The Bougainvillea
May 12, 2024
On the flower that appears throughout the novel and what it means.
The bougainvillea appears throughout my novel. It is not a central character. It is not a symbol in the traditional sense. It is simply there. Blooming. Persisting. Existing without asking permission.
I did not plan this. The bougainvillea entered the story naturally. It appeared in early drafts and stayed. It felt right. It felt necessary. It felt like something the story needed.
The flower grows in Neyveli, where the narrator is from. It appears in other places too. In gardens. On walls. In spaces where it was not necessarily planted but where it found a way to grow anyway.
This persistence interests me. The way the bougainvillea blooms in conditions that might seem inhospitable. The way it continues without fanfare. The way its presence is quiet but undeniable.
In the novel, the bougainvillea becomes a recurring image. Not because it means something specific, but because it is there. Because it persists. Because it offers a kind of quiet continuity in a story about movement and change.
Sometimes the simplest images are the most powerful. Not because they stand for something else, but because they are themselves. Because they exist. Because they remind us that beauty and persistence are possible even in difficult circumstances.
The bougainvillea does not solve anything in the novel. It does not provide answers. It simply blooms. And in that simple act, it offers something. A reminder. A presence. A quiet form of hope.