Marigolds–1
September 9, 2008
Paragraph 1: Miss Lottie has been fighting her entire life to preserve hope and beauty amid squalid poverty. Now she has finally lost her struggle because of Lizabeth. Why is this end to Miss Lottie;s conflict both poignant and ironic?
Entry Filed under: Marigolds. Tags: Marigolds -- Collier.
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
37 Comments Add your own
Leave a comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
1. E. Carter | September 21st, 2009 at 6:06 pm
“Miss Lottie died long ago and many years have passed since I last saw her hut, completely barren at last, for despite my wild contrition she never planted marigolds again” (126). Lizabeth’s angry torent of childish destruction broke the spirit of Miss Lottie by taking her most prized and proud possesion and completely destroying it. Miss Lottie had spent years pouring her life into those flowers, and the maddened destruction of her prize finally broke her will to continue her fight to hold on to one last beautiful thing on her decrepit and rotting property. This abrupt ending is ironic because after so many years of staying the course, she just gives up. She quits, with her prized marigolds strewn around in the dirt, destroyed.
2. Priya Maithel | September 22nd, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Mrs. Lottie spent her whole life perfecting her prized marigolds, and when Lizabeth destroyed them, she was very hurt. This is ironic because the marigolds were the only nice thing about the house. After the flowers were destroyed, there was absolutely nothing left that could make the house look somewhat good. This was very hard on Mrs. Lottie emotionally because now she had nothing left to really live for. This just shows the irony of the conflict Mrs. Lottie dwelt with.
3. Gabriella W | September 22nd, 2009 at 5:24 pm
The end to Miss. Lottie’s conflict is poignant because there was really nothing else she could do. Those marigolds were the last positive and beauiful hings surrounding them and they were destroyed. She was an older women, which would mean she probally didn’t have a lot of strength so tending to those flowers took the last bit that she had. The author makes it vividly clear the emotion Miss. Lottie felt: nothing but pain. This is shown when it is said “…as i gazed at the immobile face with her sad, weary face” (126). There was nothing to be protected anymore or to brighten up their despairing neighborhood. The end to her conflict is also ironic because Lizabeth needed this last act to be able to become the woman inside her, and the loss of the innocence of being a child. This is shown when she says, “This is the beginning of compassion, and one cannot have both compassion and innocence”(126).
4. Cal thorne | September 22nd, 2009 at 5:54 pm
The end to Miss Lottie’s conflict is poignant because Lizabeth destroys her marigolds and Miss Lottie loved the flowers. It is also poignant because Lizabeth is crying while she is destroying her flowers. The end to Miss Lottie’s conflict is ironic because Lizabeth is destroying Miss Lottie’s flowers but she is crying while she is doing it. It is also ironic because Miss Lottie isn’t mad about Lizabeth destroying her flowers. Lastly it is ironic because Miss Lottie’s marigolds are destroyed but she makes a woman out of Lizabeth.
5. Shannon J. | September 22nd, 2009 at 6:16 pm
The ending to Miss Lottie’s struggle is poignant and ironic because it was destroyed bcause of Lizabeth’s pain. She desrtoyed the only beautiful thing in the community. She also destroyed one of Miss Lottie’s price possesions. As years went by and took Lizabeth from the “dust and squalor of our lives” (126). She still remembers the image of the destroyed mariglods. Even she to “planted marigolds” (126).
6. AutumnJ | September 23rd, 2009 at 6:02 am
The end to Miss Lotties conflict is poignaint because she tried so hard to create beauty but it was destroyed. Miss lotties marigolds being destroyed crushed her heart. This caused her so much pain that she never planted them again. This is ironic because Miss Lottie didnt act mad towards Lizabeth even though she ruined her marigolds. Another ironic situation is that when Lizabeth grew up she planted her own marigolds.
7. Kim B. | September 23rd, 2009 at 11:13 am
The flowers were the only bright and non broken thing about the house. The house was falling apart the paint now a shaded gray. She kept the flowers alive with tender care for it was the only beauty in the mist of the shabby house. When Lizabeth destroyed that only beauty the conflict was gone. That is why the conflict is ironic.
