Lizabeth’s Father Character Analysis in Marigolds

– Like nearly half of Black adults in America during the Great Depression, Lizabeth’s father is out of work. Still, he goes to town every morning attempting to find a job. Lizabeth knows her father as a strong, traditionally masculine figure: he whisks children onto his shoulders, he whittles toys from wood, and he taught his children how to fish and hunt. So when she hears his loud, painful sobs in the middle of the night, her understanding of the world is rattled. Her father is not the rock of the family, but rather requires comfort like a child. Poverty has blurred simple binaries, and Lizabeth doesn’t know how to grasp this new complexity.

Lizabeth’s Father Quotes in Marigolds

The Marigolds quotes below are all either spoken by Lizabeth’s Father or refer to Lizabeth’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

“Ain’t no man oughtta eat his woman’s food day in and day out, and see his children running wild. Ain’t nothing right about that.”

Related Characters: Lizabeth’s Father (speaker), Lizabeth’s Mother, Lizabeth

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 17

Explanation and Analysis:

The world had lost its boundary lines. My mother, who was small and soft, was now the strength of the family; my father, who was the rock on which the family had been built, was sobbing like the tiniest child. Everything was suddenly out of tune, like a broken accordion. Where did I fit into this crazy picture?

Related Characters: Lizabeth (speaker), Lizabeth’s Mother, Lizabeth’s Father

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 18

Explanation and Analysis:

Lizabeth’s Father Character Timeline in Marigolds

The timeline below shows where the character Lizabeth’s Father appears in Marigolds. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...can better afford to care for them. Lizabeth’s mother works as a domestic, and her father is unemployed. Still, he walks to town every day to try to find some work. (full context)

...of the malicious attack. She’s in a funny mood all day and hardly notices her father’s silence and mother’s absence during dinner that night. (full context)

...night and hears her parents talking through the thin walls that separate their rooms. Her father is ashamed that his wife is working and he isn’t, and he laments that “no... (full context)

Her father begins to sob, loudly and painfully. Lizabeth has never heard a man cry before—she didn’t... (full context)

Finally, Lizabeth’s mother comforts her father by humming to him, as if he were a frightened child. Lizabeth is bewildered; her... (full context)

...by the hopelessness of her poverty, bewildered by her changing body, and afraid of her father’s tears. She experiences an overwhelming impulse to destroy. (full context)

Lizabeth’s Father Character Analysis

Lizabeth’s Father Quotes in Marigolds

Marigolds Quotes

Lizabeth’s Father Character Timeline in Marigolds