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Poverty
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Marigolds Quotes
I don’t know why I should remember only the dust. Surely there must have been lush green lawns and paved streets under leafy shade trees somewhere in town; but memory is an abstract painting—it does not present things as they are but rather as they feel.
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Lizabeth recalls the shantytown of her youth, particularly the summer when she was fourteen and became more woman than child. This quote establishes memory as an imperfect instrument, one that warps reality around emotion. Memory does not function like a camera by capturing things exactly as they are; rather, it’s better at capturing emotional responses to particular events or circumstances. Thus, Lizabeth should not be thought of as an unreliable narrator because she can’t remember any grass; she’s reliably narrating how her childhood felt to her, even if grass actually existed and she simply didn’t notice it. Lizabeth’s recollection of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusam
Poverty was the cage in which we all were trapped, and our hatred of it was still the vague, undirected restlessness of the zoo-bred flamingo who knows instinctively that nature created it to be free.
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Lizabeth explains the general feeling of the town where she grew up. While the adults in town grasped not only that they were much poorer than other communities, but also that prejudice in America worked to keep them that way, the children were unaware of these truths. They have no access to things like radios or newspapers, so they have no method of comparing themselves to other communities. Poverty keeps them ignorant, like a cage. Still, the children feel the effects of poverty despite their ignorance. This results in anger, but because the children can’t articulate exactly what’s wrong, their Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligen
Miss Lottie’s house was the most ramshackle of all our ramshackle homes.
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This line establishes Miss Lottie as the poorest resident in Lizabeth’s community. Given this, the fact that the children target her for amusement seems particularly cruel. But their ignorance about poverty renders them unable to feel any compassion for the old woman, so they continue with their game, not realizing that they’re heaping cruelty and suffering on top of an already difficult life. Additionally, it’s important that the dazzling yellow marigolds—the town’s only streak of color—flourish here, in the most destitute of places. It’s an early indicator of one of the story’s central themes: that beauty can thrive in poverty Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Inci
For some perverse reason, we children hated those marigolds. They interfered with the perfect ugliness of the place; they were too beautiful; they said too much that we could not understand; they did not make sense.
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Moments before they begin throwing stones, Lizabeth admits that she and the other children hate the marigolds. This quote reveals the reason: the flowers add a touch of beautiful color to a town characterized by its dusty insipidity. When judging by appearance, the town is easily identifiable as a drab, miserable place. The marigolds audaciously challenge this simple understanding. They suggest that beauty can flourish amid misery; that there exists a possibility for something better than squalor and dust. This quality draws the ire of the children. The marigolds are offensive to them because they call attention to their dismal Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis.
Perhaps we had some dim notion of what we were and how little chance we had of being anything else. Otherwise, why would we have been so preoccupied with destruction?
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This quote further elaborates on why the children feel an impulse to destroy the marigolds. It’s not just that the marigolds remind the children of how miserable their surroundings are—they’re also frustrated that they may never have a chance to transcend this reality, so it’s better to destroy something they might never have than accept that it’s beyond their reach. Lizabeth’s complaint about how little chance they had to escape their misery subtly reminds the reader that it’s not just poverty that’s working against the community—they’re also subject to racism. This is not just a story set in the Depression, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explica
Suddenly I was ashamed, and I did not like being ashamed. The child in me sulked and said it was all in fun, but the woman in me flinched at the thought of the malicious attack that I had led.
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Though Joey and the other children rejoice after destroying a few of Miss Lottie’s marigolds, Lizabeth begins to feel shame. Joey often serves as a foil to Lizabeth; their reactions to different events highlight the age difference between them. This is one such moment. Joey, younger than Lizabeth and ignorant to the effects of his actions, celebrates with juvenile glee, while Lizabeth, now almost an adult, feels the first stirrings of empathy and suffers from shame. She begins to think as an adult would. Lizabeth occupies a liminal position—not quite a child and not quite a woman. After this scene Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam
“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.”
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At night, Lizabeth overhears a conversation between her parents in which her father laments that he can’t find work and must rely on his wife to provide for their family. Though most of the story centers poverty’s effects on children, this moment examines its effect on men. The Great Depression caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, and Black Americans were hit the hardest. It’s not abnormal that Lizabeth’s father doesn’t have a job—nearly a third of Americans didn’t. But he still feels deep shame. Poverty has emasculated Lizabeth’s father, eroding gender dynamics that have persisted in American families Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusa
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?
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Late at night, Lizabeth overhears her father sobbing and her mother comforting him as if he were a child. This quote exemplifies the simple way that Lizabeth used to understand her family, and then the turmoil she experiences when this simple understanding proves false. Her old understanding relied on a simple binary: her father was the masculine rock of the family, and her mother was softer and more nurturing. Here Lizabeth is forced to confront that her parents are acting outside the binary. Her father is sobbing like a child, and her mother is the one providing for and holding Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo mi
I gazed upon a kind of reality which is hidden to childhood. The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility.
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After destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds, Lizabeth looks upon the old woman in a new light. She no longer sees her as a witch, like the children still do. To view her as a witch would mean to rely only on appearances: an old, haggardly women living without a man in the woods. Instead, Lizabeth sees a reality hidden to children—one that’s more complex and requires deeper insight. Miss Lottie is an old, broken woman who cares for her mentally disabled son without any help in a crumbling house—and she still finds time, every single summer, to grow her marigolds. Lizabeth Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum d
For one doesn’t have to be ignorant and poor to find that life is barren as the dusty roads of our town. And I too have planted marigolds.
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Lizabeth has finished narrating her story, and now she’s reflecting on the impact this experience had on her life. As a child, Lizabeth felt an impulse to destroy the marigolds. She resented them because their beauty reminded her of what her life lacked. As an adult, she appreciates the value of the flowers—she even plants them in her own garden. She knows that life can be miserable, even if you don’t live in poverty. There are plenty of different cages in the world, after all. Rather than resign ourselves to misery, to commit to ignorance and destroy those things which Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita dele
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