8. Chandler Wisler | September 23rd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
It is ironic because I thought that Miss Lottie wasn’t mad at Lizabeth. Also beacuse she tryed so hard to make her garden so beautiful. It was also ironic because Lizabeth ended up growing marigolds when she got older too. It was poignant because Miss Lottie failed protecting the one nice thing in her yard.
9. Marissa King | September 23rd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
This end to Miss Lottie’s conflict was poignant because she tried soo hard to make beauty in her garden but then it gets destroyed Lizbeth. She feels a very sharp and sadness pain because she worked so hard on it then it got destroyed. It is ironic because Miss Lottie was not mad at Lizbeth. Miss Lottie was a forgiving person and she is willing to forgive Lizbeth. It is also ironic because Lizbeth is also ironic because Lizbeth planted Marigolds also.
10. Eric Hamilton | September 23rd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
It is poignant because Miss Lottie knew that she failed and couldn’t protect the marigolds anymore because Lizabeth came and ripped them up. It was ironic because being the person that Miss Lottie is you would think that she would get very angry and upset over this. It says that, “The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old women who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and steriliy”(126). She knows that she should be mad but somehow she isn’t. Lizabeth eventually planted marigolds where she lives.
11. Eion Donnelly | September 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 pm
The reason it is poignant Miss Lottie tries to build a garden.Then Lizabeth goes crazy and rips it up. The reason it is ironic is that Lizabeth has a garden of her own. She puts Marigolds in her garden. The memories of Miss Lottie is why she plants them and because they are beautiful.
12. Ashley A. | September 23rd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
The end to Miss Lottie’s conflict is both poignat and ironic because Miss Lottie has been trying so hard to keep the marigolds looking beautiful, but Lizabeth and her brother and ther friends kept cutting the heads off. When Lizabeth stomps all over the marigolds, completely destroying them in the process, Miss Lottie’s stress completely goes away because she does not have to care for them any longer. This is ironic because Miss Lottie stressed over them when they were just getting beheaded, but when they are totally gona and destroyed, she is relieved.
13. Morgan Bates | September 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
The end to Mrs. Lottie’s conflict is ironic because she worked so hard to keep her garden looking at its best. Even being in the poverty she was in she made kepping her garden (including her marigolds) a priority. It was also ironice because she had the most run down house around and still tried to make it look its best with the marigolds.
14. katie | September 23rd, 2009 at 1:27 pm
The loss of the marigolds is both poignant and ironic because the reason Miss Lottie planted the marigolds was to have something beautiful to make up for the lost times. It was ironic because Lizabeth ruined the marigolds because of her sadness. Miss Lottie lost her marigolds because of Lizabeth’s feelings towards them. When Lizabeth saw what she had done to Miss Lottie’s marigolds she lost her childhood and became an adult.
15. Christina | September 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Miss Lottie put all of her time and effort into her marigolds. It was the only thing beautiful left in her life. The end is poignant because the only thing she had left in her life was taken cruelly away from her. It’s ironic becasue she is presented as a tough old lady that is mean and uncaring. She then loses her struggle to someone destroying her flowers, which are weak and frail.
16. Ryan S. | September 23rd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
This end is poignant because of the flowers. Miss Lottie spent so much time and energy into those flowers so that they would look nice and flagrant. That time was all put to waste when Lizabeth tore up all of the flowers. The end is also ironic because after Lizabeth tore up all of Miss Lottie’s flowers, Miss Lottie wasn’t mad. The story’s end is ironic in another sense as well. This is that at the end of the story after looking back on the event the narrator has planted her own garden and has put bright marigolds, just like Miss Lottie’s, in it.
