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=                        Hope_for_the_Flowers                        =
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                            Introduction
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'Hope for the Flowers' is an allegorical novel by Trina Paulus. It was
first published in 1972 and reflects the idealism of the
counterculture of the period. Often categorized as a children's novel,
it is a fable "partly about life, partly about revolution and lots
about hope - for adults and others including caterpillars who can
read".  The two focal characters are caterpillars named Yellow and
Stripe. They begin their search for meaning by attempting to climb to
the top of a caterpillar pillar only to discover another destiny.

The novel has been translated into Spanish, Dutch, German, Brazilian
Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Kurdish, Thai, Hebrew,
Arabic, Persian, French, Turkish, and Swahili.


                            Plot summary
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It all starts when Stripe, the main character, first hatches from an
egg. He begins his life by eating the leaf he was born on. He realizes
that there must be "more" to life than just eating leaves.  He senses
there must be a way to get up into the sky.  He searches for a way and
finds himself at the base of a pillar made up of caterpillars.  They
are all struggling to get up into the sky as well.  Here he meets
Yellow who also wants to get up into the sky by climbing to the top of
the pillar.  But she feels bad about what must be done to achieve this
goal.  You have to literally step on and climb over all the other
caterpillars who are also trying to reach the top of the pillar.  The
two of them eventually decide to stop climbing and go back down the
pillar.  They live together for a while.  But Stripe's curiosity and
unrest overcome him and he decides that he must get to the top of the
pillar.  Stripe says good-bye to Yellow.  He focuses, adapts, and
drives to reach the top, and eventually he succeeds at being on the
top of the caterpillar pillar.  This results in disillusionment, as he
takes in a vast vista of other caterpillar pillars.  Is this all there
is at the top?  He has not really gotten in to the sky.  He just has a
view of other caterpillars struggling to reach the top of their
respective caterpillar pillars.  Yellow, however, has followed her
instincts, continues to eat and then spins a cocoon.  She eventually
emerges from the cocoon transformed into a butterfly and flies into
the sky effortlessly.  She has found the real answer to the feeling
that there must be more to life than eating leaves, and who
caterpillars really are.  She is waiting for the disillusioned Stripe
as he descends the pillar and eventually reaches the ground again.
She shows Stripe her empty cocoon, and he eventually realizes what he
needs to do.  Stripe makes a cocoon of his own.  Yellow waits for him.
Stripe emerges transformed into a butterfly, and they fly off
together.


Theatre
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A two-act musical adaptation of 'Hope for the Flowers' was written by
Ariel Escasa, a Filipino composer and lyricist. It was most recently
staged in 2006 by the Ateneo Blue Repertory, a musical theater
organization in the Ateneo de Manila University, under the direction
of Macky Santiago.

Xan S. Johnson, PhD, Professor, Department of Theater, University of
Utah, produced a musical stage version of 'Hope for Flowers,'
choreographed by Darlene Casanova.


Music
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The Waddling Fools, a musical group based at Rancho Mastatal in Costa
Rica, and in Montclair, New Jersey, performed the song "Hope for the
Flowers" at Bioneers by the Bay, sponsored by the Marion Institute, in
New Bedford, Massachusetts, in October 2009, and the song appears on
the CD 'Canta No Llore: The Songs of Mastatal', which benefits the
Mastate Charitable Foundation. At the same conference, author Trina
Paulus presented a workshop titled "Hope for the Flowers." Said song,
written by Alan Smith, Erin Campbell, Nate Sander and Britt Willey,
has since been recorded in studio by Smith's Montclair-base band, The
Porchistas.

Hope for the Flowers was also a short-lived psychedelic, sunshine-pop
band founded by Evan Hurley and Jacob Judd in 2005. While residing in
Oregon, the band picked up many new members (most notably Shawn
Kilmer), began experimenting more with electronic music, and changed
their name to Imaginary Flowers. As of 2009, the band is defunct.


License
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All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_for_the_Flowers