Iris Blum (pronounced Bloom), Lily, and even Polly are flowers. ...in one scene scene Lily finds a pressed flower in the book Lady in the Wall. In another scene she is naming the flowers in a cut arrangement and then hears a whispered "this is how you rot". Iris says "even the pretty things rot. You fall apart like flowers". It's a running theme and wondered at what anyone else thought about its purpose.
shareOh, is that what the whisper says? I couldn't make that out. I couldn't understand the other whispers, either.
I didn't know Polly is a flower, so that does make a difference.
I don't know the significance of the flowers, except to call attention to the fact that living things fall apart, so to speak, whether flowers or humans. I thought the "falling apart" reference might be referring to the fact that THOSE two women won't be falling apart, obviously. Could it be a vague reference to maybe why the new husband killed his new wife? And an explanation that Polly is giving Lily as to what would be good about being a ghost?
OR maybe it refers to what the physical body does after the spirit leaves it? That's what happened to Polly's body in the wall. And then there is Lily's body lying by the door, with insects buzzing around her decomposing body, as she rots.
Maybe Iris was speaking of Polly's body in the wall. But that's stating the obvious. I don't see any sense in someone saying that. It's also not nice to Polly to reference her body like that.