Farello, Lauren (2024)

Farello, Lauren

Bartels, Nicole

Period 1

10-9-06

MARIGOLDS:

SHORTSTORY ANALYSIS

SUMMARY:

The crisis of Marigolds, by Eugenia Collier, is that Lizabeth, a 14 year oldAfrican American girl, doesn’t know who she is.The conflict of the story involves Lizabeth trying to find out who sheis while growing up in a poor Marylandsociety during the Great Depression. Notyet a woman, but more than just a child, Lizabeth spends time with theneighborhood children, causing innocent trouble andacting in childish ways. One hot summerday, the children decide to taunt poor, elderly Miss Lottie and her preciousmarigolds. However, the children at thetime do not realize how much the flowers truly mean to Miss Lottie. That night, Lizabeth overhears a conversationinvolving her parents and their financial and emotional problems. She lets her emotions which include sadnessfor never having her mother around; growing up in a poor town, being both achild and a woman, and seeing her father’s tears of sadness get the best ofher. She then sneaks out of the houseand goes to Miss Lottie’s house where she destroys the marigolds. When Lizabeth looks up from her destruction,she sees Miss Lottie standing there, with disappointment and sadness in hereyes. In that moment the conflict isresolved when Lizabeth finds out that she is no longer a child, but a womanwith feelings of compassion.

The story is told from a firstperson point of view as told by Lizabeth.The story shows the thoughts and feelings of the main character.

The conflicts of Marigolds are internal andexternal. The internal conflict isLizabeth versus herself emotionally with innocence, compassion, growing up, andaccepting responsibility. The externalconflict involves Lizabeth and the poverty and rough times while growingup.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

Lizabeth’s character developed andchanged in several ways. In thebeginning of the story, Lizabeth was a young girl that spent time with theyoung neighborhood children, causing trouble and having childish fun. She didn’t fully understand the differencebetween right and wrong. “For someperverse reason, we children hated those marigolds. They interfered with the perfect ugliness ofthe place; they were too beautiful; they said too much about what we could notunderstand; they did not make sense.” (Collier, page 79) The children taunt Miss Lottie, but do notmean any harm; they are just innocently having a good time. When she angrily destroys Miss Lottie’s marigolds,the only thing that the poor woman has, she is no longer the innocent childthat she used to be. In that moment, shechanges from a young carefree child to a woman that must take responsibilityfor her destructive actions. WhenLizabeth saw the old lady’s look of sadness and pain, she finally realized whata horrible thing she had done, and felt compassion toward Miss Lottie. “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 tenderlycared for.” (Collier, page 84) Throughout the story, Lizabeth learns aboutherself and grows into a woman, feels compassion towards another person, and takesresponsibility for her actions. EugeniaCollier used both direct and indirect characterization to describe thecharacters.

THEMES:

1. Innocence: “Innocence involves an unseeing acceptance of things at face value, an ignorance of the area below the surface.” (Collier, page 84) Lizabeth learns that when she destroys the marigolds, she is no longer innocent. She was no longer an innocent child; she was growing up. In the simple act of destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds, she learns about maturing and accepting the responsibility of her actions.

2. Coming of Age: “I scrambled to my feet and just stood there and stared at her, and that was the moment when childhood faded and womanhood began. That violent, crazy act was the last act of childhood.” (Collier, page 84) Lizabeth had finally grown up enough to realize that her act of ripping out the marigolds was wrong. She had become a woman, in mind and in spirit. Her action had forced her to act and think like a woman, she was no longer a young girl.

3. Compassion: “In that humiliating moment I looked beyond myself and into the depths of another person. This was the beginning of compassion…” (Collier, page 84) When Lizabeth saw the look on Miss Lottie’s face, she realized what she did was wrong. She felt bad for Miss Lottie; she showed compassion toward the poor woman. She proved that she could regret her actions because of the sadness that she felt towards Mss Lottie.