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Empathy In Eugenia Collier's Marigolds

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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 …show more content…

Lizabeth’s “world had lost its boundary line. [Her] mother, who was small and soft, was now the strength of the family; [her] father, who was the rock on which the family had been built on” was comparable to “a broken accordion” and she did not know “where [she] fit” amongst “this crazy”, all she felt was “bewilderment and fear” (Collier 11). Lizabeth lost hope, a beacon of prosperity. Her innocence blinded her to a reality in which life was not perfect. Her beliefs were contradicted by reality and Miss Lottie. Lizabeth’s womanhood concluded with the end of innocence and the start of compassion. Collier evoked empathy by manipulating “Marigolds” first-person point of view to tell a story from her point of view. Fundamentally, Collier was able to capture the emotions of her readers by describing the transition from innocence to compassion. However, To Kill a Mockingbird best kindled empathy and compassion to give a deeper understanding of the world by providing a literary voyage through the eyes of innocence in a town where both evil and morality coexist. It is told from the eyes of six-year-old Scout Finch. Throughout the novel, she matures and learns the importance of empathy and compassion. This is demonstrated by those who she encounters with an insight into what it means to be a victim of racism, inequality, and rumors. A child's obliviousness is how Harper Lee is able to best evoke empathy in the

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The main character, Lizabeth, in Eugenia Collier’s short story “Marigold’s”, is supposed to be a portrayal of her 14-year-old self. The story starts off with the author, in Lizabeth’s words, describing what she remembers from her hometown in Maryland. She doesn’t remember every sight and sounds but she can recall how everything made her feel. Recalling one dry September she then introduces an old lady who went by the name of Miss Lottie and how much she disliked her beautiful marigolds. She mentions how when she was much younger she believed Miss Lottie was an old witch, even though she grew out of that, Lizabeth still had some sort of fear towards Miss Lottie.

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All she wants to do when they run is worry about her breathing and running form. If anyone wants to do anything to Raymond “they have to come by her” (Bambara Line 11). Lizabeth’s family is in need of money and her dad can’t find a job to get money. When Lizabeth was trying to fall asleep she heard her dad crying. While he was crying Lizabeth felt his “harsh, painful, despairing sobs” (Collier Par. 43).

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Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird and Eugenia Coolliers short story “Marigolds” evoke the most empathy by showing the growth of morals like empathy and compassion in the characters. The dynamic characters are used to emphasize how a person can change while symbolism is used to show a deeper meaning in an object both are used by the authors to evoke empathy. To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel published in 1960 about innocence, compassion and hatred. A story about children living in a racist time period trying to get through living there childhood without being influenced by the bad customs. “Marigolds” by Eugenia Cooliers is a short story also written in the 1960’s about a learning compassion and turning into a woman.

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How can uncontrollable emotions affect people positively? In the short story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier in an impoverished town during The Great Depression, a 14 year old African American girl named Lizabeth finds herself in a tough situation as she hears her father sobbing and can’t control the emotions she is feeling. These uncontrollable emotions lead to Lizabeth completely destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds that symbolize hope as she feels all hope is gone. Having that uncontrollable emotion that Lizabeth had leads to her maturing and growing up as she realizes what she did was wrong. Using symbols, the author’s emphasis of two characters' losing all hope in their lives and their despair leads to evoking empathy into the audience as they relate to their similar experiences.

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Kindness is a universal language that everyone understands and should be willing to speak. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” one theme that has been internalized is the theme of compassion. Harper Lee truly understood the power that kindheartedness can have on a person. She wanted her audience to understand that being a kind person beats being a bitter person any day. “One can trap more flies with sugar than vinegar,” this quote embodies Harper Lee’s purpose in writing TKAM.

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Collier kindles empathy by structuring conflicts, figurative language, and symbols that provide the reader with a literary experience of her characters’ lives. The author utilizes Lizabeth's shame and regret to evoke empathetic feelings within the reader. After destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds Lizabeth is “ashamed”, “the child in [her] sulked and said it was all in fun”, but “the woman in [her]” reproached the human she had become (Collier 10). As a young black woman during a dusty Depression era, Lizabeth experiences conflict with life. Lizabeth’s rage, shame, chagrin, and fear originate from a joyful

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“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39). Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird follows Scout Finch’s childhood as she grows up in a rural Alabama county during the 1930’s. She and her brother Jem have many adventures in their youth and are raised by their single father Atticus. As they grow up they start to learn the importance of empathy especially when dealing with the racial prejudice that many people around them have.

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An Analysis of Empathy in To Kill Mockingbird Atticus Finch once claimed that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 33). The novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee, who intertwines the themes of empathy and prejudice to exhibit the development of children in the 1930s. The storyline takes place during the 1930s in the small conservative town of Maycomb, Alabama.

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In Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, empathy is at the heart of the story. It is represented in different events and characters. This literary piece is an effective example of demonstrating understanding towards others. Empathy can be seen in many different characters throughout the novel such as Scout, Atticus, and Tom Robinson. They gain wisdom and show sympathy to the people that deserve it.

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In the Southern Gothic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how each character can be innocent through different moments throughout the novel. The story tells of a little girl named Scout, who meets new people and learns how to be mature with all of the challenges she faces. Throughout the novel, she grows older and realizes that trusting other peoples’ words can hurt her in the long run. In To Kill a Mockingbird, characters’ actions illustrate how people mature as they grow. Harper Lee teaches Scout innocence throughout the novel.

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Many people don’t understand the importance of empathy and a lack of it can lead to prejudice and a misunderstanding of one’s character. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story of learning to be empathetic and being able to walk in someone else’s shoes. Scout and her brother Jem, as well as their neighbor Dill, try to find out about the town legend: Boo Radley. Everyone sees him as a monster but as time goes on Boohelps the kids from the shadows, eventually saving their lives from a man who holds a grudge against their father. “Marigolds” a short story by Eugenia Collier, is about a girl who lives in Maryland during the great depression and whose life is changing too fast for her to handle.

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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

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The world she lived in was so ugly and plain and she choose to “create beauty in the midst of [all that] ugliness" (62). This helps to create the theme because even though Miss Lottie had so little she still worked hard to care for the beautiful marigolds. In “Marigolds” the author uses diction, symbolism and point of view, to develop the theme that people can create beauty even in the poorest of situations. Through diction, Collier is able to show the reader the contrast between the beauty of the marigolds compared to the run-down town the story is set in.

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