The House On Marigolds Analysis

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.

“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.

The condition of Miss Lottie’s house represents how the Great Depression affects the nation because of the major downfalls of the economy. The Great Depression makes Miss Lottie’s house look like it is about to crumble, but even so Miss Lottie still at least has something to keep her and her house together--her marigolds. Moreover, though the Great Depression brings in negativity, the marigolds Miss Lottie plants are described as ”...strangest part of the picture... Beyond the dusty brown yard, in front of the sorry gray house, rose suddenly and shockingly a dazzling strip of bright blossoms, clumped together in enormous mounds, warm and passionate and sun-golden.” (258-259). Miss Lottie and the town lives in a world where hope is limited, but the marigolds are the things that are beautiful in the town and in Miss Lottie’s eyes because they were hope. The marigolds certainly don’t fit in with the ugliness of the town because they shine brightly and bring hope to the town. The marigolds brings hope to the people in town and to Miss Lottie because the marigolds were the only things in the town which were warm, beautiful, and bright, unlike their gloomy town’s

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”,

I had woken up from sleeping and all of the sudden I saw a girl ripping out my flowers! I went outside and just watched her pull them out because I didn’t know what to say. After that girl ripped them out, she finally realized that she did something wrong and regretted it. She said “M-miss Lottie!” and I was in utter shock that the girl was going to apologize to me. It shocked me because those kids throw stones at my garden all the time, and I have to replant my marigolds every time those children throw a stones at them. After that little girl finished off my marigolds, I discussed with the girl that the reason why I had planted marigolds is because they only come in two different colors - yellow and orange...the colors of the sun! They

The transformations in people are caused by a variety of circumstances. Within the variety of these circumstances, stress is the most influential one. In Eugenia Collier’s short story Marigolds, it tells the narrative of a young African-American girl living in rural Maryland. Due to her frustration with life, she destroys Miss Lottie’s marigolds. In the story Marigolds, the author uses the narrator’s transformation and characterization to convey that identity is only found in times of crisis.

Have you seen a marigolds? Well do u know what its? A marigolds is a flower a really beautify flower that is red,orange,yellow . This boo.k is written by eugenia collier the book is entertain you about the wonders of the flowers. The tittle of the book is Marigolds. The main thing about the book is the the flowers and how the girl thought ms lottie was evil cause she had beautify flowers.

Walker continues to use negative imagery and ideas to reveal her hesitation towards the arrangement. The author uses these literary devices because she wants to illustrate Roselily’s reasons for marrying the man. Roselily does this because it is what's best for her and her children. In a way, Roselily is being forced because she does not have a better alternative to her current life. By marrying the man, Roselily will have a renewed lifestyle and reputation. Roselily imagines the flowers in her hand as kids. When she does this, her head fills with murderous thoughts. “A squeeze around the flowers in her hands chokes off three and four and five years of breath” (Walker 4). As guilty as Roselily feels, this shows how Roselily wishes she never had given birth to any of her kids. When she tightens her grip on the bouquet of flowers, she thinks of her children. Roselily dreams she did not give birth to these kids. Roselily’s ideas of murder could possibly be associated with her obsession with the idea of her personal spirit being robbed from her. Weddings usually give off positive connotations, however in Roselily’s mind she disturbs the happy wedding with dark thoughts such as the idea of murder. Deviating from the topic of “personal spirit”, Brent studies the ferocious thoughts swarming Roselily’s mind. “Roselily’s rebellious thoughts during the wedding ceremony go so far as to enter the realms of murder and blasphemy. She expresses a wish that she could be free of her three

Anybody can find inspiration from anything. For Alice Walker, the author of “The Flowers” and “Everyday Use”, her inspiration was in her upbringing. Both short stories have unique storylines, but one thing they have in common is the incorporation of Alice Walker’s underprivileged life growing up. For example, “The Flowers” is about a little innocent girl, who makes her fun running through the woods behind her family’s sharecropper cabin, who stumbles upon a horrible sight. This little girl, Myop, suddenly ‘loses her innocence’ when she sees a dead man in the woods. As well as in the story “Everyday Use” there is an underprivileged family with a mother and two daughters, where the lifestyle just isn't enough for the older daughter, Dee. Overall, the unique inspiration Alice Walker’s childhood had on her helps craft the particular storylines and themes of “The Flowers” and “Everyday Use”.

Guilt is like a sickness. If you don’t get medicine, no matter how much you wait it out, the sickness is staying with you. No matter how much time passes, if you don’t deal with your guilt, it will stick with you and never go away. The main character in Marigolds by Eugenia Collier ruins an elderly woman's beautiful marigolds because of her own issues. The main character in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst leaves his handicapped brother alone in the woods and comes back to find that he’s dead. Lastly, the main character in The Cat’s In The Cradle never takes part in his son’s childhood and comes to realize his boy is just like him when he gets older. These three pieces all show a coexisting theme of how guilt sticks around forever if you don’t deal with it.

In the story “Marigolds,” the author, Eugenia Collier, uses voice elements to support the poignant tone of the story. In the story, Collier includes a metaphor that evokes a feeling of sadness when her father cried. Lizabeth heard “[her] father, who was the rock on which the family had been built, was sobbing like the tiniest child,” (Collier 404). This reveals that Lizabeth’s father is the strong foundation that built the family and gave it confidence, love, encouragement, and a role model. Although was the foundation of the family, his wife worked every day making her the breadwinner. The metaphor eventually destroys Lizabeth confidence because her dad is crying and that gives her insecurities that something is going wrong. This relates to the poignant tone because the metaphor evokes the feeling of sadness.

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.

In the narrative,”Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, is a story about Lizabeth, the narrator, tells a story from her childhood in a dusty Depression-era town. The main characters were this story is taking place in a shanty town during a hot september, where the narrator tells a story about Miss Lottie.The main conflict of the story is that a devastating moment in where Lizabeth, lose her innocence, her is past for a bad time and her not feel compassion for anything and Miss Lottie feel only compassion for the flowers when she see that are destroying.The parents of Lizabeth are past by a bad time, they argue in your room and Lizabeth and her brother listen aut when your father cry because he don’t have job and your mother have is responsible for

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.

Closing out the short story, Eugenia Collier’s use of imagery in paragraph 24 conveys the image of Miss Lottie’s home as “ ...crumbling decay...“. After the crash of the stock market, Americans felt as if their life was “crumbling” apart. They lost their homes, livelihood, their families, and a majority of everything they ever obtained in life. In addition to describing Miss Lottie's little home, Collier also conveys the image of “...warm and passionate and sun-golden” marigolds. The marigolds represent the sliver of hope that many Americans needed during the Great Depression, the darkest time of their lives: She further describes the flowers as “... too beautiful…”