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Comparative essay marigolds
Marigold essay
Marigolds By Eugenia W. Collier essay
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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
and sterility” (Eugenia W. Collier 5). Before the transition, she never observed Miss Lottie that way. She saw her as an old, cranky, witch and made up witch stories about her. Her and her friends tried to annoy Miss Lottie by ruining her flowers. Now she realized how precious those flowers were to her. This really shows that each of us has a moment where we are going to feel like “…childhood fades and womanhood begins” (Collier 5). I realized that Eugenia was not the only one who changed by the end of the story. When Eugenia and her friends were about to ruin Miss Lottie’s flowers, Joey was the first one to throw the pebble at the marigolds. He started the fight. However, when Eugenia went to Miss Lottie’s house at night and destroyed her flowers, Joey said, “Lizabeth, stop, please stop” (Collier 5). He didn't want her to ruin them. Though, before he was all for it. He, too, had a different perspective on her. So I think Eugenia was not the who changed, Joey changed too. They both grew up by the end of the story. My favorite part of the story was “And I too have planted marigolds” (Collier 5). To me, this showed that the marigolds she planted signified Miss Lottie’s flowers and what they meant to her. Once she destroyed them, she found out they we special to Miss Lottie and now they are special to Eugenia.
Looking out the window, I spotted my grandmother planting beautiful orchids and dahlias. They swayed in the soft spring breeze as she danced around them, sprinkling droplets of water on their petals. From that moment on, my dream had been to create a garden of my own. The next Saturday, instead of going to the market, I bought seeds, a shovel, watering can, and soil. When I reached home, I started right away on my garden. It was behind the house in a sunny place. About an hour passed and my flowers were all planted. I called my new garden “Ted Myles’ Garden of Smiles”. That was a pretty clever name, huh? After waiting for a few months, I learned my lesson. Never plant in a super sunny spot. I found this out in a very sad way. My flowers never grew. The seeds just sat there under the ground. I watered them, fertilized the soil, watered them again, and yet they still sat there in the soil, still as a statue. But I kept trying, planting seed after seed, determined to receive just a glimpse of green appear over the soil. Finally, a month later, my tulips grew. I took great care of them, making sure they didn’t die, but everything must die
When Marie-Neige believed that she was in the extreme depth of hopelessness, the unexpected generosity and kindness from Lucien allowed her to re-evaluate herself regarding her previous negative outlook of life. Lucien’s decision to purchase her property and sign it under her name after realizing all the pain and miseries Marie-Neige experienced instigated a substantial change within Marie-Neige’s character. This revelation caused Marie-Neige to transform from someone who had “been given nothing in her life, on even the slightest scale” (pg.6) to someone who began to “recognize the sudden lightness” (pg.6) in life by discovering the limitless possibilities of her own farm. Because of Lucien’s compassion and kindness, Marie-Neige realized how such a simple act could greatly positively influence her view of the world. This feeling of hope and optimism has allowed her to destroy the barriers encompassed around her poverty-stricken life and discover her true aspirations in society filled with endless opportunities. In addition, the allusion to Cornelius also demonstrates the importance of the farm to Marie-Neige since it is an essential for her way of living. When Marie-Neige was still living a poverty-stricken, difficult life, she attempted to cultivate her plants successfully in order to one day be able to enter society and forever leave her destitute, poor state. Now that she has rights to her own land, she believes that she is now able to “enter the world of the grower of the black tulip” (pg. 6). This means now that Marie-Neige has possession of her own property, she will be able to properly tend her own flowers by herself and compete within the mainstream, competitive society while abandoning her previous sufferings and
conveys an important message that the people living during this era should remain hopeful and optimistic, despite their suffering, and should focus on finding love in the world instead of dwelling on the injustice. Initially, Sarah loses her faith in God and seems like she has lost hope. However, at the end the end of the play she eventually returns to J.B. As she does so, the light increases and she says,” Look, Job: the forsythia, the first few leaves...not leaves though… petals… I found it growing in the ashes, gold as though it did not know” (MacLeish 149-151). The light increasing is a deliberate stage direction that serves to indicate the return of happiness and optimism in J.B. and Sarah’s lives. The forsythia is also a symbol that represents the return of happiness. A forsythia is a shrub whose bright yellow flowers appear in early spring before the leaves begin to grow on the branch. Sarah’s return, along with the light and the forsythia, all show that there is hope for happiness after tragedy and misfortune, and this parallels to the post-WWII era. Furthermore, when Sarah approaches J.B., he questions her departure from him and Sarah answers, “You wanted justice, didn’t you? There isn’t any. There’s the world… cry for justice and the stars will stare until your eyes sting… I loved you. I couldn’t help you anymore. You wanted justice and there was none -- only love” (MacLeish, 151). At last, the couple finds comfort in love and family, instead of dwelling on
The three pieces “Marigolds” By Eugenia W. Coller, “The Flowers” by Alice Walker and “The Problem We All Live With” by Norman Rockwell, all have have to do with defining moments because they all show 3 girls maturing, by having a specific moment in their lives that then defines who they are. For example in the story “Marigolds” by Eugenia W. Coller shows a girl named Elizabeth turning from an immature girl, to a responsible women. As it states in the story “The years have taken me worlds away from that time and that place, from the dust and squalor of our lives, and from the bright thing that I destroyed in a blind, childish striking out at God knows what… For one does not have to be ignorant and poor to find that his life is as barren as the dusty yards of our town. And I too have planted marigolds.” This means that when the years past she realize that the act that she has done was very bad,
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 place in which she lived. The marigolds were the only things that make the place a bit beautiful to the eye. In this scene the marigolds represent the only hope the people had for themselves in this time of depression. This could reveal how the author has experienced a loss of hope in times of need. In her explanation of how Lizabeth had torn up the flowers and destroyed all hope in that time of depression, might explain that she has also destroyed hope in a time of pain and grief. Later she writes, “And I too have planted marigolds.” This could mean she has learned from her experiences and that she has finally found hope and always tries to seek the good within the bad and the ugly. On another note, it could mean she just wants to act out on something, but she can’t, so she writes about her...
