Answer:
"Childhood doesn't last forever"
Explanation:
The theme of the story Marigolds is "Childhood doesn't last forever". I decided this was the theme because when she pulls out the marigolds it represents how she is not a child anymore. When she sees her father crying, she realizes that adults fail and feels extreme disappointment. In tormenting Miss Lottie and ripping up what she tried to create, Lizabeth expresses some of her own internalized rage. However, as she looks at Miss Lottie, she suddenly feels ashamed, realizing she has victimized not an "other" or a "witch" but a real human being like herself. Instead of wanting to continue to express wrath at her, she feels compassion for this older woman.
edit:
here is the text evidence:
"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. " "I had indeed lost my mind, for all the
smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me
and burst—the great need for my mother who was
never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and
degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child
nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed
by my father’s tears. And these feelings combined in
one great impulse toward destruction." " The years have put words to the things I knew in that moment, and as I look back upon it, I
know that that moment marked the end of innocence."
hope this helps :)
