THE BLUE BOUQUET by Octavia Paz

THE BLUE BOUQUET

Octavia Paz

Octavia Paz is a famous Mexican writer. He won Nobel Prize for literature in 1990. This story takes place in an unnamed village or town which presents how the harmonious world turns suddenly into a world of violence and terror. The narrator, whose name is not given, is staying in a hotel room wakes up from his sleep fully drenched in sweat. As the room is very hot, he decides to go out for a walk. 

He gets dressed first making sure that no bugs gets into his clothes. When he reaches downstairs, he notices one eyed hotel keeper sitting at the door.Hotel keeper warns him that he better stay in as there are no street lights. The narrator without bothered about the warning moves away from that place.

         While walking the narrator enjoys the nature: mild moonlight,colourful twinkling of stars, the vocals of crickets and with the accompaniment of sounds of leaves and insects. He thinks that the whole universe is a grand system of signals where he was only a part of that macrocosm. With nature’s presence everywhere, he feels safe and free though he is alone in that street.

                 All on a sudden, the narrator senses that he is being followed by someone. Though he tries to run,he could not. Before he tries to defend himself, he hears a voice asking him not to move otherwise he will be dead. He feels a point of knife against his back. The stranger does not want money from him whereas he demands the narrator’s blue eyes to make a blue bouquet for his beloved. The stranger appears to be a short and slight man. Though the narrator tells him that his eyes are not blue, the stranger is not moved by his request. He asks the narrator to light a match to check the colour of the eyes. After several attempts the stranger realises that the eyes are not blue. Throwing the narrator into terror, he disappears in to the darkness.

        After this horrible experience the narrator runs through the deserted street and reaches the hotel. The hotel keeper is still sitting there. Without uttering anything he goes inside.The next day he flies away from that mysterious town. This story beautifully captures the trouble that pervades in our everyday life.