Marigolds Character Analysis

When my sister was a sophomore, in the winter of 2012, she got really sick. First, she had blood clots blocking the flow of blood to her right arm. Doctor after doctor, no one had figured out what was going on until we were on our final chance when they figured it out. The doctors had to remove a tiny rib near her collarbone. Everything seemed fine, until her left lung collapsed. She almost died yet again, and for awhile they were afraid her right lung with collapse as well. Her diagnosis was Mrsa, which caused her lung to collapse as her body was so weak. The stress that was put on our family was very intense. My sister was in the hospital for a total of roughly 2 months and throughout it all we tried to hold strong. Our community and family
The major conflict within this family was the struggles that her family and community were currently in. The Dirty Thirties brought unemployment, suffering, and dust, all of which Lizabeth, the main character, was somewhat oblivious to until the painful realization of just how bad her family was struggling to make ends meet. The sight of her father's tears and vulnerability awoke something in her. It brings Lizabeth back to the Marigolds, the most predominant symbol in this heart wrenching story. The marigolds, the bursts of sun, were too perfect in a world that was so far from it. They are a symbol for everything Lizabeth wished she had, they were the happy and easy life that she wouldn’t ever have, they were happiness in a world where that was almost impossible, and it wasn’t fair. So while in that moment, to her they were just flowers too perfect, after she realized why and what it meant, and it was brutal. Collier uses this symbol so not only readers would further interpret and understand it as the story progressed, but also something that the main character would eventually realize herself. This conflict, both an internal struggle in finding who she is and external when she she's her father break down, caused a lapse in judgement that would change the
In the daughters perspective, she is simply holding her ground against a mother who will never accept her for who she is. However in the mother's, she just wants her daughter to accomplish everything that she herself, never could. This struggle to see the same side is the roots of the problem, they are both too stubborn to see the bigger picture and it causes a whole life of distrust. There are many symbols within this story that represent their relationship, the most accurate was the two songs. The songs, pleading child and perfectly contented were displayed throughout the daughters life. When she was a child and she didn’t understand her mother's ways, she was quick and angry, she was a pleading child. As our main character grows up, and realizes finally her mom's point of view, she is more wise and gentler yet complex, she is perfectly contented. Apart, the pieces don’t make sense, but when you can see the calm to come in combination with the anger of the past, the piece is complete and it makes sense. These family conflicts with her mother, shaped who she would become and how she would go about living. In the moment, it was hard to look beyond the anger and confusion, and in that way she was lost and truly a pleading child, you need both pieces of the song to complete who she is and