| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Marigolds

Page history last edited by VRBurton 13 years, 3 months ago

Background

 

In the 1930s, a terrible economic depression swept the world. The booming stock market had collapsed in 1929, causing businesses to shut down all over America and factories to close their doors. Banks failed. People lost their life savings. Life was hard for almost every American during those years. As the narrator of this story says, however, the Great Depression was nothing new to her family: For the black families of rural Maryland, all times were hard times.

 

Make the Connection

Quickwrite

This story is about the passage from childhood to adulthood, a journey that is often marked by conflict. In fact, negotiating this passage can demand as much courage as a struggle with an outside enemy. Before you read this story, write down your response to the following question: What fears and conflicts do most young people deal with as they move into adult life? Keep your notes for use later on.

 


Vocabulary Development

arid adj.: lacking enough water for many types of plants to grow; dry.

futile adj.: useless; vain.

impoverished v. used as adj.: poor; poverty-stricken.

poignantly adv.: with a sharp sadness or pain; movingly.

clarity n.: clearness.

placidly adv.: calmly; quietly.

inciting v. used as n.: stirring up.

malicious adj.: showing a desire to harm another; spiteful.

contrition n.: deep feelings of guilt and repentance.


   
   

 

 

 

Reading Check

1. What is the story’s setting—that is, when and where does the story take place?

2.  Who is Miss Lottie? Describe the children’s daytime confrontation with her.

3.  What does Lizabeth discover about her parents when she overhears their conversation?

4.  What does Lizabeth do to Miss Lottie’s flowers just before dawn?

Thinking Critically

5. Left on her own, Lizabeth faces internal conflicts. What personal monsters are troubling her?

6. Lizabeth felt ashamed after she led the first attack against Miss Lottie. Why doesn’t her sense of shame prevent her from destroying the garden at the end of the story? How is her motivation for this destructive act different from her motivation for taunting Miss Lottie earlier?

7.  The narrator doesn’t tell us much about the effect on Miss Lottie of the external conflict over the marigolds. Using the details the narrator does provide, explain how you think Miss Lottie was affected.

8.  Lizabeth says that destroying the marigolds was her last act of childhood. After that incident, why does she think of herself as standing on her own as an adult?

9.  What does Lizabeth mean at the end of the story when she says that she too has planted marigolds? What do you think the marigolds have come to mean in the story? To answer, consider the feelings that the characters have had about the marigolds throughout the story:

    * Miss Lottie loves and cares for them.

    * The children do not understand why they are there.

    * Lizabeth wants to destroy them.

 

10. Lizabeth’s parents are subordinate characters, but their late-night conversation has a big impact on her. “The world had lost its boundary lines,” she says in reaction to their conversation. What does she mean? What situations might make a child feel that boundaries have been lost?

Extending and Evaluating

11.  Compare Lizabeth’s feelings at the end of the story with those of the speaker of “Forgive My Guilt” (see the Connection on page 150). What did both children discover? In both cases, did you find it credible that a single act could cause a child to make such an important discovery? Explain your answer.

WRITING

Turning Points

Write an autobiographical narrative about a turning point in your life, an incident—whether minor or major, happy or sad—that made you grow up a little. What fears or conflicts did you face? What was the outcome of the incident? Include a reflection telling how the event brought you a little closer to being an adult. (Be sure to check your Quickwrite notes.)

 

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.