Marigolds

Collier is a native of Baltimore, MD. She was born in 1928. She is both a writer and a critic. Her
father was a physican and her mother was a teacher. Collier graduated with high honors from
Howard University in Washington DC in 1948. She earned her master of arts from Columbia
University in 1950. She taught English at colleges and universities in the Baltimore and
Washington area. She retired from teaching in 1996. Her work is inspired from her love of
African American literature, drama, and culture.

Eugenia Collier’s “Marigolds” is a memoir of a colored girl living in the Great Depression. The
story does not focus on the troubles society presents to the narrator (Elizabeth), but rather is
focused on the conflict within her. Collier uses marigolds to show that the changes from
childhood to adulthood cause fear in Elizabeth, which is the enemy of compassion and hope.
"Marigolds" is a 1969 short story by Eugenia Collier. She reports that she wrote the story during
a time when she was quite unhappy.

She was a girl, Lizabeth, growing up in rural Maryland during the Great Depression. It has many
themes such as poverty, maturity and the relationship between innocence and compassion. A
girl named Elizabeth and her family struggle through living in the time of the Great Depression.
Elizabeth is an African American girl that is on the threshold of womanhood. Elizabeth’s family is
very poor and is forced to live in a shantytown. Elizabeth and her family have to live through the
struggle of poverty, poignant and meaningful arguments in the family, and Elizabeth is caught
between the chaotic emotions of a child and a woman.

The conflict in this story is the marigolds themselves. Lizabeth doesn't think that they belong in a
town that is very squalor. She hears her parents arguing, and she is sad. So, in the middle of the
night, while her parents are arguing, she wakes up Joey and convinces him to run out with her.
They run to Miss Lottie's yard, and Lizabeth is so furious that she tears up the marigolds.

In the beginning, Lizabeth thought that the marigolds were pointless. At the end, Lizabeth
thought she was wrong before, and that they symbolized beauty.

Background The Great Depression In the 1930s, a terrible economic depression swept the world.
The booming stock market had collapsed in 1929, causing businesses to shut down all over the
United States and factories to close their doors. Banks failed. People lost their life savings. Life
was hard for almost every American during those years. The Great Depression was nothing new
to her family: For the black families of rural Maryland, all times were hard times.

Summary

Lizabeth is on the verge of becoming a woman. Miss Lottie, who lives in a very rundown and ugly
house is very old and cranky most of the time. Outside the house are some very beautiful
marigolds that Miss Lottie had planted, those beautiful marigolds are unusual in between all the
uglyness. Lizabeth and her family were some of the many people that were being affected by the
Great Depression. One night Lizabeth hears her father cry and her mother confort him, she feels
like her world is turning upside down. That same night in a moment of rage Lizabeth goes out
and kills the marigolds. The marigolds meant hope, that when everything is seems hopeless
there will always be at least one ray of hope.

Characters.

Lizabeth is a 14 year old girl. She is growing up in the depression, in an impoverished family and
town. She is adventurous and wild, but at the same time, gentle and caring. She is at the stage,
when a girl changes to a woman, and throughout this story, we see the change in her.Lizabeth is
a dynamic character in this story. When the story begins, Lizabeth is just an innocent child in a
poverty-stricken neighborhood. She does a few chores and then plays with the other children in
the fields. The point where Lizabeth starts feeling guilty about things she does is the point in
whch she starts to lose her innocence. When she destroys the marigolds, she felt so guilty and
she actually felt bad about what she did and still regretted it to the present day. That shows
that, as a person, she changed to become a more mature person.

Joey He’s loud, energetic and immature He’s a minor character – we do not see things through
his point of view He is scared of Miss Lottie – he thinks she is a witch. Joey is Lizabeth's younger
brother. He is also very wild and tries to act alot older than he really is. He also tries to be braver
than he is and that tends to backfire, because he often has to lean on Lizabeth for help and
support.

