Marigolds

by Eugenia Collier

The story of a young girl who destroys a bed of flowers.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Read For School, School, Classics, Coming Of Age, Realistic Fiction

5 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Eugenia W. Collier (born 1928) is an African-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 , USA.
Collier's collection, Breeder and Other Stories, was released in 1993.[2] She has also published a play, Ricky, based on her short story of the same name. Other texts that Collier has written or contributed to include Impressions in Asphalt: Images of Urban America (1999); A Bridge to Saying It Well (1970); Sweet Potato Pie (1972); Langston Hughes: Black Genius (1991); Afro-American Writing: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry (1992); and Modern Black Poets: A Collection of Critical Essays (1973). Her work has appeared in Negro Digest, Black World, TV Guide, Phylon, College Language Association Journal, and The New York Times.
Collier's "Marigolds" is one of the most widely-read short stories in secondary-school English textbooks.[citation needed] Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the story describes the moment that the 14-year-old narrator, Lizabeth, comes of age. It is the moment she is first able to feel the pain of another human being, and Collier's narrative argues that innocence and compassion cannot exist in the same person.
The former English Chair at Morgan State University, Collier has also taught at Coppin State College (now University), the University of Maryland, Howard University, Southern Illinois University, and Atlanta University. She graduated magna cum laude from Howard University in 1948, and was awarded an M.A. from Columbia University two years later. In 1976, she earned a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.
Since retiring in 1996, Collier continues to live in Baltimore, and occasionally visits classes to discuss creative writing and her stories.

Reviews

[Tweety · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book left me in tears of frustration. Is it really possible to hate a good book? By good I mean well written, not enjoyable.

I loved the voice of the narrator, but despised the main character who was in fact the narrator. Who would have thought a 14 going on 15 year old girl could be so cruel? How could Lisbeth taunt old Miss Lottie and tease her slow son? Why would she be so hateful? To trample old Miss Lottie's marigolds that she toiled over for so long, to rip them up by the fistful when Miss Lottie had never done anything to her, was disgusting.

Or what about Lisbeth getting all the other kids to gang up and dance around Miss Lottie saying,"Old witch, fell in a ditch, picked up a penny and thought she was rich!"

Worse, the message of this book is, "children have no compassion, the end of innocence is when one gains compassion, then you are an adult." I must have lost my "innocence" a long time ago by this books standards. This book dared to say, "One cannot have both compassion and innocence." And if you go by this book, that's perfectly true, children have no compassion. Why Lisbeth had to learn compassion by destroying the only beauty in an old woman's life I don't know. In my mind, she had no compassion, if she had she would have done something, anything to make it up to Miss Lottie, not just tell us that she too, now plants marigolds. Lisbeth was noting but a child on the loose, her family all away working and she herself completely untrained. Hated This Book. It doesn't end making anything right, everything is left in the tatters Lisbeth created.

Did I mention she swore at Miss Lottie? However, Miss Lottie did the same back.

[Tj Barnaba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps this book isn't meant to be taken at surface view. The writer intends to pass something deeper. Lisabeth the so most appearing character in the book destroys an old woman's only beauty amidst her other olden things. her house is said to be falling. The Marigolds are destroyed by Lisabeth at night and therebefore she'd also made incitations for her friends to throw pebbles at the marigolds and make notsogood chants at the old lady mrs lottie.
The book is rather deep in context taking how troubled Lisabeth is and how the Marigolds represented the only good the old lady had. lisabeth in her trouble doesnt seem to see the beauty in the lives of others and only seeks to destroy without cause not considering the old lady's life. maturity is realising that there are other people in existence and just because things arent going well for you, you should exert your hurt in other people as well. Lisabeth is seen to be in deep regret over her immature act. she says the picture of the marigolds remains in her mind with clarity.

[Sandra ༊*·˚ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and sad read. I think it speaks, more than anything, of the people whom even when trapped in struggling circumstances, still puts meaning and value to things in order to keep moving forward, and the people with the same circumstances that will undermine others' efforts and progress out of envy or spite. Thus, this enables the group's collective demise. Similar to the metaphor that refers to a pot of crabs, in which one tries to crawl out of it but is prevented from escaping by the other crabs, leaving them all stuck. This is described as "If I can't have what I want, then neither can you" kind of thinking, and is more prevalent in reality. The lost of innocence replaced by compassion is only a result of this realization — looking beyond oneself into the efforts of another struggling person to live day by day.

[Elif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very sweet and short.

