Have you ever done something that you regretted later? Something that changed your life forever? That is what happened to Lizabeth, the protagonist of Marigolds, a short story that explores the theme of innocence and its loss through the eyes of a young African American girl growing up during the Great Depression. The story revolves around Lizabeth's encounter with Miss Lottie's marigolds, the only bright spot in their otherwise bland neighborhood. In this essay, I will argue that Lizabeth's destruction of the marigolds symbolizes her loss of innocence and her transition to maturity. This is shown by how Lizabeth's attitude towards the marigolds changes from hatred to guilt to remorse, how her act of vandalism affects her relationship with Miss Lottie and her father, and how her memory of the marigolds shapes her understanding of life and beauty.
In the beginning of the story, Lizabeth is presented as a bored and restless child who hates the marigolds for their beauty and contrast with her surroundings. She says, "For some perverse reason, we children hated those marigolds" (Collier 2). She also admits that she feels guilty for tormenting Miss Lottie and her son John Burke, who are both outcasts in the community. She
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She is awakened by her father's cry of despair, which shatters her image of him as a strong and protective figure. She says, "I had never heard a grown person cry before" (Collier 4). She runs out of the house in a frenzy, feeling "a violent emotion trying to express itself in action" (Collier 4). She ends up in Miss Lottie's yard, where she vents her anger on the marigolds. She says, "I leaped furiously into the mounds of marigolds and pulled madly, trampling and pulling and destroying the perfect yellow blooms" (Collier 5). This shows that Lizabeth's act of vandalism is a result of her inner conflict and her inability to cope with her
“Whatever verve there was left in her, whatever was of love and beauty and joy that had not been squeezed out by life, had been there in the marigolds she had so tenderly cared for. '' Children see the world far more simplistic than adults. Lizabeth says she no longer saw Miss Lottie as a witch, but just an old woman who tried to cover up the ugliness of her life with the beauty of marigolds. This was the first time she felt compassion and remorse for her actions. Lizabeth then develops the ability to distinguish what is right from wrong, and is able to feel proud when she does the right thing, as well as ashamed when she does not.
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.
Empathy and compassion are cycled by humans in response to another’s emotions, suffering, and misfortune. They are what further one’s understanding of a relative homosapien. The Southern Gothic Fiction, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, pays tribute to both empathy and compassion in its telling of a young girl’s coming-of-age and probing how racism, prejudice, or in other words evil and morality coexist within a community. Furthermore, in the short fiction crisis, “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, Lizabeth, a fourteen-year-old African American girl in Maryland, struggles to find herself in the midst of adolescence and economic calamity, the Great Depression. Overall, Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird best elicits compassion and
Later in the story, Lizabeth discovers that the flowers were not the problem, she
Lizabeth then continues towards Miss Lottie’s house and rips up all her flowers she had been taking great care of. Lizabeth is greatly flawed by hearing her dad sobbing and her parents talking about the struggles they had as a family. Lizabeth then took out her anger on Miss. Lottie’s flowers because they were standing perfectly fine. Lizabeth had woken up to Miss.
She admits to her uncle, Dr. Jack Finch, that she “can’t fight them,” and that she feels that she has “no fight left” (Lee 211). Her Uncle responds, showing her that her one-directional views and rebellious attempts have hindered her ability to see the truth that lies before her. “You confused your father with God. You never saw him as a man with a man’s heart, and a man’s failings—I’ll grant you it may have been hard to see, he makes so few mistakes, but he makes ‘em like all of us. You were an emotional cripple, leaning on him, getting the answers from him, assuming that your answers would always be his answers” (Lee 216).
In the short story “Marigolds”, by Eugenia Collier the main character, Lizabeth, tells about her life as a 14 year old girl living through the Great Depression. Lizabeth lived in a poor neighborhood and struggled to find ways to fill her time. In the story the things Lizabeth did revolved around an elder lady, Miss Lottie and her marigolds. Lizabeth would throw pebbles at Miss Lottie’s marigolds with her brother because she felt as the marigolds were too beautiful to belong. The short story explains how Lizabeth tried to find herself and the troubles she went through as a teenager.
Finally, the setting of Miss Lottie's garden, with its beautiful marigolds, represents a contrast to the poverty and ugliness of Lizbeth's surroundings. "For some perverse reason, we children hated those marigolds. They interfered with the perfect ugliness of the place; they were too beautiful; they said too much that we could not understand; they did not make sense. Perhaps we had some dim notion of what we were and how little chance we had of being anything else. Otherwise, why would we have been so preoccupied with destruction?"
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
After witnessing her father break down because of his inability to provide for his family, Lizabeth, in a mess of emotions, destroys the marigolds, marking the
She uses her newfound maturity to generate compassion to Miss Lottie, who she had wronged in the past. Lizabeth transforms from a carefree and wild girl to a mature woman who comes to feel remorse for the pain she brought Miss Lottie by destroying her
Through her use of symbolism the author shows how much the marigolds mean to Miss Lottie. Through her use of point of view readers have a clear view of the look and atmosphere of the old town and the how the marigolds were the only beautiful thing