Dealing with consequences is a matter for adults

A little girl stepping into a corpse’s face and a teenager getting intimate with and engaged
older man are some of the consequences that 10 years old Myop in “The Flowers” by
Alice Walker, and Edie a country young woman in “How i meet my husband” by Alice
Munro had to deal with as a result of their decisions. One of the major essential rites of
passage that every person goes through is being able to take their own decisions and
face the consequences those decisions bring with them.

Myop goes through this essential rite of passage when she decides to explore the woods
by herself and make her own path. In the beginning of the story, “nothing existed for
[Myop] but her song and stick” (Walker). We can deduce from this quote that Myop did
not have anything to worry about as at her young age she did not know about danger or
adult’s concerns. Myop’s world was so pure, peaceful, happy and good that when she
decides to explore the woods alone, her major concern are “snakes” (Walker).
Nevertheless, she was “vaguely” (walker) concerned about them. Despite this, as a result
of deciding to go away from home alone she ends up discovering real evil and danger
when she steps into a black man’s corpse who has been lynched and discovers learns
about death, history, racism and persecution. Subsequently, she realizes that the world
is not as good as she thought and “[She] lays down her flowers” (Walker) symbolizing
Myop leaving her childhood and innocence behind.

Likewise, Edie leaves home at age 15 and since then her actions and decisions start
taking her into the adult world and leaving her childhood behind. In the beginning of the
story, we can see a very childish Edie who could not talk to a men because she will feel
how “[her] heart was knocking away, [her] tongue was dried up” (Munro,69) This show us
how insecure, naive, and completely inexperienced in love and dealing with men Edie
was. However, Edie shows us through the story some personality traits that makes us
think she is willing to take risks in order to enter the adult world. After Chris and his fiancee
Alice went off, Edie decides to stay awake and wait for them to come back, in that way
she can spy on them and see what they do in private. But, when they do not do what she
expected, she decides to “imagine [herself] coming home with [Chris]” (Munro,73). Then,
she decides to bake a cake without permission for him and go to his tent, which ends up
with they getting “intimate” (Munro,76) and Edie losing her innocence. Nevertheless,
contrary to Myop’s dreadful consequences, Edie’s decisions lead her to an epiphany. She
faces the fact that Chris is not coming back and decides to stop waiting for him, what
proves Edie’s maturity. She has realized that what she thought was love was not .
Therefore, she decides she does not want to be the kind of women that waits for a men,
but a busy and free woman whose life’s biggest concern and priority is not a men.

Being an adult means having the capacity to face the consequences of our actions and
decisions what implies responsibility. Both Myop and Edie went through this essential rite
of passage, which brought them closer to becoming an adult. All the decisions we take
have an impact in our lives that makes us grow, learn something or discover ourselves.