Response to ’ The Boy With the Flower That Grew Out of His Ass’

Response to ' The Boy With the Flower That Grew Out of His Ass'

Amelie Lo

In the short story, The Boy With the Flower That Grew Out of His Ass, Wong uses ‘unusual appendages’ as a symbol for queerness. However, this symbol could also be applied to those who feel they do not fit into mainstream society. 

 

Michael was born with a flower growing out of his ass. His mother loved him, but she told him to hide it as he grew older ‘so nobody would notice anything was wrong.’ Michael tried very hard to win his father’s love, but no matter how much it pleased his father, he could never be accepted by him. Michael’s flower was seen as undesirable, but it brought him comfort. One day in school, Michael met Thomas, with who he quickly became close. On one occasion when Thomas wanted to swim in the lake, he revealed that he had a white angel’s wing stemming from his back. In return, Michael showed Thomas his flower. In light of their new discoveries, Michael invited Thomas to spend the night with him. His mother was happy that Michael had a friend, but his father remained silent. The two slept naked in the same bed so they could examine each other’s ‘deformity.’ When Michael left the room to get a drink of water, his dad passed through his room and saw Thomas sleeping naked and his wing. Fueled by anger, Michael’s father strangled Thomas and went to the woods to throw his dead body in the lake. Michael followed him and tried to push his father into the lake. His father fought back, and both Michael and Thomas ended up in the lake. 

 

Michael and Thomas’s experiences with their ‘deformities’ could parallel the experience that queer people have in society. Though it is something they can hide, they couldn’t feel like they belonged with everyone else. Additionally, the flower represented more than just queerness, it also demonstrated its integrability to someone. Michael’s flower brought him great comfort, and the doctor decided not to cut it off because of that, even though the flower was seen as unwanted. Wong’s choice of a flower and wing as symbols may also have some deeper meaning. Flowers and wings are supposed to be beautiful and dainty, but when it grows out of something unusual or out of the norm, it is seen as disgusting and intolerable. How out of place Michael’s flower is becomes people’s center of attention and, like his father, people fail to focus on who he is as a person. 

 

I interpreted the responses of the mother and father to represent different perspectives of homosexuality present in society. Michael’s mother loved him, but she never encouraged him to show his flower to anyone, or to be proud of it. On the other hand, Michael’s father was openly disapproving of his flower and ended up killing Thomas and Michael. From this, I sensed that Wong was asking something of Singaporean society. Though we do not need to all be openly accepting of queerness, we cannot have the mentality of Michael’s father, lest it leads to situations such as the death of Michael and Thomas. 

 

Questions

  1. How similar or different are Michael and Thomas’s experiences in the story to those who do not fit mainstream society in real life?

  2. Why was it important for Michael and Thomas to become friends? Why do you think Michael had difficulty making friends, assuming that he was able to keep his flower hidden?

  3. How integral and/or important were Michael and Thomas’s ‘deformities’? As in, if it was a cause of disapproval from others and inner turmoil, why didn’t they have it removed?

 

Quotes:

‘The village physician at hand was afraid to cut it because when he stroked the long, leafless stem of the flower, the baby quickly went straight to sleep’                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

‘When he went to school, he would often press his hand against the side of his leg to feel the slight bulge of the stem pressed against his thigh, as if to make sure it was still there, knowing that if he ever showed the flower to anyone, they would become as cold as his father.’ 

 

‘Nestled inside him was a seed of resentment, which had grown into a poisonous eed that entwined around his heart, squeezing it ever so slightly, whenever he dwelled upon the injustice that had been committed against him, that he had not been blessed with a normal son to carry on his family name.’