The Cereus Flowers and Other Plants

The novel begins and ends with the annual blooming of the cereus planted in the Paradise Alms House garden imminent. As Lavinia says when she first brings the Ramchandin women the cereus cutting, "Only once a year [...] The flowers will offer their exquisite elegance for one short, precious night." (54) The cereus flowers are consistently a symbol of hope and the promise of future healing throughout the novel.

As the book opens, Tyler explains that the buds are due to open soon, and the novel's hopeful closing centres on this same promise of imminent blossoms, which coincides with Mala finally arriving at a sense of peace with Ambrose, and Otoh and Tyler's union. Because of the nature of the flower, the characters spend their whole year in anticipation, waiting for the night that the flowers open--there is a sense that one could...