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Summary Of Marigolds By Eugenia Collier

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In the short story “Marigolds” Eugenia Collier gives us an idea of what it is like growing up in the Great Depression. The Great Depression began in 1929 when the stock market crashed causing many people to lose their jobs and to struggle financially. Lizabeth is the main character and narrator, she is a fourteen year old girl whose family lives in a rundown house in a poor community, located in Maryland. Lizabeth has no happy memories of her hometown because of the fact that she grew up in the Great Depression. Lizabeth is at the stage in her life when she is growing up to be a woman, throughout the story we can clearly see that.
One summer day, Lizabeth and Joey (Lizabeth’s little brother) were very bored and wanted to do something …show more content…

After hearing enough Lizabeth became so overwhelmed she went to Miss. Lottie’s house and did something she would never forget. She ripped out all of Miss. Lottie’s marigolds from the root until Miss. Lottie came outside. She then realized that what she had done could not be undone, she also realized why Miss. Lottie cared so much about the marigolds, “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. She had been born in squalor and lived in it all her life. Now the end of that life she had nothing except a falling down hut, a wrecked body, and John Burke, the mindless son of her passion.” I was quite saddened with this quote because of the fact that she had nothing else to give her that happiness besides the flowers. Not even her son gave her happiness, which made me even more sad to read this …show more content…

”They interfered with the perfect ugliness of the place; they were too beautiful; they said too much that we could not understand; they did not make sense. There was something in the vigor with which the old woman destroyed the weeds, that intimidated us,” this passage explained it all. To me this meant that the marigolds upset them because of their beauty, they hated the fact that the flowers were more beautiful than the world they lived in. Even though I understood why they disliked the flowers, I don’t agree with what they did, it was horrible and left me in

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In the short story, “Marigolds,” the author, Eugenia Collier, acknowledges the universal theme that people can create beauty in even the most dreariest of places. The story takes place in Maryland during the Great Depression. Lizabeth, the main character, is an adult looking back to the time when she had transitioned from childhood to womanhood. Miss Lottie, an old woman who lived in a shabby, broken down house, planted marigolds. As a child, Lizabeth had thought Miss Lottie to be a witch and despised the marigolds because it did not match the poverty and sadness that surrounded her.

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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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In her short story “Marigolds”, Eugenia Collier, tells the story of a young woman named Lizabeth growing up in rural Maryland during the Depression. Lizabeth is on the verge of becoming an adult, but one moment suddenly makes her feel more woman than child and has an impact on the rest of her life. Through her use of diction, point of view, and symbolism, Eugenia Collier develops the theme that people can create beauty in their lives even in the poorest of situations. Through her use of the stylistic device diction, Eugenia Collier is able to describe to the reader the beauty of the marigolds compared to the drab and dusty town the story is set in.

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The story "Marigolds" by Eugenia W. Collier is a short story that goes through the journey of Lizabeth. Lizabeth is a young girl that goes through an event that transitions her from a child to a woman. She shows many different sides to herself. She is wild, immature, and conflictual. Throughout the story, she comes to show that with maturity comes compassion.

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