual frustration?

[FirecrackerX]

Have you ever read a book where someone ate a flower? Just like this. If you have, I'd be very grateful if you could let me the title over here.

I'm a huge symbolim fan and recently I've found myself quite amazed about flower-eaters in literature. I mean, they do not eat flowers on a regular basis, it's just that in a concrete scene he/she eats a flower in a strange, unthinking way, as if there was some hidden, powerful rage. It totally creeps me out, to read such an act. Pretty boy/girl with beautiful, soft flower in hand that's suddenly, roughly bitten by bare teeth... Aarrgh *shivers*. But it's so damn beautiful, in a terrorific kind of way xDDD.

So far I've found three 'flower-eaters': In Katherine Mansfield's 'Carnation', in D.H. Lawrence's 'Sons and Lovers' and in spanish novel by Rosa Montero 'Historia del Rey Transparente'. In all the three cases the act of devouring a flower stands as a symbol for love frustration/self-sexual denial. So, I'm looking for 'flower-eaters' in literature, Some help, pretty please?

And so you can understand my fascination... Fragment from 'Sons and Lovers', where the protagonist decides to break off with his first love because her mother does not like the girl (and she's a hell of a mother). Notice the silent rage, the animalistic quality of the action, due to a powerful inner frustration:

'On Sunday I break off', he said, smelling the pink. He put the flower in his mouth. Unthinking, he bared his teeth, closed them on the blossom slowly, and had a mouthful of petals. These he spat into the fire, kissed his mother, and went to bed.

[nps_marina]

There's no flower eating (at least not up to where I read), but certainly I thought that 'The Black Tulip', by Dumas, was full of veiled (and not so veiled) insinuations on what flowers really meant.
I never actually finished the book, though. I was finding it too soap-opera-ish. I know, I know- that's your average Dumas! But at the time, I just didn't feel like it. Perhaps I'll pick it up again when I'm done with my actual (A Confederacy of Dunces).

[FirecrackerX]

Flowers are always a hell of a thing when working on symbolism. I still remember the incredible amount of information I did extract from the pear tree in Katherine Mansfield's 'Bliss'... You wouldn't believe it, really. Katherine always, always uses flowers in her symbolism, a lot of different flowers in all her stories and I go crazy. Once I finish reading all her work I'll be a damn botanist xDDD. But it's ok, I'll do that just for her, 'cos I love her so much :p.

[nps_marina]

Just remembered another pretty obvious one-
trees in Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God'. But I think it's mor of a metaphor there, than symbolism (sp?), because she says it straight out.
Anyway, can't think of any flower-eating scene, really.

[kratsayra]

not in a novel but in the film Monsoon Wedding there is a lot of flower eating, and I think it really could work with sexual frustration. If you check South Asian literature, there might be more of it. I don't know the kind of flower it is, but it's orange.

[liesl]

all i can think of is 'The Simpsons' dealing with Homer's "secret shame" of eating tulips in the bathroom :)

[ennison]

I had a budgie. I used to give her dandelions. I called her Mickey. One day Mickey laid an egg. Guess he/she was confused. Ate lots of Dandelion flowers though.

[FirecrackerX]

OMG, Homer's secret shame xDDDDDD You made my day xDDDDDDD

[drunkenKOALA]

This isn't really what you are looking for but in Chinese cuisine we eat this type of flower...man I miss Chinese food.

[omegaxx]

Lotus eaters in "The Odyssey"--I don't know if you can extrapolate their general lack of life to sexual frustrations though...

[Mortis Anarchy]

Have you ever read a book where someone ate a flower? Just like this. If you have, I'd be very grateful if you could let me the title over here.

I'm a huge symbolim fan and recently I've found myself quite amazed about flower-eaters in literature. I mean, they do not eat flowers on a regular basis, it's just that in a concrete scene he/she eats a flower in a strange, unthinking way, as if there was some hidden, powerful rage. It totally creeps me out, to read such an act. Pretty boy/girl with beautiful, soft flower in hand that's suddenly, roughly bitten by bare teeth... Aarrgh *shivers*. But it's so damn beautiful, in a terrorific kind of way xDDD.

