In the opening scene, when they're still in Scotland, Flora is shown roller skating through her house; and later crashed out asleep in bed, with her mother above her cutting off her laces. Is this to show that Ada is crazy, or did she just not want to bother with undoing the long laces, knowing that it was probably the last time Flora would use them, since she can't really skate in the muddy moors of New Zealand?
Showtime, Synergy!
Well did you notice that she also had the skates on while on the pony? I think it was just Ada being a Mom and not wanting to wake a child once you finally got her to sleep. Could be some symbolism there also.
An independent mind is difficult to enslave.
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I found this somewhat confusing, as well. And then disturbing in retrospect. Clearly this Flora's favorite thing to be doing - if she were an experienced and joyful horseback rider then she wouldn't be wearing the skates while on the pony and having such a difficult time controlling it. She even wears them to bed. By destroying one, Ada renders them both ineffective and her child without her favorite thing/activity.
When I thought about this after having seen the film in its entirety, it seemed a pretty sadistic thing to do - like Stewart cutting Ada's finger off. That was her passion and he wanted to "clip her wings." You can bet that little girl was bloody furious when she woke up and discovered she could no longer fly. There are other ways to portray motherly concern on film; I think this was done to reveal something about Ada's capacity for cruelty or others being forced to bend to her will.