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Mohana
To me the most telling scene that explains Florence's story, is the little story starting on page 225 (I believe), where the girl who is meant to be sacrificed refuses to become a symbol. She refuses to tell her story, as it means that then her story won't belong to herself anymore. This relates to the process of interpretation we all go through when we read or hear someone else's story. We can only understand it to the degree that it matches with our own experience and mindset, and so (even if we're not aware of it), we'll fill in the gaps between what the person wrote or said and what we ourselves make of it. So, that way, the story belongs to us, too. The girl in that little fairytale-esque story is Florence in a way. Florence too refuses her story to be influenced by the opinions and interpretations of others. She also refuses in a way to become a symbol of the bigger issue in the book: the migrant crisis. Think of the chapter where this voice tells us about their own face, and how their face is 'all about us'. With issues like the migrant crisis, we tend to simplify them (especially on the news). When we do this, we start to lose sight of the actual people that are part of this 'problem' that we only really think of as a group: the migrants. So, Florence and Brit (Britain, see what Smith did there?) represent the struggle between the individuals of the migrant crisis and the nation of Britain and how we look at them and treat them. Florence and Brit together are symbols that are used to make us aware of our own part in this all. I hope that makes sense! I'll leave it with this little quote from the novel: “Don’t be calling it the migrant crisis, Paddy said. I’ve told you a million times. It’s people. It’s an individual person crossing the world at against all odds” (page 68).
Russell Andrews
She's Brid, or St. Bridget. Not literally, but allegorically. The bringer of spring, the breaker of machines. The meaning of her is explained at the end of section 1.
Coral Ward
I probably can't answer the question but I could only see Florence as being like Greta Thunberg - a girl who appears insignificant and often invisible because she is "only" a girl, but does more good than any of the adults around. She is the next generation and probably they are the ones to save us all. We need to listen to them.
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