So far I've found three 'flower-eaters': In Katherine Mansfield's 'Carnation', in D.H. Lawrence's 'Sons and Lovers' and in spanish novel by Rosa Montero 'Historia del Rey Transparente'. In all the three cases the act of devouring a flower stands as a symbol for love frustration/self-sexual denial. So, I'm looking for 'flower-eaters' in literature, Some help, pretty please?

And so you can understand my fascination... Fragment from 'Sons and Lovers', where the protagonist decides to break off with his first love because her mother does not like the girl (and she's a hell of a mother). Notice the silent rage, the animalistic quality of the action, due to a powerful inner frustration:

'On Sunday I break off', he said, smelling the pink. He put the flower in his mouth. Unthinking, he bared his teeth, closed them on the blossom slowly, and had a mouthful of petals. These he spat into the fire, kissed his mother, and went to bed.

I ate a flower the other day...hmmm...I was at an amusment park...I got dared...then last night my mom cooked zucchini flowers...yummy...wow...now I need to think. The Odyssey...thats the only book I can think of...Lotus Eaters.

[Enchanted]

not in a novel but in the film Monsoon Wedding there is a lot of flower eating, and I think it really could work with sexual frustration. If you check South Asian literature, there might be more of it. I don't know the kind of flower it is, but it's orange.

it was a marigold!

Oh! I totally agree with you on the flower-eating as a symbol of sexual frustation. Can't think of a solid example off the top of my head but in One Hundred Years of Solitude, one of the characters (Rebeca) ate dirt when she was sexually frustrated. It is a scene where she deals with rejection/ romantic delay and its described as her chewing on the wet mud along with earthworms in it. The scene was grotesquely described...but in a very strange way it was extremely passionate and sensual.

I think part of the analysis in this case with mud-eating or flower-eating would be the concept of infantilism...just a fixation on something so obscure. There's a whole lot of Freudian psychology you can go into with that :). But I think its really interesting how an innocent romantic symbol can be so sexually and electrically charged.

Really intriguing topic btw....I have wondered about that myself

[Orpheus]

I may be totally off but why does it have to be a flower? couldn't any act of destruction toward something beautiful be seen as an action of frustration?

Confused but at the same time interested.

[Mortis Anarchy]

I may be totally off but why does it have to be a flower? couldn't any act of destruction toward something beautiful be seen as an action of frustration?

Confused but at the same time interested.

I think so...or even it could symbolize insanity?! Seriously. From experience, at times of frustration/aggravation/frustration I have gone a smashed things that I liked or taking a flower and smashing it with rocks.

[shingo]

I may be totally off but why does it have to be a flower? couldn't any act of destruction toward something beautiful be seen as an action of frustration?

If the act is perpetrated by a male then I think the sexual frustration can easily be seen due to the delicate femenist connotations of the flower, contrasted with the violation with the biting and destroying.

[Turk]

http://img.blogcu.com/uploads/ekol_HPIM1863.jpg

This is a food made of marrow flower. It's quite good and original.

[FirecrackerX]

Oh, a lot of things can be destroyed due to inner frustration, but I'm only interested in flowers, because flowers are so fragile and beautiful, and they represent pretty, naive things. The contrast is stronger.

Besides, any kind of symbolism with flowers and trees it's quite rich in detail, like the pear tree in Katherine Mansfield's 'Bliss', that represents the protagonist's bisexuality: This is not a random choice of tree, botanically a pear tree can be regarded as bisexual by nature because it is selffertilizing.

I don't know if I'm making my point clear here. I just feel like flower-symbolism it's a much more extensive subject than we suspect. And flower-eating in particular looks fascinating to me. But flower-eating in literature it's quite untraceable. It's pure hell to do research work about it T___T

Heeeelp...

[mtpspur]

I just have to relate this. In the 1980s Ralph Baski did a Mighty Mouse series of cartoons that were on the bizarre side and one infamous moment occurs where Mighty Mouse snuffs a flower up his nose (he was daydreaming of his true love) which was viewed as ingesting drugs and guess what cartoon series went off the air REAL fast and I'm still waiting for the DVDs. Actually had a serious argument at church with one tof the more 'influential' ladies there (translation--stick in the mud--and no I do not repent of that judgement call) about it. In fact waiting for DVDs of the original cartoons as well.