Question

Use context to determine the meaning of the word futile as it is used in “Marigolds.” Write your definition of futile here and explain which details from the text helped you determine its meaning.

Answer 1

By using the context, we can determine that the meaning of the word "futile" in "Marigolds" is "fruitless" or "pointless".

• "Marigolds" is a short story by Eugenia W. Collier (born in 1928 in Baltimore). This is where the word "futile" appears in the story:

"I suppose that futile waiting was the sorrowful background music of our impoverished little community when I was young."

• What the narrator, Lizabeth, means is that is was pointless to wait for things to get better, for poverty to just disappear.
• The context and setting of the story is the Great Depression. Lizabeth and her family live in a very poor neighborhood, and things are only getting worse due to the awful economic situation of the country.
• Thus, waiting seemed futile, fruitless, pointless. Nothing was going to change.

Learn more about the story here:

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