[Jesse Field · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miss Lottie's marigolds were perhaps the strangest part of the picture. Certainly they did not fit in with the crumbling decay of the rest of her yard. Beyond the dusty brown yard, in front of the sorry gray house, rose suddenly and shockingly a dazzling strip of bright blossoms, clumped together in enormous mounds, warm and passion and sun-golden. The old black witch-woman worked on them all summer, every summer, down on her creaky knees, weeding and cultivating and arranging, while the house crumbled and John Burke rocked. For some perverse reason, we children hated those marigolds. They interfered with the perfect ugliness of the place; they did not make sense. There was something in the vigor with which the old woman destroyed the weeds that intimidated us. It should have been a comical sight -- the old woman with the man's hat on her cropped white head, leaning over the bright mounds, her big backside in the air -- but it wasn't comical, it was something we could not name. We had to annoy her by whizzing a pebble into her flowers or by yelling a dirty word, then dancing away from her rage, reveling in our youth and mocking her age. Actually, it was the flowers we wanted to destroy, but nobody had the nerve to try it, not even Joey, who was usually fool enough to try anything.

So goes the tipping point of this terrible little tale, explaining and not explaining the big question: why does Lizbeth have to destroy the marigolds? What are they to the children, what are they to her? The urge to destroy is somehow very familiar to us, and we may even guess that this urge is connected to stress, desperation, hopelessness, is even the natural result of these, but why exactly does stress make us destructive?

I suppose the chance to discuss such questions is what keeps this short story in high school anthologies down to 2015. As I prepare to teach it tomorrow, I have high hopes that it remains an excellent question with which to gather young people together in seminar mode.

[chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished this story in school, and I have a lot of thoughts.

Lizabeth seems, in the text, younger than 14. I'm 14. I don't have the inner dialogue of an 8-year-old. Lizabeth is in high school and she still spends all her time with little kids doing little kid things. A 7-year-old tearing up Miss Lottie's flowers I could get. Little kids do dumb stuff! At this age, though, you know it's wrong and downright cruel. I think most of us have empathy down by seventh grade and yet she doesn't whatsoever.

Miss Lottie never gets closure, and I don't know, it just makes me kind of sad for her. Meanwhile, Lizabeth acts like crushing Lottie's hopes and dreams is just a quirky thing she did.
It's written really well so I'll give it an extra star. Nothing against Collier, she seems like a great writer.

[Aryana Parmar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sad story, but a quick, meaningful read.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a coming of age story. And just like all other similar stories, growing up comes at the expense of pain and of learning a very harsh lesson. What does it usually take to mature? A struggle? A loss? To Lizabeth, it was her own cruel actions towards Miss Lottie, actions over a summer, but whose consequences will last a lifetime.

[Sammy Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite short stories that I read every year with my students and truly believe that everyone should read. It touches on the coming of age topics of loss of innocence, compassion, and familial issues. It is incredibly profound and beautifully written.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this story very much

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.75

[Kellye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exceptional story about a young girl who realizes the reality of the world. One of my favorite quotes is in the story: Memory is like an abstract painting -- it doesn't present things as they are, but rather as they feel."

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm more mad on how the main character acted.

[Asteros Verlian · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you're looking for a feel good read avoid this for sure. The story overall was an interesting look into the coming of age of a young woman. The amount of adjectives and metaphor used for absolutely everything made it a drag to read through. Also, the author makes it seem like the narrator has grown and is more mature, but we're never shown that maturity apart from at the end when the narrator says she apologized and in the fact that she has her own flowers now, which doesn't show much except through metaphor of flowers being related to happiness. The language is also quite niche and requires some looking up or a good understanding of context. Also, the writer seems to put a lot of emphasis on how dusty and brown the neighborhood is. Another thing is, I feel that the main reason this book receives praises is because it is a 'black story'.

[ryvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story follows a girl as she reaches adulthood. The point of "Marigolds" is to get the message across of how you cannot have both compassion and innocence. Lizabeth, the narrator, is fourteen and during the story teases an old woman and her mentally disabled son. Then, later on, tears up the women's flowers in a fit of anger. I think I could understand if a younger child did this, but not a fourteen year-old. At that age, I think you can tell right from wrong. For that, the story lost a lot of its pull, but still was very well written.

[Kat S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading on War on Poverty Day -

This short story takes no prisoners and tackles several tough topics, although only on a surface level for some.

This story is mainly about what it means to be on the cusp on adulthood, facing truths previously out of reach. In this case, it's poverty and how individuals react to their circumstances.

Topics addressed:
Poverty
Racism
"The American Dream"
Growing up
Creation (as in creating, not biblical)
What strength is (male, female)
Oppression

[Kenna Hussey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was interesting and relates to the real world. This book slugs in the begging but, get better at the end.

[John Haertle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book showed how some children had to live through the great depression and how some of them reacted.

[Zeinab Musa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marigolds showed me the conflict of going from childhood to adulthood. It also made me realize how the Great Depression affected working people, especially people of color.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for school. It was alright, I guess.

[Matt Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, painful, haunting story.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly meaningful story, almost brought me to tears.

[luiloth · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.warrenjfk.c...

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read at: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&am...

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely story about the pain of growing up.

[North Elliot Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great story with a good message!

[Eduarda · Rating 2 out of 5]

the story is beautifully written, but it wasn’t my cup of tea

[lily (✿◠‿◠)]

read for class, surprisingly liked!!

[Casertalaura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hauntingly sad childhood memoir

[apd · Rating 5 out of 5]

girl wtf