Miss Lottie She’s old, and lives in a run-down shack She lives with her son John Burke Raises her
marigolds She does not antagonize the children By the end, she is a ‘broken’ woman – she is not
even angry (“there was nothing left to protect”) Lazy / Sits in a Rocking Chair Miss Lottie is an
old woman who has gone slightly mad, because she has lost a lot in life. She lives with her son,
John Burke, who is mentally challenged. He is the only thing that she has left, besides her
beautiful marigold garden. Miss Lottie is an outcast who does not interact with people

John Burke is Miss Lotties' mentally challenged son who sits on the porch with her all of the
time. He helps her in her marigold garden, and helps her to maintain her sanity.

Symbols

Dust: Dust can hide things. Elizabeth only remembers her horrible childhood ways, and the rest
is dust. The dust mentioned in the beginning of the story symbolizes, the regret and hiding of the
past because we can't choose what dust covers, it can cover horrible things (destroying
marigolds) or happy things (catching locusts, with you're brother)

Marigolds: These flowers represent cruelty, jealousy, creativity, and passion. In this story the
marigolds symbolize all of these things, and more. The children's poverty has created jealousy of
the beautiful flowers, tended to by Mrs. Lottie. These flowers are her passion. But the kids
cruelty has destroyed the passion. The marigolds at first symbolize a small, good hope. That
marigold, representing hope, was soon doubted and destroyed. The Marigolds symbolize hope
because even though Miss Lottie lost everything she still plants the Marigolds because she
doesn't have anything else to look forward to. Without those Marigolds she would probably be
very depressed and not have anything good to take care of. Thats why I think the Marigolds
symbolize hope.At the end when Lizabeth leaves her house running and kills the marigolds in
rage is when she realizes that that was her last act as a child but also her first act as a woman
when she apologizes to Miss Lottie. That too is when she realizes the marigolds were hope.

Hunting Locust: This was a fun and common thing kids would do in the 1900's. But this activity
represents more than just a game. Hunting for locust represents hunting for fun/inspiration
because, like mentioned in the story, the locust were camouflaged making it harder and harder
for the kids to have fun. This can also symbolize the Great Depression because there was a way
to handle it but the answer was camouflaged as well.

Rickety Fences and Bushes: The rickety fences and prickly that ripped the kids clothes represent
the poverty they deal with because even though it made cuts, rips, and scrapes the continued
on.

Rocking Chair: A rocking chair was what Mrs. Lottie's son sat in for most of the day. He chose not
to help here in common day chores, but only helped her when the kids would harass her. The
rocking chair he sat in symbolizes the making of choices (teetering fro right and wrong). Or it can
symbolize one's laziness, or how much they enjoy dreaming.

Oak Tree: The oak tree was a place where the children would hide after they had done
something wrong. At first I thought this symbolized shame and regret due the the shade. But
then I found that oak trees represent strength and courage: two things the children did not have.
After going through the multiple theories I decided that the oak tree has multiple meanings, that
everyone should be open for interpretation.

Old Eerie House: This old, eerie, crumbling house belongs to Mrs. Lottie. The house symbolizes
the way the outside looks are often different on the inside, and vice-versa. Mrs. Lottie house was
ugly on the outside, but none of the kids cared enough to look inside, in other words deeper. So
this house symbolizes an important lesson, and the children's judgements.

Rocks: Rocks are tough, and often thought of as strong. When the children threw the stones and
destroyed the marigolds, the rock's "powers" were used for evil, yet the father of Elizabeth is her
rock. And he felt as if he disappointed her.

Theme

the theme is when one matures it is not possible to posses both innocence and compassion.
The theme is a separate idea that once a person matures and gains the ability to empathize they
will lose their innocence.
Hyperbole. Lizabeth uses the hyperbole when her father is crying, because he is incapable of
finding a job.Her father used to be so happy that he would laugh so loud that the trees would
"laugh" along with him. While this is an exaggeration, it shows how happy her father used to be.

Metaphor. Collier compares poverty to a cage when the character Lizabeth says, "Poverty was
the cage in which we were all trapped" (Collier 142). Poverty is said to be a cage that the people
affected by The Great Depression cannot get out of. The cage traps and handicaps them from
being able to live their life to the fullest.