Loisel and Lizabeth: Both Alike In Perspective Guy de Maupassant’s Mathilde Loisel and Eugenia Collier’s Lizabeth are two characters enduring what they perceive to be an abject state of existence. In Maupassant’s narrative, “The Necklace,” Loisel longs for material things she cannot have. In a similar way, Lizabeth, the protagonist of Eugenia Collier’s “Marigolds,” perceives her own life in the shantytowns of Maryland as dreary and dull. Despite their different character traits and backgrounds, Collier’s and Maupassant’s characters have similarly negative perspectives towards their own lives that greatly influence their actions and consequently, the outcome of the story. Loisel’s dissatisfaction with herself is rooted in her profound belief that she was meant …show more content…
Lizabeth associates much of her childhood with the vision of “acid, sterile dust . . . the dry September . . . and grassless yards” (Collier, p. 748). The use of this specific imagery relates the effect that poverty had on Lizabeth’s mentality and the role it played in shaping her perspective. A part of that effect is her inability to understand beauty amongst ugliness. This is exemplified in Miss Lottie’s marigolds. Lizabeth describes the marigolds as “the strangest part of [Miss Lottie’s yard]” because “they did not fit in with the crumbling decay of the rest of her yard” (Collier, p. 751). Lizabeth’s preoccupation and apparent disgust with Miss Lottie’s marigolds is a reflection of her unfamiliarity with beauty. It is not until she is familiarized with the beauty present in the marigolds that she understands the fault in her perspective. As a women looking back on the events of her childhood, an older Lizabeth recognizes her fault, yet also states “one does not have to be ignorant and poor to find that life is as barren as the dusty yards of [her] town” (Collier, p.
Marigolds “Marigolds,” written by the author Eugenia W. Collier, begins with the main character, Elizabeth. The story is told in first person, being told by Elizabeth when she gets older. “Marigolds” takes place in Maryland during the Depression. The reader can tell it is the time of the Depression because in the story it says, “The Depression that gripped the nation was no new thing to us, for the black workers of rural Maryland had always been depressed.” Both the setting and time in this short story are important.
Marigolds is a story of an impoverished young girl at the age of fourteen becoming a woman by the name of Lizabeth. There is a setting that symbolizes that she is growing up. This place is Miss Lottie’s garden.
In the beginning, the author explains how this young girl, Lizabeth, lived in the culturally deprived neighborhood during the depression. Lizabeth is at the age where she is just beginning to become a young woman and is almost ready to give up her childish ways. Through this time period, she was confused and could not quite understand what was happening to her. In the end, she rips Miss Lottie’s marigolds among the ugly places in which she lived. The marigolds are the only things that make the place a bit beautiful to the eye.
It states that Lizabeth changed from a child to an adult in one instant, as she gazed on the sad, weary eyes of Miss. Lottie. Collier’s message is conveyed through the journey of Lizabeth. If Lizabeth undergoes the difficult journey to reach womanhood, Collier is trying to tell the reader that this is imperative for us to do so as well. One can only escape the blindness of ignorance that is accompanied by childhood best described as a “reality hidden to childhood.” on line 356, by undergoing the same journey that Lizabeth went through. Collier’s theme in “Marigolds” is that growing up is the only way in which to be able to comprehend someone other than yourself and feel compassion. Even though our situations are different the situation Lizabeth was placed in, we can still use what Lizabeth learned to help and improve our own lives.
Lizabeth lived in an extremely poor environment. However, the ways she responded to her rough situation shows how naiveness works. She was blinded by her childish pleasures to realize how barbarous her situation really was. The contrast of her blindness to her parents realization of this cruel reality, conveys how black and white childhood and adulthood really is. The adults knowledge of life made them generally more dissatisfied with their circumstances. In the story Lizabeth stated, “I did not know men ever cried. I covered my ears with my hands but could not cut
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.
