The Theme of Poverty in Marigold and in Blues Ain't No Mockingbird

Can Flowers Bloom In The Dark?

Poverty does not mean the same thing to every family. It can throw things your way that you do not expect, and you have to keep your composure to survive. Poverty can affect things like world views, relationships and family roles. If you want to beat poverty you must focus on the hopeful, not the hopeless. Poverty can change how someone sees the world. In "Marigolds" Lizabeth sees the world as a place of hopelessness and despair that cannot improve. "The Depression that gripped the nation was no new thing to us, for the black workers of rural Maryland had always been depressed"(Collier 634). The family in "Blues Ain't No Mocking Bird" is the opposite of Lizabeth. Although they are poor, they have great pride and dignity and do not like it when people take advantage of them because people assume they are poor, depressed people. Granny forces the family to move every time someone tries to take advantage of them. It is their ignorance to the fact that they are poor that helps keeps them content. The setting of a story can be affected by poverty. In "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird" the family often moves from place to place when Granny gets upset with people. She does not like it when people assume that she needs help or encouragement just because she is poor. "…Mr. Judson bringin us boxes of old clothes or raggedy magazines. Or Mrs. Cooper comin in our kitchen and touching everything sayin how clean it was". Granny seems to be the type of person who would take that statement the wrong way because Granny thinks that other people don't assume she would clean because she is poor. (Bambara 122). Poverty in "Marigolds" forces Lizabeth's family to live in a shanty town with "… dirt roads and grassless yards" (Collier 634), which just adds to the depression and anger that already exists in them. The family seems to realize that they are poor and probably will always be poor so instead of fighting it they curl up and hide. If someone is happy with where they live, they are less likely to feel the full effects of poverty. Family roles can be scrambled when a family is poor. "Marigolds" is a good example of how the normal roles of families can be influenced by poverty. The mother in "Marigolds" has an unusual position in her family for the time period, in that she is the main breadwinner and brings home the money because the father cannot find a job. Because the mother has a job and the father does not, he feels that he has failed his family and is not providing for them. The children also do not have a good example set for them because their mother is off at work and they have to assume that how their mischievous friends act is the correct way to be. "I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst- the great need for a mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty…"(Collier 638). This action is the breaking point of Lizabeth when she finally realizes that her life is not getting any better. In "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird", the family roles are more traditional in that Granny is the housewife who cooks and cleans while Granddaddy Cain is the one who brings home the money. Because of this normality the narrator and Cathy can just live there normal lives as kids and not worry about their financial situation. . Poverty is a big problem for a multitude of families. With the right attitude however, a family can become happy despite the fact that they do not posses much material wealth.