Full Answer
What is the theme of Marigolds?
"Marigolds" is a 1969 short story by Eugenia Collier. The story draws from Collier's early life in rural Maryland during the Great Depression. Its themes include poverty, maturity and the relationship between innocence and compassion.
What do Marigold symbolize in the story?
Miss Lottie's marigolds represent the possibility of a happy, beautiful life—even amid the dreariness of poverty. Lizabeth describes the shantytown where she lives as grim, dusty, and colorless. Since she's a child, she's not consciously aware of how poor she is, but she does see how miserable her surroundings are.
What is the main symbol in Marigolds?
In modern western culture, marigolds symbolize positive emotions and energy. We associate the flowers' fiery yellow, orange, and red hues with the warmth of the Sun, happiness, joy, optimism, and good luck. Yet, marigolds sometimes symbolize darker emotions such as jealousy, grief, despair, and mourning.
What is the climax in the story Marigolds?
In the climax of the story, Lizabeth destroys Miss Lottie's marigolds in a fit of rage.
What do the marigolds symbolize to Lizabeth?
Marigolds. Marigolds take a lifetime to grow and so, they symbolize Lizabeth's growth from a child to a young woman. “Warm and passionate and sun-golden… we could not understand;” (Collier 144).
How do you describe marigolds?
A marigold is a bright orange or yellow flower. The name marigold can be used for any plant in the genus Tagetes. The plants are known for their flowers and fragrant leaves.
What flower represents pain?
MarigoldRegion or cultureFlowerMeaningMarigoldPain and griefMayflowerWelcomeMeadowsweetBeauty, happiness, peace, protectionMignonetteWorth89 more rows
Why does Lizabeth destroy the marigolds?
Why did Lizabeth destroy the Marigolds? The night before she was very upset to hear her father cry and she realized how poor and hopeless her life was, so she wanted revenge, she was angry and took it out on Miss Lottie.
What does the name marigold mean?
golden flowerMarigold is a girl's name of British origin. A unique take on the traditional bunch of floral names, Marigold translates to “golden flower.” This name has blossomed in popularity thanks in part to the widespread success of TV series Downton Abbey, in which a character was featured named Marigold Crawley.
What is the falling action in the story Marigolds?
Falling Action Joey suggests the group of children go to Miss Lottie's house. The children throw stones at Miss Lottie's Marigolds. Lizabeth leads the children in a chant calling Miss Lottie a old witch.
What is the conflict in Marigolds?
The conflicts of Marigolds are internal and external. The internal conflict is Lizabeth versus herself emotionally with innocence, compassion, growing up, and accepting responsibility. The external conflict involves Lizabeth and the poverty and rough times while growing up.
Who is the antagonist in Marigolds?
At the beginning of the story, Miss Lottie, Lizabeth's elderly neighbor, is framed as a kind of antagonist. An imposing, stern, elderly woman, Miss Lottie is the target of the neighborhood kids, who make a sport of taunting her, damaging her prized marigolds, and calling her a witch.
What do the marigolds symbolize to Miss Lottie?
Interpret what marigolds symbolized to Miss Lottie? For Miss Lottie, the marigolds were a symbol of beauty and hope in an otherwise hopeless environment.
What do marigolds symbolize in The Bluest Eye?
The Marigolds Their ceremonial offering of money and the remaining unsold marigold seeds represents an honest sacrifice on their part. They believe that if the marigolds they have planted grow, then Pecola's baby will be all right. More generally, marigolds represent the constant renewal of nature.
What does the name marigold mean?
golden flowerMarigold is a girl's name of British origin. A unique take on the traditional bunch of floral names, Marigold translates to “golden flower.” This name has blossomed in popularity thanks in part to the widespread success of TV series Downton Abbey, in which a character was featured named Marigold Crawley.
What do the marigolds represent Commonlit?
The marigolds represent poverty and therefore make them angry at their situations.
What is the tone of Marigolds?
The tone of the short story "Marigolds" by Eugenia Collier is somber and reflective. The somberness is apparent in the narrator's descriptions of the impoverished shantytown in which she lives and the sad state of her parents. The reflectiveness is shown in the lessons that the narrator shares from the incident she relates.
Who is the narrator of Marigolds?
In the short story " Marigolds " by Eugenia Collier, the author's tone, as established by the first person narrator, a girl named Lizabeth, is somber and reflective.
What does Lizabeth realize when she goes to Miss Lottie's yard?
When she is finished, Miss Lottie is standing there confronting her, and Lizabeth realizes that the marigolds were all the beauty the old woman had in her sad, impoverished life.
Storyline
From the Pullizer Prize winning play by Paul Zindel, this is the story of Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters, Ruth and Matilda. A middle-aged widowed eccentric, Beatrice is looking for her life in the classified ads while all about her is the rubble of an unkempt house. All she needs is the right opportunity, she says puffing on a cigarette.
Did you know
The play was originally produced in Houston in 1964. The movie version filmed in 1972, directed by Paul Newman and starred his wife, Joanne Woodward , and his daughter Elinor ( Nell Potts ). Woodward won the award for Best Actress at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.
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By what name was The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972) officially released in Canada in English?
