Marigolds Essay

Marigolds Eugenia Collier

"Marigolds" Essay

In the story "Marigolds", by Eugenia Collier, the theme consists of accepting who you are– because if you put it off, you may do something you may regret. The main character, Lizabeth, is on a path to adulthood, which is greatly treacherous and is a journey full of many challenges. Lizabeth quotes in many parts of the story that she feels conflicted in whatever she does, making her very emotionally frustrated. "The child in me sulked and said it was all in fun but the woman in me flinched at the thought of the malicious attack we led." (Collier 124). Lizabeth's statement proves that she feels very split on what to do, because of the emotions interfering with her. Her statement proves that the path to adulthood is not as easy Get

A Flower that Blooms in Darkness: How Lizabeth Transforms from Child to Woman There comes a point in one's life when they must recognize the hardships placed upon them, and instead of being ignorant of those hardships, they must confront them head–on. In "Marigolds", a short story by Eugenia Collier, the main protagonist, Lizabeth, encounters various struggles that come with living in a poor town in rural Maryland during the Depression, allowing her to learn more about growing up and accepting reality with all its flaws. Lizabeth is a 14–year–old girl who feels a conflict between her inner child and her inner woman, as she is unable to do anything that satisfies both sides of her. She feels too old to be a child, yet too young to be a...show more content... She can't fully comprehend why she detests these flowers, and so all she knows is that they "did not make sense to her." The child in her only has insight into her own world, and not into the worlds of others around her. Despite the marigolds being too troublesome for her to understand, she remains ignorant and does not try to seek any further meaning behind them. With Lizabeth in this naГЇve state, she has not yet felt the conflict between the child and the woman in her; she's too ignorant at this point to attempt to develop an understanding for Miss Lottie and her flowers. After Lizabeth and the other kids launch the first attack on the marigolds, invoking great rage in Miss Lottie, Lizabeth feels a sudden urge to antagonize the old woman even further. Chanting vicious phrases at her, Lizabeth feels that she, "lost [her] head entirely, mad with the power of inciting such rage [in Miss Lottie]." Lizabeth has been taken over by a childish sense of pride after provoking Miss Lottie, showing her selfishness and lack of compassion. Being the child that she is, Lizabeth decides to further irritate Miss Lottie, only thinking about herself and how to ease her boredom. She is only concerned about her own little world. This sudden act of cruelty to Miss Lottie reveals Get

Marigolds Short Story

At a young age, children do not understand the importance of having compassion as for they hold innocence within themselves. Growing up and maturing into an adult, children begin to progressively lose their innocence as they become more of a compassionate person because one can not have both innocence and compassion simultaneously. In fact, a coming of age short story called "Marigolds" written by Eugenia Collier, tells about a young girl named Lizabeth who grows up to become a compassionate person. For the most part, Lizabeth tells her childhood experience in a flashback on how she mostly remembers Miss Lottie's marigolds. Ultimately, Lizabeth decides to destroy Miss Lottie's marigolds out of anger because she hears about her parent's economic struggles. Shortly after Lizabeth realizes what she had done, she realizes the meaning of why Miss Lottie plants the marigolds. Throughout the short story, "Marigolds," the characterization of Lizabeth helps develop the author's argument that one can not have both compassion and innocence. The three events that show this is, when Lizabeth hesitates before throwing the rocks at the marigolds, hearing the sounds of her father's sorrowful cries, and eliminating Miss Lottie's marigolds. Collier's argument in "Marigolds" was that one cannot have both compassion and innocence and this is revealed through the event where Lizabeth decides to throw rocks at the marigolds. Her character develops to becoming a compassionate person

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Eugenia Collier uses diction and imagery to create the voice of her narrator, Lizabeth, in her short story "Marigolds." Lizabeth has a negative tone in the beginning of the story. The imagery she stated, "When I think of my hometown, all that I seem to remember is dust– the brown crumbly dust of late summer–arid, sterile dust that gets into the eyes and makes them water (Collier)..." proves that she is unhappy to be in that place. There are a lot of reasons why she is unhappy in that place and one of them is poverty. Lizabeth hinted that one of their struggles was poverty when she said "Poverty is a cage in which we all are trapped, and our hatred of it was still the vague, undirected restlessness of the zoo–bred flamingo who knows that nature created him to fly flee (Collier)." Lizabeth established the juxtaposition when she said, "And one other thing I remember, another incongruency of memory–a brilliant splash of sunny yellow against the dust–Miss Lottie's marigolds (Collier)." She is stating that Miss Lottie's marigolds were the only beautiful thing in that unsightly place. Those marigolds did not give her a pleasant feeling because she thought that they were too beautiful to exist in that kind of place. Miss Lottie was believed to be a witch when Lizabeth was young but she knows she is mature enough not believe in those things anymore. Their first encounter resulted in Lizabeth and her company destroying some of Miss Lottie's marigolds and they left Miss Lottie and John Burke, her son, enraged. When she got home and went to her room hoping to rest after a long day, she overheard her parents talking. She heard her dad say, " Twenty two years, Maybelle, twenty two years...and I got nothing for you, nothing, nothing (Collier)." She then realized that her father got fired from his job and was not taking it too well after what they have been through. Maybelle, Lizabeth's mother, attempted to comfort her husband by saying, "Honey, you took good care of us when you had it. Ain't nobody got nothing nowadays (Collier)." After a while of discussion Lizabeth's father began to sob, loudly and painfully. At this point, LIzabeth is confused because she never heard a man cry before. She did not even know that men cry.

