Maturity In The Short Story 'Marigolds'

As one begins to face life challenges, one’s maturity is put to the test. In the story, “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the speaker allows his ego to rise above him which ultimately causes the death of his brother. On the other hand, the speaker in “Shaving” by Leslie Norris acknowledges that his father is dying maturely steps up and takes his father’s role in the family. The speaker in Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “Annabel Lee,” has an immature response towards the death of his loved one and cannot cope with the reality of the situation. The speaker in each work has to rely on their maturity to lead them through the hardships life has to offer. All three authors make clear that maturity drives one’s ability to cope with life’s challenges.

Children are the most pure examples of the human race. They have not been flawed by societal norms; they are still purely themselves. The pure nature of children is miles away from the beaten down attitude of adults. Adults have seen the pain of reality, and it has caused them to stray from their original state. When the two groups meet, sometimes incredible things happen. In the case of the elderly, sometimes working with young children can bring them seemingly back to their younger selves. In worlds where interaction between people is bleak and often nonexistent, teenagers offer a contrast that can make adults curious again. And in a world so filled with meaningless pain that almost all lose hope, children are there to make them rethink

In “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier the coming of age short story where a now grown up Lizabeth reminisce her childhood especially going into Ms.Lottie’s garden. Ms. Lottie, who did not like children but treated her precious marigolds gets them destroyed by Lizabeth. After destroying them, Lizabeth realizes her errors believing she became a women in that moment. This short story has several literary device that are used in it to help deepen the meaning. The use of imagery, symbolism and metaphors in “Marigolds” helps the reader that it is important to not lose

In the short story Marigolds by Eugenia Collier, a girl named Elizabeth and her family struggle through living in the time of the Great Depression. Elizabeth is an African American girl that is on the threshold of womanhood. Elizabeth's family is very poor and is forced to live in a shantytown. Elizabeth and her family have to live through the struggle of poverty, poignant and meaningful arguments in the family, and Elizabeth is caught between the chaotic emotions of a child and a woman.

In the short story, “Marigolds,” the author, Eugenia Collier, acknowledges the universal theme that people can create beauty in even the most dreariest of places. The story takes place in Maryland during the Great Depression. Lizabeth, the main character, is an adult looking back to the time when she had transitioned from childhood to womanhood. Miss Lottie, an old woman who lived in a shabby, broken down house, planted marigolds. As a child, Lizabeth had thought Miss Lottie to be a witch and despised the marigolds because it did not match the poverty and sadness that surrounded her. After witnessing her father break down because of his inability to provide for his family, Lizabeth, in a mess of emotions, destroys the marigolds, marking the

In the short story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, a woman named Lizabeth tells the story about her 14-year-old self maturing into the woman she is now while having to deal with the Great Depression. This story tells the events that occurred in Lizabeth’s childhood that causes her to mature, it takes place in a town that struggles with poverty. Although Lizabeth’s adolescence affects her actions when she would disrespect Miss Lottie and her garden, her adult perspective in the story reveals that she learned that one can’t have both compassion and innocence.

Teenagers have always sought to be their own person, forgoing rules and even recommendations in favour of self-determination. While an honourable undertaking, this path to self-discovery, leads them to experience new ordeals, where mistakes will be made. To reassure us that these mistakes are not necessarily bad, Elizabeth Alexander, in her poem "Nineteen", illustrates how youth 's desire for freedom¬ and to escape from their reality allows them to grow into adulthood and leads them to make choices that will impact their perception of the world. This theme will be analysed through structure, symbolism and contrast.

Coming to grips with reality as one matures of passage celebrated around the world. Many young children are given ceremonies to celebrate the advancement to adulthood. What these ceremonies do not show is the confusion and turmoil caused by coming of age. Rudolfo Anaya’s novel, ‘Bless Me, Ultima’, shows the constant conflicts of adulthood and childhood. Anaya conveys this idea with the constant fighting between his family, hypocritical advice given by authority, and the death of vital characters to show that blossoming isn’t a pretty process. With the constant struggle between innocence and maturity in oneself, Anaya depicts that gaining new knowledge coupled with losing innocence is vital to coming of age, as seen in the main character, Tony.

