Marigolds (short story)

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[edit] Main Point

"Marigolds is a short story that is written by Eugenia W. Colier in 1969. Colier reports that she wrote the story during a time in which she was quite unhappy. However, she won the Gwendolyn Brooks Prize for Fiction for it, and she now considers Marigolds her favorite piece of fiction. It has been widely anthologized and is now used in many secondary school English clases.

It is an acount of an incident during the adolescence of a young African-American girl, Lizabeth, growing up in rural Maryland during the Great Depression. "Marigolds is not autobiographical; Collier explains that her adolescence was much easier than that of the story’s narator..

[edit] Plot summary

Lizabeth, the tomboyish main character and narrator, tells this story from her childhood. The leader of her group of friends, Lizabeth takes part in throwing stones at Miss Lottie's flowerbed of marigolds. Miss Lottie is the town outcast, and frustrating her is a common pastime for the children. In their Depression-era town, her marigolds are described as one of the only spots of color. They and Miss Lottie seem to confuse and amuse the children at the same time. Later that evening, Lizabeth overhears her unemployed father sobbing to his wife of his frustration and anger in not being able to provide for his family. Never has she heard her father cry. Never has she considered the vulnerabilities of adults. As she wrestles with the fear and anger over their difficult situation, Lizabeth cannot sleep and, in the middle of the night, returns to Miss Lottie's flowerbed. There in the darkness she unleashes her fury on the marigolds, trampling them and uprooting them from the ground. As her rage and sadness runs its course, she looks up to see an equally devastated Miss Lottie standing over her. It is at this moment that Lizabeth sees with the eyes of adulthood, with eyes of compassion, and she knows that the innocence of her childhood is gone forever.She learns from her mistakes.

Lizabeth goes back to her present time, reflecting on such things as Ms. Lottie's death long ago, the fact that Ms. Lottie never replanted Marigolds, and that Lizabeth had since planted "Marigolds" of her own.