Miss Lottie's Marigolds

The story “Marigolds” is written by Eugenia Collier and is about a young girls childhood. In the depression era, a young girl named Lizabeth expresses her frustration and her fury among a flower bed. When she looks up to see the owner over her she sees with the eyes of adulthood, and she knows that her innocence of her childhood is gone forever. Anna the narrator, tells this story from her childhood. The leader of her group of friends, Lizabeth takes part in throwing some stones at Miss Lottie's flower bed of marigolds. Miss Lottie's seems to be the town's outcast, and frustrating her was a common pastime for the children of the town. Miss Lottie's marigolds are described as one of the only spots with amazing colors. First, the children absolutely love pestering Miss Lottie and her marigolds because they feel that they don't fit in. “ Miss Lottie's marigolds were perhaps the strangest part of the picture. Certainly they did not fit in with the crumbling decay of the rest of her yard.” (pg.218) The children clearly state that they hate the
As her rage and sadness run their course, she looks up to see an equally devastated Miss Lottie standing over her. She then understands the difference between childhood and maturity and that one cannot have both compassion and innocence in one. “I know that that moment marked the end of innocence.” (pg.224) It is in that moment that Lizabeth sees through the eyes of adulthood, with the eyes of compassion, and she knows that her childhood was done. This relates to today because at a certain point of time you become more mature. All in all, the story “Marigolds” is about Lizabeth finding her way to adulthood, and hitting the bumps and bruises along the way. At the end of the story Lizabeth also ends up planting marigolds in her garden. Those marigolds remember the good. The bad. And all the memories of her