Transcript Marigolds
Eugenia Collier
Maryland
– in an impoverished area
during the Depression
Lizabeth
(1st person narrator – “I”)
She’s not a child anymore, but she isn’t
exactly an adult, either
She antagonizes Miss Lottie and the
marigolds
Her father is unemployed (her mother
provides)
She has a little brother (Joey)
She’s a good person, but she is frustrated
Joey
• He’s loud, energetic and immature
• He’s a minor character – we do not see
things through his point of view
• He is scared of Miss Lottie – he thinks
she is a witch
Miss
Lottie
• She’s old, and lives in a run-down shack
• She lives with her son John Burke Lazy /
Sits in a
Rocking
• Raises her marigolds
Chair
• She does not antagonize the children
• By the end, she is a ‘broken’ woman –
she is not even angry (“there was
nothing left to protect”)
What
is a bildungsroman?
Coming of
age story
A
“Making of a
Man” story
bildungsroman is a type of story
dealing with a character who ‘comes of
age’ . . .
The
protagonist of a bildungsroman must
be a DYNAMIC CHARACTER
A character who
experiences a
significant
change
The
reader is usually aware of the very
moment when the transformation from
childhood to adulthood occurs
That
moment is usually presented as an
EPIPHANY for the character
An
Epiphany is a moment of selfawareness or meta-cognition (thinking
about thinking)
The event or person that causes the epiphany is the
CATALYST
Catalyst is originally a scientific word meaning “A
substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical
reaction but is not itself permanently changed by the
reaction.
This scientific definition is relatively unchanged in the
literary sense, except instead of a chemical reaction
being altered, a character in a story is altered
Miss Lottie acts as a catalyst when she reacts to the
destruction of the marigolds . . .
What
is the definition of a symbol?
There
are two types of symbols:
Contextual:
Universal:
Is
there any object that becomes
symbolic throughout Collier’s short
story?
Absolutely!
The marigolds become
symbolic because they:
1. maintain
their literal meaning
2. they take on a larger, symbolic
meaning
What
intangible ideas do the marigolds
begin to symbolize?
Actions
and events in a story can also
become symbolic
Can
you think of any action or event that
becomes symbolic in this story?
Yes
– The trampling of the flowers
becomes a symbolic act of losing one’s
innocence and seeing the world through
the eyes of an adult
In
Collier’s “Marigolds” Lizabeth has a
life changing experience that forces her
to grow up.
For homework, write a two paragraph
reflection about yourself or someone you
know that has changed because of a
significant event. Make sure to utilize the
terminology of bildungsroman (epiphany,
catalyst, etc . . . )
first paragraph should describe the
experience. Be specific, using concrete
details and proper names.
The
second paragraph should reflect on
the experience and touch on the
following questions: What was learned
from this experience? Did you know at
the time that it would effect your life?
What or who was the catalyst?
The
This
is a reflective, creative assignment
You
can use “I” and you can use the past
tense
However, you
still need to adhere to the
standard rules of writing (avoid
contractions, pronouns, etc . . . )