Comments on Classmates' Interpretations of the Flower picture

After reading through the class's interpretations, I realized that as per Barthes' idea of connotations, that everyone's interpretations of the picture of the flower is different, depending on our own experiences, prior knowledge, etc.

For example, Sujing identified the flower as spider lilies, while not many of us did so. She also used the picture of the white lilies as a metaphor for the lives of young children as they grow older, "white lilies which symbolises pure and innocent seems to be depicting young children who are green to the environment and society. They are still oblivious to the danger around them. However, as they were to get older. They may be tainted with habits such as "smoking" or "drinking" which are ususally associated as unacceptable at the health angle. These tainted habits are then symbolised by the withering browish colour (which could also represent the colour of the lungs or heart of smokers?)"

On the other hand, Aishah has a totally different interpretation of the picture, "I would also say that white flowers represents death to me because I associate white flowers as the type of flowers to bring to a funeral. Perhaps this is because I saw on television a few times before whereby a female would place a white flower on the coffin as a pay of respect. It is also because I grew up believing that angels are white in colour because their glow and purity."

Yet another person has a different idea, where Pavani feels that, "life can be beautiful and growing vibrantly but the downside is that if you do not provide for yourself the necessities to keep alive, life may be wilted. It can also be interpreted that in life, the stronger people may outdo you by taking up your necessities so it is up to you to compete in order to survive. It is up to every individual to prevent him/herself from wilting and to enjoy the beauty of life at every growing stage."

This is quite an eye-opener for me, as I never thought that there could be that many diverse interpretations of the same picture. So this exercise has really taught me to consider things from many different points of views, and not just stick to what is familiar and generally known, for it may not be the most applicable.