After reading and annotating Marigolds by Eugenia W. Collier, I learned that there are some things we don’t know or realize when we are a child. When we become a woman, we have a different perspective on things. That is what Eugenia learned by the end of the story. Once she ruined all of Miss Lottie’s marigolds, she immediately felt guilty. Miss Lottie stood there with no anger on her face, just disappointment. Eugenia said that was when she saw her childhood fade and womanhood start to begin. Once she began womanhood, she learned that those flowers were precious to Miss Lottie and she was tying to make some beauty out of her shanty house. She viewed Miss Lottie as “… only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness
I'll be honest; I picked this short story first because of the bright, blooming title, "Marigolds." But when I read the story, I felt torn, like the marigolds that were when destroyed by Lizabeth[ADM2]. Throughout this story I felt overwhelmed with reality;[ADM3] I was showered with confusion, contradictions, and it seems as though I read this story of harsh truth in a dream. Lizabeth's character is so close to myself, yet so far away, that I detest her, especially for her furious outrage taken out on a sliver of hope surrounded by despondency, yet I feel compassionate towards her.[ADM4]
In the short stories, Marigolds by Eugenia Collier, and The Bet by Anton Chekhov, both Lizabeth and the Lawyer, along with their understanding of life, are similar, as well as very different. While both Lizabeth and the Lawyer develop a deeper understanding and knowledge of their situations by the end of each story, the processes that lead them to these realizations are very different, as race, gender, and social class all play a role in how the two characters develop.
In the short story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, the narrator Lizabeth realizes that she is no longer a child but a grown up woman who renounces her innocence and begins her adulthood by developing a sense of compassion. She learns that the world is more than just the dusty shantytown and a squad of kids she plays with; there are also the complex realities of depression, indifference and poverty. The reason behind this realization is that Lizabeth, at an age of 14, overhears her parents’ conversation about the harsh economic situation that their family is facing. She is filled with anger and detests the unfairness that is given to her family. All these feelings encourage her towards an explosive, malicious act of destruction. She is especially
In “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant uses setting to reflect the character and development of the main character, Mathilde Loisel. As a result, his setting is not particularly vivid or detailed. He does not even describe the ill-fated necklace—the central object in the story—but states only that it is “superb” (7 ). In fact, he includes descriptions of setting only if they illuminate qualities about Mathilde. Her changing character can be connected to the first apartment, the dream-life mansion rooms, the attic flat, and a fashionable public street. [This is a well-defined thesis statement.]
“Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven”(Yiddish Proverb). These words apply to Katherine Mansfield’s short story, “Garden Party” as she touches on some very controversial points about the social inequality of the Sheridan family with its surrounding neighbors. A great internal and external quarrel over social class rises in the Sheridan family as Laura Sheridan, the daughter, sympathises with the less-fortunate neighbors while her mother, Mrs. Sheridan is the opposite. Mansfield illustrates to her readers the conflict within Laura in various ways, namely, using foil characters between Mrs. Sheridan and Laura, using multiple symbols and appealing to emotion to emphasize her main message of social equality.
Around the world, values are expressed differently. Some people think that life is about the little things that make them happy. Others feel the opposite way and that expenses are the way to live. In Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace”, he develops a character, Madame Loisel, who illustrates her different style of assessments. Madame Loisel, a beautiful woman, lives in a wonderful home with all the necessary supplies needed to live. However, she is very unhappy with her life. She feels she deserves a much more expensive and materialistic life than what she has. After pitying herself for not being the richest of her friends, she goes out and borrows a beautiful necklace from an ally. But as she misplaces the closest thing she has to the life she dreams of and not telling her friend about the mishap, she could have set herself aside from ten years of work. Through many literary devices, de Maupassant sends a message to value less substance articles so life can be spent wisely.
It is said that “everything that shines isn't gold.” A difficult situation can result a vast illusion that is not what one thought it would be, which leads to disappointment and despair. Just like Guy De Maupassant stories, “The Necklace” and “The Jewel.” In the first story, the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel’s need for materialistic fulfillment causes her hard labor which ends her natural beauty. In the second story, the husband Monsieur Latin ends up living a dreadful life due to the passing of his wife and her admiration for jewels. “The Necklace” and “The Jewel” both share many similarities such as the unconditional love each husband haves toward their wife, the necessity each wife haves towards materialistic greed, the beautiful allurement
Guy de Maupassant is a realist whose claim to fame is the style in which he conveys political and socioeconomic themes in his literary publications. He achieves his writing style by putting small unfortunate life events under a spotlight. His literary performance is described in his biography from Cambridge, the writer says “He exposes with piercing clarity the small tragedies and pathetic incidents of everyday life, taking a clear-sighted though pessimistic view of humanity” (Halsey, par. 1). Guy de Maupassant’s story The Necklace is a great representation of the style he uses. In The Necklace the main character Mathilde Loisel a beautiful but impoverished woman married to a clerk is in conflict with her lack of wealth and desire to acquire