"Marigolds" is a 1969

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Eugenia Collier Eugenia W. Collier (born April 6, 1928) is an American writer and critic best known for her 1969 short story " Marigolds", which won the Gwendolyn Brooks Prize for Fiction award. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Collier's collection, ''Breed ...

. The story draws from Collier's early life in rural

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Its themes include poverty, maturity and the relationship between innocence and compassion. While teaching literature at the

Community College of Baltimore County The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) is a public community college in Baltimore County, Maryland, with three main campuses and three extension centers. Academics CCBC has more than 100 associate degree and certificate programs in ...

, she published "Marigolds" in ''

Negro Digest The ''Negro Digest'', later renamed ''Black World'', was a magazine for the African-American market. Founded in November 1942 by publisher John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company, ''Negro Digest'' was first published locally in Chicago, Illi ...

'', where it won the inaugural Gwendolyn Brooks prize for fiction; it was her first published story.

Theme

The story Marigolds is about a young African-American girl named Lizabeth who grew up during the Great Depression. At the beginning of the story, she is childish and does not stop to think about her actions. With their friends, Lizabeth and her brother go to the yard of an elderly woman, Miss Lottie, and harass her while she tends to her garden of marigolds by throwing stones at the marigolds and yelling rude things at her. They also make fun of Miss Lottie's mentally disabled son, John Burke. As they run away from Miss Lottie's house after calling her an "old lady witch", Lizabeth begins to think about her actions and how they affect others. Later that night, Lizabeth hears her parents argue about jobs and money and talk about how they feel they cannot support themselves. Lizabeth's mother works to support her family, but her father is out of a job and is upset because he believes that he, as the man of the house, should earn the money for the family. Out of shock and rage, Lizabeth sneaks over to Miss Lottie's house, ignoring her brother's protests. She goes to the garden to destroy all the marigolds in frustration and tears, only to come face-to-face with the old woman. Miss Lottie sees what Lizabeth has done to her flowers, and she is so shocked that she does not say or do anything. As Lizabeth realizes that the marigolds she destroyed were the only bit of hope and beauty Miss Lottie had left, she starts to regret her actions. In the present, Lizabeth, who is now an adult, looks back on her childish actions with regret and says that their encounter was the end of her innocence and childhood. Lizabeth finally understands that the marigolds were meant to be a symbol of hope, and plants some of her own. Collier said that she wrote the story when she was depressed. At this time, homosexuality was condemned, and Eugenia Collier (who is herself homosexual) referred to it with the use of the "brightly colored" marigolds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marigolds (Short Story) 1969 short stories American short stories African-American short stories Works set during the Great Depression Maryland in fiction