Question

How does the narrator's maturity (in "Marigolds") reveal the theme?

Answer 1

Answer:

• She finally sees that Miss Lottie was only trying to make her dismal world  beautiful.

Explanation:

Eugenia W. Collier's short story "Marigolds" tells the story of how the narrator Elizabeth's life is in the black residential area of Maryland during the Depression. She began recollecting her memories of her childhood years, especially the thing about Miss Lottie's marigolds.

The narrator and her brother Joey along with other children used to annoy Miss Lottie and destroy her much loved marigold flowers. They would often go to her place and cut the stalks of the flowers, in the process annoying and hurting her feelings. But one moment, Lizzie admits the "loss of her innocence". She felt bad about her involvement in the destruction of Miss Lottie's flowers, admitting "that moment  marked the end of innocence". This maturity of Lizzie is revealed in her final understanding and realization of Miss Lottie's acts as someone "who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility."