Maturation In The Story 'Marigolds'

In the short story “Marigolds” by Eugenia W. Collier, dramatic characterization used to deepen the meaning of the theme by making them analyze the story and the characters more critically. Reading the story in third person, the readers get a good idea of Lizabeth’s personality. Early in the story, Lizabeth is shown to be on the verge of childhood and adulthood, when she has to carefully decide whether she should throw the stones at the flowers or not. Using dramatic characterization, Lizabeth’s personality alters, letting readers get to know the reasons behind her actions. Lizabeth undergoes some emotional changes throughout the story, and the readers get to see her cope with these feelings. When Lizabeth witnesses her father crying, she doesn’t

In the story “Marigolds”, by Eugenia Collier, the character Lizabeth changes from the start to the end of the story because after destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds she changed from childish to matured. An example of how destroying the marigolds changes Lizabeth is when she states, “The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility”, (Collier 6). At the start of the story Lizabeth and her friends teased and called Miss Lottie names, but as we reach the end of the story you can see how she opened her eyes and saw what she was doing was wrong. After pulling the marigolds, Lizabeth realizes that Miss Lottie’s only hope was through the flowers, and actually shows sympathy,

“Marigolds”, a short story written by Eugenia W. Collier, describes the events leading up to Lizabeth’s loss of innocence. In the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Lizabeth, a girl who is living in a poor, barren, sad, shanty town during the Great Depression. When we first meet her, she acts very childish as she and some of the other children begin to destroy Miss Lottie’s sunflowers. These sunflowers are very special to Miss Lottie, because they bring hope to the sad times and also bring positivity and color to the poor town. Further in the story, Lizabeth is very frustrated and emotional about the state her family is in. First of all, she is upset that her Mom is never home because she has to work. Next, her father is frustrated that he has no work, which also upsets Lizabeth. Finally, she is confused on whether she is a young lady or still a child. All of these lead up to her letting out her frustrations, destroying all of Miss Lottie’s marigolds. In the story, the marigolds represent different things for different people. For Miss Lottie, they are the one thing giving her joy and keeping her

In the story "Marigolds", a story by Eugenia Collier, the author uses the literary techniques of juxtaposition and symbolism to show the overall message that during the coming of age and maturity in a world full of poverty and darkness, people always look for a light of happiness. The author uses juxtaposition of the conversation of the mother and father to show how the darkness, which is represented by the father, is trying to destroy the lightness, which is represented by the mother. In rage and pain of his poverty bent life, Lizabeth’s father is clouded with darkness and fear, but Lizabeth’s mother a still hopeful and looking for something to bring joy to the family. Lizabeth's dad explains to Lizabeth’s mother, “Twenty-two years, Maybelle, twenty-two years, and I

Eugenia Collier, the author of Marigolds evokes empathy in the audience to inspire action and bring about a deeper understanding of the world by using first person point of view in her text, so she used Lizabeth an imaginary person to tell a story from her point of view. She uses Lizabeth as the narrator of the story, so Lizabeth tells a story about her life experience in dusty depression-era town. In the text where it mentions “whatever verve, there was left in her, whatever was of love and beauty and joy that had…. Awkward and ashamed”(Lizabeth 62-63) and “She never planted marigolds again….. And I too have planted marigolds”(Lizabeth 64), she is trying to describe something. She is trying to describe that the marigolds brought happiness

This happening illustrates great maturity from Lizabeth. She demonstrates the ability to analyze a traumatic event in her family life. As a result of this incident, Lizabeth was able to feel compassion towards her dad’s situation. Second, as a result of finding her father upset, she takes her anger out on Miss Lottie’s marigolds. Lizabeth believes that the marigolds that Miss Lottie plants do not make

“Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier is a personal narrative of the challenges that adolescents face with coming of age. The author is able to accurately capture the voice of her younger self-using literary devices such as imagery, juxtaposition, and diction. The author uses these literary devices to give the reader a precise representation of the struggles she surpassed, which pushed her towards adulthood.

Almost everyone has had a tantrum before, so there should be no surprise when it occurs in novels and short stories. Notable characters such as Lizabeth from the short story, “Marigolds”, by Eugenia Collier and Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, impulsively burst with rage, unable to control their emotions because after all, they are just children. The fourteen-year-old African-American girl named Lizabeth along with her family struggle financially in an impoverished town during the Great Depression Era. Despite this, Lizabeth and her little brother enjoy childish acts especially annoying Miss Lottie, an elderly neighbor who cultivates Marigolds in her yard. Later in the novel, Lizabeth lets loose her emotions from her impoverishment and her parent’s financial problems out on these flowers by trampling on them. On the contrary, the elderly neighbor, Mrs. Dubose, in To Kill a Mockingbird is the one pestering Jem, Atticus Finch’s thirteen-year-old son, and not the other way around. The fact that Atticus defended a black man accused of rape displeases her; thus, Mrs. Dubose verbally attacks Jem by comparing his father to African-Americans.This is considered an insult during the Great Depression, the time period of the novel, as black people are viewed as lowly human beings. As a result, Jem takes personal offense to this and strikes back at Mrs. Dubose by ruining her camellias. Even though the physical destructions of the flowers are similar, Lizabeth and Jem’s reason behind it, the consequences and the process of maturation are different.

In the Story Marigolds Lizabeth starts off as a child and ends up close to being an adult. Lizabeth figures out that there is more to life than yourself and you should be aware of it. Lizabeth learns from her mistakes in this story from her childhood, which will make her a better person in adultery.

Most of the time there is a moment in life where one realizes they have lost all innocence and gained some compassion.  “Marigolds” shows how one young girl transferred from a child to young adult through her life experiences.  Throughout this story another young, but at the same time old in her prime, lady’s experiences are revealed:  the author’s.  In this short story, “Marigolds,” Eugenia Collier’s subconscious is unmasked through symbolism, diction, and Lizabeth’s actions.

On this day it was hard to get out of bed, so I had to use my window seal to pull myself up and all I could see was complete darkness throughout my house. Then I heard someone yelling “Lizabeth!” and I looked out my front oval window and saw my Marigolds all smashed and ruined. So then I opened the window and all I could smell was the newly developed smell of dew and my smashed Marigolds. Finally, the yelling stopped for a second and then I could hear a little boy crying and saying, “Lizabeth, stop, please stop!” So I walked out and saw a little girl in my Marigold garden. So I walked up to her and she got really scared and just stared at me and I think she was just trying to recognize who I was because it was pitch black out. Then she recognized

A child holds innocence from a young age and does not understand the importance of having compassion. As a child's innocence gradually fade away due to maturity, he or she transforms into a compassionate person. In a coming of age short story, “Marigolds,” Eugenia Collier writes about a series of events where a young girl, named Lizabeth, develops into a compassionate person. Lizabeth narrates these events in a flashback that involve the marigolds of her neighbor, Miss Lottie. Miss Lottie's marigolds were the essence of hope in the midst of the town filled with dust and dirt. The effect of economic struggles that the townspeople go through causes Lizabeth to destroy Miss Lottie's marigolds. Throughout the short story, “Marigolds,” the characterization

Childhood is an important time in a person’s life, a time where one can be carefree and do as they please without having to worry about what others think of them. During this stage of life, children are groomed and prepared for the transition between childhood and adulthood to be as smooth as possible. However, in Heather O’Neil’s novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals, Baby throws herself into the adult world without giving any second thought or even having the proper knowledge to survive or even to manage herself. This causes her to follow the wrong paths and trust the wrong people. Baby grows wise beyond her years, and soon becomes stuck in the middle of the two worlds, as she is too young for the adult world but too old for the child world. This traps her with her having nowhere else to go except continue on the path she is already heading. Baby’s loss of innocence at such a young age showcases that one cannot properly mature and be ready for the future without having a stable childhood. This loss is shown through Jules’ lack of parental ability, her exposure to the adult world at a young age, and her struggle with herself. Adding all three together causes damage to Baby that no one should experience.

In the beginning Lizabeth ostensibly acted childish, immature, and was unaware of the world outside her neighborhood. During the story, she realized that the world isn't as kind as forgiving as she might have thought. She states "I gazed upon a kind of reality that is hidden to childhood," informing us that she was innocent before a certain event occurred. At the end, she is mature, understanding, and forgiving woman. She changed because she because she realized that she needed to grow up. Her thoughts were simple. Why on earth would Miss Lottie keep such good care of these marigolds, when the rest of the world was dusty and run-down? She felt confused, sad, and angry. Lizabeth was eventually so angry, that she went out, early in the morning,

In the short stories, “Saving Sourdi,” by May-Lee Chai and “The Moths,” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the main character of each short story goes through their own coming of age experience where they are forced to mature in order to overcome an obstacle. Chai explains her main character, Nea’s, struggle as she is forced to mature and overcome the departure of her older sister, Sourdi, from her life after she gets married and moves away. Viramontes, on the other hand, depicts her narrator’s struggle as she is forced to mature and overcome the death of her Abuelita on her own. Despite their very different approaches, both Chai and Viramontes successfully convey their main character 's struggles in their journey from youth to adulthood.