There's More To Flowers Than Meets the Eye

Flowers play a crucial role in this graphic novel.  

They come off as any other object, but they actually contain a lot more meaning than meets the eye.  At first, they introduce flowers as Ali's father's obsession.  His "favorite flower was the lilac" (92), and he even had a book on them! You know the "unhealthy obsessions" some girls have with One Direction or Maroon 5? Well, he had them with flowers, as odd as that sounds.  I'm sure that if flowers could move and talk, he would scream at the sight of them.  Basically he would have the same reaction teenage girls do with their favorite male singers.   He would literally make his children plant all types of flowers all over their yard.  Ali and her brothers even began to ask, "Isn't this illegal?" (93) 

As previously mentioned, the flowers in this novel have a large significance.  A flower is seen as beautiful, delicate, soft, etc.  Those are the perfect words to describe Ali's father.  He is delicate and has a dream of being the most beautiful creature to have ever walked this earth.  It's obvious by the way he treats his daughter.  He constantly tells her to wear barrettes, pearls, pretty dresses, and even straw hats.  He even tells her that he'll "wale" her if he sees her "without it" (97).  What the heck does

that even mean?! So her father will basically slap her if she doesn't wear a stupid barrette? That's insane! It's as if he wished he were a girl and she were a boy.  They are just trapped in bodies of the opposite sex.  

Finally, the flowers represent her father's feminine side. In other words, the whole fact that he is gay and hits on younger boys (NOT MEN).  He is basically a flower that is scared to bloom since he fears that he will not be accepted into society.  However, he is a flower none the less.  This is proven on page 100 when Ali finds a picture of Roy (Ali's babysitter).  It's a picture her father had taken of him... half naked... on the bed... Now that is just creepy.  

As explained above, flowers have a large significance in the novel.  Ali introduces them as any other object, but as the reader continues reading, he/she can see the similarities between the lilacs and Ali's father.  They are both delicate, feminized, and they connect with each other since he is obsessed with him.  In other words, Ali's dad is basically the human version of a flower.