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.
Another factor that clearly brings out the theme is the fact that she claims that orderliness of family roses is her pride. However she may not necessarily be that orderly as depicted in the development of that story. The author of the story Shirley Jackson uses the author and her ambiguous cha...
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
When she madly demolished the beautiful marigolds, I wanted to scream;[ADM6] she had ruined the only things ravishing[ADM7] and worthwhile, taking her anger and confusion out on something that seemed so perfect. I felt like the marigolds because far too often I have been in a similar situation. For example, I play the saxophone well, making it into Wind Ensemble (the highest[ADM8] band) as a freshman. Many call me "perfect,"[ADM9] and because I can play better than they can, they hate me. They treat me rudely,[ADM10] and they don't even know me except for my ability to play an instrument. I feel dejected and trampled over socially because [ADM11]I happen to be able to be gifted in an area. Some also detest me because of my grades, making assumptions before knowing me [ADM12]that because I get decent grades, I am perfect and too good for everyone. Instead of seeing past me[ADM13], they make fun of me and put me down for achieving my highest goals. So when Lizabeth tore at the flowers, smoldering[ADM14] them and killing them because they were full of hope and bloom, which she had none of[ADM15], I felt angry with her for handling her situation in this way. She killed innocent life that thrived and stood out, because it possessed things that she wanted and that she was being deprived of[ADM16]. Because of this terrible reaction to this scene, I think that it is safe to assume [ADM17]I am not sympathetic towards anyone who hurts others, physically or mentally, for being happier or full of hope or more talented than them because they feel hopeless, fearful, or even feel confused and overwhelmed.
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.
When the man and the women start arguing about the baby, they both “knocked down a flowerpot.” (Caver 124). Flowerpots are usually broken into pieces when knocked from large heights, flower pots usually contain flowers and are kept to show beauty. The flowerpot symbolizes the couples relationship with one another: the couple was trying to put an effort to keep their relationship beautiful, but the relationship ended up falling apart. Using symbolism, Caver implies that one has a tendency to ruin the beauty that one has created oneself. He continues on showing the outcome of the couple’s fight using
The main symbolic image that the flowers provide is that of life; in the first chapter of the novel Offred says “…flowers: these are not to be dismissed. I am alive.” Many of the flowers Offred encounters are in or around the house where she lives; it can be suggested that this array of floral life is a substitute for the lack of human life, birth and social interaction. The entire idea of anything growing can be seen as a substitute for a child growing. The Commander’s house contains many pictures; as they are visual images, “flowers are still allowed.” Later, when Serena is “snipping off the seed pods with a pair of shears… aiming, positioning the blades… The fruiting body,” it seems that all life is being eradicated, even that of the flowers.
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.
In the short story “The Chrysanthemums” John Steinbeck uses symbolism to reflect the characteristics of his main character Elisa Allen. Elisa, a married woman uncovers her deeply smothered femininity in an inconspicuous sense. Her life in the valley had become limited to housewife duties and the only sustenance that seemed to exist could merely be found in her chrysanthemum garden. Not until she becomes encountered with a remote tinker-man out and about seeking for work, does she begin to reach many of the internal emotions that had long inhibited her femininity. The tinker subtlety engages an interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemum garden that encourages Elisa to react radically. When Elisa realizes that there are other ways to live she attempts to lift the lid off of the Salinas Valley, but unfortunately the tinker’s insincere actions resort Elisa back to her old self and leaves Elisa without any optimism for her hollow breakthrough. Steinbeck’s somber details of the setting, strong description of the chrysanthemums and meaningful illustration of the red flower-pot reveal the distant, natural, ambitions Elisa Allen desired to attain.
Although imagery and symbolism does little to help prepare an expected ending in “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, setting is the singular element that clearly reasons out an ending that correlates with the predominant theme of how innocence disappears as a result of facing a grim realism from the cruel world. Despite the joyous atmosphere of an apparently beautiful world of abundant corn and cotton, death and hatred lies on in the woods just beyond the sharecropper cabin. Myop’s flowers are laid down as she blooms into maturity in the face of her fallen kinsman, and the life of summer dies along with her innocence. Grim realism has never been so cruel to the innocent children.