The author uses the marigolds as a symbol but, their meaning varies between each character. To a young Lizabeth , the marigolds symbolise beauty in a place that it doesn't belong. These beautiful flowers anger a young Lizabeth because she thinks they didn’t belong in the old dusty town she grew up in.To an adult Lizabeth these flowers hold a different meaning, they now represent hope to her. These flowers hold a different meaning to Miss Lottie, to her they represented what was left of love, hope, and beauty in her life. The world she lived in was so ugly and plain and she choose to “create beauty in the midst of [all that] ugliness" (62). This helps to create the theme because even though Miss Lottie had so little she still worked hard to care for the beautiful marigolds.

Maturity is the feeling of needing to prove that one is sophisticated and old enough to do certain things. In the short story “Growing Up,” Maria’s family went on a vacation while she stayed at home, but when she heard there was a car crash that happened near where her family was staying, she gets worried and thinks it is all her fault for trying to act mature and angering her father. Society wants to prove how mature they are and they do so by trying to do things that older people do and the symbols, conflict, and metaphors in the text support this theme.

Her sense of time returns and the presence of her children reawakens like a rude awakening. As previously mentioned, she is presented as a mother who is constantly trying to find ways to mentally survive, even if this means trying to distance herself from her children. An example of her creating this distance is shown: “She had an hour… before Liza appeared pouting from the top of the stairs. And just what was mother doing out back with the field mice? Why building a palace” (12-16). The mother is clearly counting how much time she has away from her children. Her awareness of the time shows her unhappiness. What she wants is to be free from this restraint. Everything about Liza was an obligation she had to satisfy. If she did not tend to Liza’s needs, then both her ideal and reality would fall apart. Her caring for Liza as a mother is difficult, but she must do so in order to retain some peace even if it feels unnatural to her. Being a mother to her seems to be about the sacrifices of her own happiness. Her attention to Liza’s pouting, shows that she wants nothing to do with her which indicates that she does not want to deal with her children at all. They probably give her the same face many times, and that expression may be the only thing she sees. She may now be blind to their happiness, as their presence is her stress in life, and she can hardly see how they bring her happiness. Instead, she wants

Lottie’s flowers were also a symbol of beauty to all of the ugliness around her it helped her believe that there was hope and even though everything was ugly around them something could be beautiful. But at the time Elizabeth could not see that she didn't understand the meaning until it was too late and they had been destroyed. On page 223-24 lines 362-54 she was telling us the meaning of the flowers and how she now knew why Ms. Lottie kept them in her yard against all of the ugliness. In the story the author what the author said about the marigolds she destroyed and what they meant to Ms. Lottie. The author said,” Whatever verve was left in her, whatever was of love and beauty and joy that had not been squeezed out by life, had been there in the marigolds she had so tenderly cared for.” So atlast she finally realised she understood what and why she had the marigolds in her yard even though by now it was too late because she had destroyed all of the beauty that was left in in those horrible

Maturity does not rely on age but more to a person’s mentality level. Mentality level plays a role in maturity because it shows the mental abilities of a person. For instance, In the book Of Mice and Men Lennie is a mentally handicapped man. Steinbeck implies that Lennie is a grown man with the mind of a child. Lennie is a great example of how the state of mind is more important compared with age of a person.

The story "Marigolds" by Eugenia W. Collier is a short story that goes through the journey of Lizabeth. Lizabeth is a young girl that goes through an event that transitions her from a child to a woman. She shows many different sides to herself. She is wild, immature, and conflictual. Throughout the story, she comes to show that with maturity comes compassion. It is a coming of age story that shows how Lizabeth evolves as a person and as a character.

Through the book “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy the boy and the father show a great amount of change and maturity, while also learning to adapt and love. The story has a good balance of how different events can affect and impact someone's life in either a good or bad way. There are many events that change the mind and heart of the boy and father, but change can only be helpful if you learn from it and mature out of being afraid for things to happen.