Empathy In Eugenia Collier's Marigolds

In the short story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, the theme of there is beauty in life for those who are willing to see it applies to Miss Lottie. Through many children’s eyes, including Lizabeth, the main character, they viewed Miss Lottie as a witch. In reality, she is merely a broken woman who tried to grasp onto the last ray of hope in the shanty town. The marigolds bring joy and love into her life. On page 223 of “Marigolds”, it states, “...only a broken woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility.

How can uncontrollable emotions affect people positively? In the short story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier in an impoverished town during The Great Depression, a 14 year old African American girl named Lizabeth finds herself in a tough situation as she hears her father sobbing and can’t control the emotions she is feeling. These uncontrollable emotions lead to Lizabeth completely destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds that symbolize hope as she feels all hope is gone. Having that uncontrollable emotion that Lizabeth had leads to her maturing and growing up as she realizes what she did was wrong. Using symbols, the author’s emphasis of two characters' losing all hope in their lives and their despair leads to evoking empathy into the audience as they relate to their similar experiences.

When people lose hope and fall into despair, their emotions take over and lead to decisions that can change one’s life. In the short story “Marigolds”, written by Eugenia Collier, 14-year-old Lizabeth lives during the Great Depression in a black community in Maryland. She loses hope after hearing about her family's struggles and ragingly destroys Miss Lottie’s marigolds. Though, she realizes what deep meaning they have and empathizes with Miss Lottie. Collier emphazises that the loss of hope doesn’t mean it’s all destructiveness, yet feeling empathy for others who have had similar experiences through symbols and conflicts.

Collier kindles empathy by structuring conflicts, figurative language, and symbols that provide the reader with a literary experience of her characters’ lives. The author utilizes Lizabeth's shame and regret to evoke empathetic feelings within the reader. After destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds Lizabeth is “ashamed”, “the child in [her] sulked and said it was all in fun”, but “the woman in [her]” reproached the human she had become (Collier 10). As a young black woman during a dusty Depression era, Lizabeth experiences conflict with life. Lizabeth’s rage, shame, chagrin, and fear originate from a joyful

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39). Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird follows Scout Finch’s childhood as she grows up in a rural Alabama county during the 1930’s. She and her brother Jem have many adventures in their youth and are raised by their single father Atticus. As they grow up they start to learn the importance of empathy especially when dealing with the racial prejudice that many people around them have.

An Analysis of Empathy in To Kill Mockingbird Atticus Finch once claimed that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 33). The novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee, who intertwines the themes of empathy and prejudice to exhibit the development of children in the 1930s. The storyline takes place during the 1930s in the small conservative town of Maycomb, Alabama.

Empathy Unveiled: A Study of To Kill a Mockingbird Empathy is critical in developing interpersonal relationships and fostering understanding and compassion between individuals. It is often seen as a tool for overcoming prejudice and promoting social justice. However, despite its potential for positive change, applying empathy in the face of racism and misogyny is a complex and challenging issue. In a world where systemic inequalities and ingrained biases persist, truly understanding and empathizing with those different from us can seem daunting. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, through the lens of Scout Finch, the novel presents a nuanced portrayal of the challenges and obstacles that individuals face in trying to understand and empathize

Jem and Scout’s Coming of Age Books are uniquely suited to help people change their relationships and the variety of habits of daily life in this world. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author exemplifies the moving behavior of humans teaches reader the factors of human personalities, such as innocence, kindness, and the moral of human dignity. Scout and Jem, on their journey to growing up as they move away from childhood, have coming of age moments where they have the ability to see individuals with a combination of good and evil. A moment that Jem and Scout encounters is learning about innocence from people.

Many people don’t understand the importance of empathy and a lack of it can lead to prejudice and a misunderstanding of one’s character. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story of learning to be empathetic and being able to walk in someone else’s shoes. Scout and her brother Jem, as well as their neighbor Dill, try to find out about the town legend: Boo Radley. Everyone sees him as a monster but as time goes on Boohelps the kids from the shadows, eventually saving their lives from a man who holds a grudge against their father. “Marigolds” a short story by Eugenia Collier, is about a girl who lives in Maryland during the great depression and whose life is changing too fast for her to handle.

In “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier the coming of age short story where a now grown up Lizabeth reminisce her childhood especially going into Ms.Lottie’s garden. Ms. Lottie, who did not like children but treated her precious marigolds gets them destroyed by Lizabeth. After destroying them, Lizabeth realizes her errors believing she became a women in that moment. This short story has several literary device that are used in it to help deepen the meaning. The use of imagery, symbolism and metaphors in “Marigolds” helps the reader that it is important to not lose

In the Southern Gothic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how each character can be innocent through different moments throughout the novel. The story tells of a little girl named Scout, who meets new people and learns how to be mature with all of the challenges she faces. Throughout the novel, she grows older and realizes that trusting other peoples’ words can hurt her in the long run. In To Kill a Mockingbird, characters’ actions illustrate how people mature as they grow. Harper Lee teaches Scout innocence throughout the novel.

In Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, empathy is at the heart of the story. It is represented in different events and characters. This literary piece is an effective example of demonstrating understanding towards others. Empathy can be seen in many different characters throughout the novel such as Scout, Atticus, and Tom Robinson. They gain wisdom and show sympathy to the people that deserve it.

Kindness is a universal language that everyone understands and should be willing to speak. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” one theme that has been internalized is the theme of compassion. Harper Lee truly understood the power that kindheartedness can have on a person. She wanted her audience to understand that being a kind person beats being a bitter person any day. “One can trap more flies with sugar than vinegar,” this quote embodies Harper Lee’s purpose in writing TKAM.

The world she lived in was so ugly and plain and she choose to “create beauty in the midst of [all that] ugliness" (62). This helps to create the theme because even though Miss Lottie had so little she still worked hard to care for the beautiful marigolds. In “Marigolds” the author uses diction, symbolism and point of view, to develop the theme that people can create beauty even in the poorest of situations. Through diction, Collier is able to show the reader the contrast between the beauty of the marigolds compared to the run-down town the story is set in.

Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird and Eugenia Coolliers short story “Marigolds” evoke the most empathy by showing the growth of morals like empathy and compassion in the characters. The dynamic characters are used to emphasize how a person can change while symbolism is used to show a deeper meaning in an object both are used by the authors to evoke empathy. To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel published in 1960 about innocence, compassion and hatred. A story about children living in a racist time period trying to get through living there childhood without being influenced by the bad customs. “Marigolds” by Eugenia Cooliers is a short story also written in the 1960’s about a learning compassion and turning into a woman.