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Short Story: Marigolds

Summers meadow Just a dream The knight loaded the bow directed at her heart. She closed her eyes scared to open them, scared to see the arrow lodge its self in her chest. She took her final breath......

Marigold sat up in her bed to see that she was in her room safe from the battle field. She rung the bell, summoning the maid. "Did you see my mother this morning". "No , miss Marigold". "Thank you, please go retrieve my breakfast then" she said waiving the maid off. Marigold sighed.... Mom never has time any more...she always gone making innocent people suffer.

Willow pov

Willow danced in tune as she hummed her favorite song, twirling over and over again until her feet hurt. She tumbled into her bed as the

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Theme Of Marigolds

Adolescence is a bumpy and unknown section of the road known as life. Both the short story "Marigolds" by Eugenia Collier and the poem "Hard on the Gas," by Janet S. Wong relate to the theme that "the road to growing up and maturing isn't always smooth". "Marigolds is the story of an adolescent who is growing up in the Great Depression. Through hard experiences and tumultuous emotions, the narrator learns that growing up is full of ups and downs. "Hard on the Gas" is a poem about a grandchild driving with his or her grandfather. The grandchild realizes that the road isn't always perfect and that there will be bumps along the way. The theme "the road growing up and maturing isn't always smooth" is conveyed in both of these selection.

In "Marigolds" a young girl is growing up during the Great Depression. For Lizabeth, the narrator, everyday is a challenge. As she transitions from an innocent, naive child to an aware, yet unsure young woman, the smooth road she's been traveling on suddenly becomes bumpy and unfamiliar when a fit of anger taken out on her neighbor marks Lizabeth's growing up. "All the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst– the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once...", (Collier, "Marigolds"). All of the emotions that Lizabeth has been holding in spill out of her in an audacious, violent action that will exile her childhood; the destroying of Miss Lottie's prized marigolds.When Lizabeth realizes with remorse what she's done, she gains the heavy burden of adulthood. "In that humiliating moment I looked beyond myself and into the depths of another person. This was the beginning of compassion, and one cannot have both compassion and innocence", (Collier, "Marigolds"). When Lizabeth conveys that Miss Lottie had planted marigolds as a show of passion and hope, she becomes compassionate towards Miss Lottie, ridding her of her childish innocence. While "Hard on the Gas" is minimally worded, the meaning of the poem speaks volumes. The poem conveys growing up, and the fact that the road to adulthood is not, in fact, smooth. "Rush, rest, rush, rest", Get

Marigolds

Birth flowers or birth month flowers is a term used in floral parlance to relate to the birth month of the recipient. So sending the perfect birthday flower gift according to the recipient's birth month is a best way to add a personal touch to the celebration. If your dear one's birthday is in October, then his or her birth flower is Marigold.

October Birth Flower – Marigold

Marigold is a Mediterranean native plant and are found in a range of colors from gold, yellow, and white. But the most common and popular is the bright orange. There are two types of these marigold – tagetes and calendula. While the former is toxic in nature, the latter is used for culinary and medicinal purposes.

Significance of marigolds

Marigold flowers have deep

There are a myriad beautiful types of flowers in our lives today that are great for gardeners, but in the United States, one of the easiest to recognize ends up being marigolds. There are more than 50 different species of this type of flower that are all taxonomies by botany into what is known as the Tagetes genus.

You may be extremely surprised to discover that a marigold is classified as a kind of daisy despite the fact that it is quite different looking than a daisy except perhaps possessing a round shape. Marigolds are one of the most cheery blossoms which an individual can plant because they have a vivid shade which is really strong on a persons eyes. This happens to be why a lot of individuals might cultivate them at their house or garden since they create quite a vibrant addition with their trademark gold, yellow and red hues. Due to this color pattern they are certainly a bloom that can be used for adding a unique touch.

One highly impressive aspect regarding...show more content... In parts of Mexico, Marigolds are consumed for traditions in recipes that contain potatoes and they are also added in to be utilized in special teas. It might be said that this is not a great idea to do for yourself if you are not experienced in cooking with marigolds. For reason being as with all plants, safety must come first so you will require the help of an experienced person before you try since you do not want to make your or others to who you cook for become ill.

Just about every flower on the earth normally have a type of meaning that spans beyond its message and this is the case with the marigold, too. The term Tagetes is from a god that was part of the culture of people around the Mediterranean Sea. However, marigold, the name, is from precisely just as it sounds like, Mary's

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