Piecing together the lives of the living and the dead to tell a whole, interconnected story for both characters and the narrator is an artwork in of itself. Molly Peacock delves into a motif of how history defines the lives of Mrs. Delany and Mrs. Peacock, in “Passion Flowers in Winter”, despite that they lived their lives and how that takes an effect on the narrator. The tridirectional relationship is built around the contrast of the passion flower and the black background to demonstrate how history can define not only the lives of its owners, but also shape the lives of those who are subsequently impacted. Molly Peacock does not discuss the importance of the background color to the flower mosaic; instead, she speaks about the flower itself and only one line is found where she briefly mentions the background: “...they are done on deep black backgrounds. Mrs. D. drenched the front of white laid paper with India ink…” (Peacock, 174). Any artist knows…show more content… Of course, a new life has to stem from somewhere, perhaps from history and past experiences. The dualistic aspects of artworks are the background and the foreground. The narrator reflects off this dualism from Mrs. Delany’s flower mosaic to illustrate the merit of blossoming from past experiences for Mrs. P after speaking about Mrs. D. Mrs. P does engage in the great throw outs, but Molly Peacock sees that she has “...started her new life…[and] come into her own energy” again (183). She embraces the fact that her past with an alcoholic has deteriorated her. She learns that she must break away from what remains to abstain her from turning over a new
