In the short story, “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, Lizabeth, the main character, a victim of poverty, took her anger out on her neighbor’s cherished marigolds without knowing what she was doing. She later realized the marigolds symbolized hope for her and her poverty struck community. This relates to a similar occasion that I experienced with my parents divorce.…
The combination of diction and imagery used in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier weave a mood of downtrodden hopelessness. Throughout both passages, the authors describe a setting of desolate towns during difficult times, with townsfolk who have forgotten optimism. Such is utilized in To Kill a Mockingbird, as Maycomb is “a tired old town” where “grass gr[ows] on the sidewalks, [and] the courthouse sag[s]”; reading the description evokes an image of a town on the brink of bankruptcy, conveying the despair the inhabitants must feel (Lee). As the diction in the passage is usually equated with the elderly, Lee adds to the picture of a town on its last legs. In contrast, “Marigolds” focuses on the “arid, sterile…
In contrast with this horrible imagery is the description of 'the little villagers' which gives a quite calm and relaxed feeling to the village and the description used sound like a fairy tale where little is repeated to suggest that the villagers lead unimportant lives and begin there days with the same repetitive routines and have 'dreams that rarely amounted to anything' illustrating there lost hope for the future and being stuck in the same small place everyday. This imagery could however suggests that the villagers are like innocent prisoners with no place to go and nothing to look forward to therefore again makes the reader feel uneasy.…
It is a touching story of familial devotion and loyalty. Even though the story feels kind of incomplete, however, there's a message, but one that is not as forcefully implemented or fulfilled as could be. Perhaps the author needed to be more precise and should have included a more extensive exploring into Dew's life and her holding onto the box. That is why the story is a bit disappointing with the way it ends. In my opinion, Dew needed to die. Without her death, the reader is left wondering about the future of the household. Did they get rid of aunt Dew? Was Ruth successful in throwing out the old box? If that is the case, then the mother was made to be more evil than she needed to be. This is nothing more than a glimpse, a short story. The father's story as a boy in the creek could have been fleshed out. Despite the flat ending, fourth elementary students can relate to this inter-generational tale. It is a wonderful way to help children understand aging, amnesia, and physical fragility at the surface. And even though he is a child, Michael has a better grasp of his great-great aunt's need for pride and shows more love and respect to aunt Dew than his mother or father does. It's a good reminder to adults to respect the elderly and not to try changing them into a new person, since they have lived their entire lives based on a certain conception, principle, or even belief an old box, and not to fall…
In the short story Marigolds by Eugenia Collier, the narrator, Lizabeth, has chosen to retell a story as an adult reflecting on a significant incident from her childhood. Her voice is that of confused and trying to find her place in life as a young woman. After she overheard her parents conversation, she says, “I had never seen a man cry before” (paragraph 41). This explains how the times are rough as if “depression […] griped the nation” (paragraph 3) and this cannot be easy in addition to her growing up and trying to find her place in the world as a young woman. She knows her mother is the only one providing the income for her family and she knows her father wants so badly to contribute. She witnessed first-hand what her father is going…
H.M Tominson once said, “A good book is always a book of travel; it is about life’s journey.” In…
The tone of the novel is very serious but at the same time inspiring. Jeannette’s parents cannot provide the financial support to supply for their children and she accepts that. She sees all her problems in a different way and acts like she is very happy. You can see this tone in the novel when she gets burned while she was making hotdogs because soon after she was out of the hospital, she was making hotdogs again like if nothing had happened and everything was okay. As she grows up she becomes more independent and intelligent. She learns that she does not have to live the way her parents do. This is where her inspiration becomes noticeable as well. She gets a job, saves up…
I saw my son John sitting in the old rocking chair. He always sat in that chair just like me when he was thinking hard about something. He didn't pay much attention to the world around him. But then again who would, when the world we lived in was an old abandoned, dirty shantytown. I decided to check on my marigolds.…
The story “Marigolds” is written by Eugenia Collier and is about a young girls childhood. In the depression era, a young girl named Lizabeth expresses her frustration and her fury among a flower bed. When she looks up to see the owner over her she sees with the eyes of adulthood, and she knows that her innocence of her childhood is gone forever. Anna the narrator, tells this story from her childhood. The leader of her group of friends, Lizabeth takes part in throwing some stones at Miss Lottie's flower bed of marigolds. Miss Lottie's seems to be the town's outcast, and frustrating her was a common pastime for the children of the town. Miss Lottie's marigolds are described as one of the only spots with amazing colors.…
I still remember that dreadful night as if it were yesterday, the day my pride, my joy, my everything, my marigolds were destroyed. That morning when I woke up I just knew it was going to be a bad day. I woke up and started doing the thing I've always done, I was taking care of my beautiful marigolds. I was out there for about two hours when a rock came flying at one of my marigolds and beheaded it, “Who out there?” I searched through the bushes trying to find the children who are always trying to get at me. “You better git” I yelled. I looked for a couple more seconds before I cautiously went back to my marigolds, but before I even knew it another rock beheaded another one of my marigolds. Those kids didn't understand my reasoning for planting…
The first thing that comes to mind reading the story is the repeated usage of music and drugs. Since the story is set in the sixties, the music was changing – much like the attitudes and beliefs of the people. Drug use was becoming more common and accepted. Music was filled with lyrics of love, peace, and happiness. In even the second sentence, we see the significance of music as their radios “sang out love all day long” (90). As the story goes on, we learn more about how important to the story the music is. The father is a high-school music teacher and plays the clarinet in the basement, the mother sings to herself as she works in the house, and Bobby plays a harmonica. If someone in the house isn’t making their own music, they are listening to a record. Specific songs are placed strategically to aid the tone and setting of the story. The lyrics support the storyline and set the mood. People in real life use music as a distraction from their problems - it has been shown to decrease stress and calm people down. Drugs provide detachment from reality. They allow the user to feel good even in the harshest of times. This…
The first stanza opens the poem to the setting and exactly what is going on with this mother and son. The poem holds nothing back from the reader with the line, “While she smokes a few white pebbles” (6) which implies that his mother is smoking cocaine and does this with his knowledge, in the moment. It suggests that his mother doesn’t care too much if he is aware and even if she gets him involved in her addiction. “Late winter, sky darkening after school” (1) tells the reader that the teen is educated and his mother even goes and picks him up. The poem also includes that there are “groceries bought from Shop- Mart” and that she drives a Mercedes (2-4) which is another sign that the family has some values like home making and that the family also has money. Lastly, the first stanza will tell the reader where the mother goes to get high and what the building looks like, and it seems to not match the environment that he may be familiar with, but at the same time he knows where he is because he casually mentions the street name “parked on Diamond” (3) as though we should also be familiar with it. The last line “At the house crumbling” (7) suggests that the neighborhood is not kept up and likely does not match a description in which you might fit a Mercedes into.…
The Drowned Rose --------Show how different points of view in the family community are developed in the story and how it affects the reader response.…
The writer presents a young adolescent who is in her initial stages of life. Initially, she does not know that she is poor, but from her interactions with Miss Moore and the other rich kids, she becomes aware of her environment. She is however reluctant to accept that she is disadvantaged which a positive character is. It is surprising to note that believes she is the best despite realizing that she is disadvantaged. She portrays a positive character when she says, “aint nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” She is different from many people who would feel this affects their ego. She is focused on remaining upbeat that she is the best among all of her…
My favorite aspect about this book is how well it emotionally connects with the reader; you can truly feel the main characters happiness, sorrow, and heartache throughout the story. The story takes place during the great depression in rural Virginia. Right at the…