Summary Of Marigolds By Eugenia Collier

Transformations in life can make a person grow up or make them worse. Within the fictional. short story Marigolds by Eugenia Collier, a girl named Lizabeth grows up during the Great Depression. Although the town, in which Lizabeth lives in, is bleek, Miss Lottie, a resident, plants marigolds to create beauty in a gloomy atmosphere. Through Lizabeth’s thoughts and actions, Collier uses characterization to show how she changes from behaving like a child to a mature woman after her incident with the marigolds and hearing her father cry, and to convey that in order to grow up, one has to experience mistakes to flourish as a person.
When someone is still in their childhood phase, they are unfamiliar with their emotions and behavior and are unable

They were determined to tease Miss Lottie. so they also decided to throw pebbles at her marigolds since they were perplexing, “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” (Collier 18). The phrase “interfered with the perfect ugliness” explains how Lizabeth and the children thought about the marigolds. Since they live in a depressing town where everything is unprepossessing, they are not accustomed with the magnificent marigolds that stands out. “We could not understand” emphasizes how inattentive the children are. They knew Miss Lottie planted those marigolds. but they were oblivious to the reason why. When the children had the thought of “did not make sense” represents how the children could not connect the marigolds, something beautiful, and the poverty stricken town, something unappealing, together. It did not make sense to them. After teasing Miss Lottie, Lizabeth became ashamed of herself all afternoon. When she was done eating supper and went to sleep, she woke up a few hours later hearing her father’s

When Lizabeth experienced moments she had not before, she transforms into a woman with more wisdom. Lizabeth has become enraged and decided to take out all her anger towards Miss Lottie’s marigolds. She destroys them only to see what she had done and comprehends why Miss Lottie had planted them in the beginning, “Whatever verve there was left in her, whatever was of love and beauty and joy that had not been there squeezed out by life, had been there in the marigolds she had so tenderly cared for” (Collier 22). When Lizabeth thinks “left in her” informs the readers that she already knew Miss Lottie is done with life. But, inside of her she has a tiny bit of determination to plant the marigolds and take great care for them. The feelings Miss Lottie had felt about her marigolds “love and beauty and joy” exhibits that Lizabeth finally understands why Miss Lottie had planted the marigolds. All the feelings she had felt all connect together. The marigolds give Miss Lottie joy because of how beautiful they are. She loves them because it is her only hope in life. In addition, the phrase “tenderly cared for” emphasizes that Lizabeth realizes how much Miss Lottie cares for her marigolds. Then the moment when Lizabeth’s father stopped crying, she became more aware that her world is not the same anymore, “I do not now remember my thoughts, only a feeling of great bewilderment and fear” (Collier 20). The words