home where everyone seemed the same and there was a feeling of despair.
             was a young man, felt that his father, teachers and classmates misunderstood
             therefore were unworthy of his company. In the story there are many symbolic
             elements. Flowers, for instance, symbolize Paul's personality and life. The
             between the boy and the flowers is made by the author many times throughout
             In the beginning of the story Paul has a meeting with the teachers of his school
             because he was misbehaving. For the meeting Paul shows up wearing "clothes
             were a trifle outgrown . . . [with] a red carnation in his buttonhole" (49). This
             total disrespect for authority because he is going to get disciplined; and the
             thought this "was not properly significant of the contrite spirit befitting a boy
             ban of suspension" (49)." The flower he wore shows that he does not care
             school or his teachers: his teachers felt "that his whole attitude was symbolized
             shrug and his flippantly red carnation flower" (50). The principal also noted his
             as he left the meeting and bowed which was described to be "a repetition of
             scandalous red carnation" (51). It is almost as if the flower is his strength and
             him of his need to be with a different class
             ...