The Beauty of Simplicity

        At first glance a garden is nothing more than random vegetation with various colors and insects mixed into it. In Virginia Woolf's "Kew Gardens", we see a garden on a much deeper level. We get to view its oval-shaped flower beds with red, blue, and yellow petals poking out from it. We get to hone in on the tiny pebbles, the fragile raindrop and even the humble snail as it makes its journey towards it desired destination. All these sights and experiences not only spark something inside the reader's visual, but it ignites  the past and its memories into the people who come across it.
      To think of a garden as a place of comfort is a common idea. To the people in this story it is like a home. The first couple, Simon and Lily, both recall past visits there. Simon thinks of his old lover and how she may have contemplated them being together but in the end couldn't give Simon the commitment he requested. At the same time, Lily relived a kiss from an elderly lady that touched her heart so much that she marked the hour of it. As Simon asked Lily if she minded him thinking about the past, she responded, "Doesn't one always think of the past, in a garden with men and women lying under trees? Aren't they one's past, all that remains of it, those men and women, those ghosts lying under trees,... one's happiness, one's reality?"(84) The garden conjurs up feelings, emotions, and experiences for these two that were important in their lives. It houses a past that was relatively pleasing to the couple that they don't want to forget. It's a safe place for them to simply replay those times and understand them in ways that they couldn't before. The experience is slightly different for the two elderly women as they wandered the garden. Caught up in the hustle of life, they spoke in a language well understood by their class and in a way, disregarded their surroundings. When the woman finally stopped to look at the flowers, its written that "She stood there letting the words fall over her, swaying the top part of her body slowly backwards and forwards, looking at the flowers. Then she suggested that they should find a seat and have their tea."(86) The women may not have had a flashback of their earlier times there but the simplicity and beauty of the garden made them stop. The one particular soaked in the sights and decided to relax a bit form the fast pace world to enjoy her tea. How strange it is to think how a simple flower can make the world seem so much calmer.
          The question comes across then, why is it that a garden, with its eccentric flower petal shapes of red, blue and yellow colorings are so special to these people? Why is it that the author would focus in on a snail? Why do people keep returning to this place of leisure and wish to see more of it? It's the simplistic beauty of it all. The idea that a place so common and natural appeals to not only the characters but the reader as well. Woolf's use of in-detailed descriptions paint a picture of nature in her awe. She writes that " instead of rambling vaguely, the white butterflies danced one above another, making with their white shifting flakes the outline of a shattered marble column above the tallest flowers."(87) I believe that one sentence encompasses the simple theme that was shone. The author could have plainly stated that the butterflies flew around, like we imagine all butterflies doing but instead we see one of the least complex creatures as a "shattered marble column". We see it as more and that's what the garden does. It enables its visitors to highlight on more than just a memory or a feeling. It brings life to their thoughts and beauty to their simple worlds.
-Amber Holt