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Marigolds

            Eugenia Collier's "Marigold's" is an emotional tale exemplifying a dramatic voyage of a young girl's quest for understanding and hope that she becomes a compassionate young woman who came of age to realize that the marigolds she destroyed represented a contrast to those who existed in her shanty town. A young woman who's understanding of life grew in an instant of fear, rage, and compassion. In this emotional tale Collier uses symbolism, imagery, and a young girl's viewpoint to portray her tale.
             Collier uses a lot of imagery in the telling of Lizabeth's coming of age story. The elevated use of imagery in Collier's story from the opening paragraph to the end paragraph show the emotions and feelings that Collier wanted to portray. Imagery was what told the story, it gave the story life and meaning. The imagery Collier uses takes you to the hometown of Lizabeth's youth. Through this imagery you can see the "dry September of the dirt roads and grassless yards of the shantytown," that Lizabeth grew up in. You can imagine the "sterile dust that . . . gets into the throat and between toes." You imagine a poor community that is filled with hardworking people who do all they can to make it. Collier's also uses imagery in her description of the marigold's. The imagery allows the reader to see how Lizabeth saw the marigolds and what she felt about them. When you first sees the marigolds they "rose suddenly and shockingly a dazzling strip of bright blossoms." This quote paints a picture in the mind of something that is foreign, of some that can't be understood, and since it can't be understood confusion turns to jealousy and hate. This jealousy began to show when Lizabeth and her friends took frequent trips to Miss Lottie's yard to throw rocks at the flowers. Imagery is the focus of the story in that it gives meaning to the marigolds in contrast to Lizabeth's hometown.
             Symbolism is deeply rooted in Collier's tale of a young woman's journey into womanhood.


Essays Related to Marigolds

1. Transcendence from an Oppressed Society - The Bluest Eye

... property to mend and ensure that once "[the flowers] would blossom, everything would be alright" (6). In Claudia and Frieda's perspective the marigolds symbolize life, birth, and natural order. The fertility of the seeds and their blooming potential is what the girls believe will ensure the safety of ... more for the baby to die, Claudia and Frieda fantasize about the baby's beauty in the womb and it's resemblance to the beauty of blossoming marigolds. Their prayers go unheard and a harsh reality consumes the story as their flowers never grow and Pecola's baby is prematurely stillborn. T...

  • Word Count: 3660
  • Approx Pages: 15
  • Has Bibliography

2. The Bluest Eye - Literary Analysis

... sad isolation many of the characters experience in the book as well. Marigolds are another symbol in the novel, as Claudia and Frieda associate marigolds with the safety and well being of Pecola's baby. They believe that if the marigolds they have planted grow, then Pecola's baby will be healthy. Generally, marigolds represent the constant renewal of nature, however, Pecola's cycle of renewal is ... ...

  • Word Count: 2626
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. mrs dalloway

... in general and Pecola in particular are forced to live. There are two major metaphors in The Bluest Eye, one of marigolds and one of dandelions. Claudia, looking back as an adult, says at the first of the book "there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941" (Morrison 9). She and her sister plant marigold seeds with the belief that if the ... marigolds would grow and survive, so would Pecola's baby (Morrison 149). Morrison unpacks the metaphor throughout the book, and, through Claudia, finally explains ... it and broadens its scope to all African-Americans on the last page. "I even think ...

  • Word Count: 1410
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Bluest Eye

... -Americans in general and Pecola in particular are forced to live. There are two major metaphors in The Bluest Eye, one of marigolds and one of dandelions. Claudia, looking back as an adult, says in the beginning of the novel, "there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941". She and her sister plant marigold seeds with the belief that if the ... marigolds would grow and survive, so would Pecola's baby. Morrison unpacks the metaphor throughout the book, and, through Claudia, finally explains it and broadens ... its scope to all African-Americans on the last page. "I even think now that the...

  • Word Count: 1112
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

5. The unrecognized ending of can

... manages to fit in rare forms of art. If such art is not his own handwriting, it is that of others. In chapters thirty and thirty two, Steinbeck includes Black Marigolds, a translated extract from the Sanskrit, written by Chauras, a young Kashmiri poet. In both chapters, the poem planes very different roles. While in chapter thirty, the poem acts as a pleasantry for ... to his guest, in chapter thirty two the poem reflects on Cannery Row itself, and the story that Steinbeck has narrated about it. (145 words; 7 sentences) In chapter thirty, Black Marigolds is simply regarded as an enjoyab...

  • Word Count: 1169
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

6. The Bluest Eye

... same time. The story starts of with Claudia, a friend of Pecola, saying "Quiet as it's kept there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought, at the time it was because Pecola was having her father's baby that the marigolds did not grow." This introduction is to introduce the idea that some seeds that are planted are just not meant ... ...

  • Word Count: 877
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Seasonal Symbolism in The Bluest Eye

... the seeds too deeply, how it was the fault of the earth, the land, of our town. I even think now that the land of the entire country was hostile to marigolds that year. This soil is bad for certain kinds of flowers. Certain seeds it will not nurture, certain fruit it will not bear, and when the land kills of its ... ...

  • Word Count: 1519
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

8. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

... by incest and her wish for the baby to live. She recalls her childhood memories that she and her sister Frieda blame each other for the unsuccessful attempt to grow marigolds that summer. Adult narrator Claudia here explains to the reader that when she was a child she believed that she and her sister Frieda could save Pecola's baby by planting seeds ... ...

  • Word Count: 2371
  • Approx Pages: 9
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9. english

... in his garden. The violent terminology that the narrator uses in his description of the damage transforms the normal activities of woodchucks into acts of war: "They brought down the marigolds.../ then took over the vegetable patch / nipping the broccoli shoots, beheading the carrots"" (10-12). The connotations of the words "brought down, " "took over, " and "beheading " all conjure up images ... ...

  • Word Count: 724
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography

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