17. Rebekah | September 23rd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
The whole city is living in poverty and the ground is covered in dust and yet Miss Lottie makes one thing beautiful in the neighbor hood, a marigold garden. It really gives beauty to the neighborhood and yet it bothers the kids because it does not fit in with the rest of the boring neighborhood. Later, Miss Lottie’s flowers were destroyed, but they were remembered a long time afterward. After hating the flowers, the narrator of the story plant;s them after many years pass by. The memory of Miss Lottie was later still in the narrators mind
18. alexis w | September 23rd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
In the story ‘Marigolds” by Eugenia W. Collier, Lizabeth hated the marigolds because they were too beautiful to be in such a place where she lived. The narrator uses this as irony at the end of the story by saying, “And I too have planted marigolds” (126). This shows the author has gained sympathy and learned to like the marigolds that she originally hated, which is situationally ironic. This short story was poignant because of how Lizabeth lost he childhood and how sincere and compassionate she later became about the marigolds.
19. Lisa E | September 23rd, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Miss Lottie tended and cared for those flowers for years, and they meant hope for her. A sign that there might be a chance of getting out of the prison of poverty. She protected those flowers from when the kids teased her and attacked her flowers. Then when Lizabeth came and destroyed them, it was like a sign of the never ending poverty that would never cease. It was also very important because it was the turning point of womanhood for Lizabeth.
20. GHoover | September 23rd, 2009 at 2:12 pm
It was ironic because that was the only part of her property that was pretty. It was also ironic becuase miss lotie was not mad at Lizabeth. It was also ironic because Lizabeth had marigoldswhen she grew older. The poignant part was that miss lotie couldn’t protect her yard. Also the kids thought is was fun to make her angry.
21. Leanne Krick | September 23rd, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Miss Lottie had tried to hold on to some beauty in her life, this is the reason why she planted the marigolds. These plants were bright, colorful, and they brought her happiness. To lose her flower garden was painful because the flowers were something to keep her mind off the sadness and the poverty of her life. It was ironic because Lizabeth was going through the same kind of emotions and feelings that Miss Lottie had, but Lizabeth was still to young to know what to do with her emotions or how to handle them, so she went and dug up most of Miss Lottie’s flowers in anger.It was poignant at the end of the story how they both undersood how each other was feeling, MIss Lottie was not angry and for the first time Lizabeth understood Miss Lottie.
22. Olivia Alfredson | September 23rd, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I think that Lizabeth destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds is poignant because i symbolizes an endurring hope that has now been destroyed. However, it is ironic Lizabeth destroyed the marigolds because her enduring hope – her father being the rock of the family and staying strong through the tough times – revealed itself to be unreliable and weak. Just as the marigolds were Miss Lottie’s hope in a mass of troubled times and uncertainty, they are now gone and provide no reassurance. “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” (126). This statement proves the slightest glimmer of hope can be found in the smallest of ways but can provide a world of reassurance and security.
23. Christian W | September 23rd, 2009 at 3:02 pm
The end to Miss Lottie’s conflict is poignant because Miss Lottie had been trying to preserve the only happiness and beauty left in her struggling life. It is ironic because all that she had left just ended in an instant because of someone’s struggles and turmoil. By the end of the story, it says “…but only a broken old woman who dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility,” (126). This, along with how the story describes what she had and what she ended up with, revealed the poignancy in the story. In the end, irony is also disclosed by how Lizabeth felt and why she destroyed the marigolds, which concludes that the end of the conflict is both poignant and ironic.
24. Mhockenbrocht | September 23rd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
The end of Margolds is poiganant because Miss Lottie does not continue planting marrigolds. Miss Lottie stopped planting them after Lizabeth destroys her garden and ruins her dreams of hope and beauty. The story is ironic because Lizabeth said that she has left all of her childhood immature moments behind when really she had one last moment. Lizabeth destroying Miss Lottie’s flowers. However, that was the end of the childish moments, she had grown up and become a more mature young women.
25. Maggie V | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Mrs. Lottie had to kept up with her garden because it was all she had. Lizabeth was so angry she went in the middle of the night and tore up her marigolds. It was poignant because she was sad that Lizabeth tore up her marigolds. It was ironic because Mrs. Lottie kept her flowers beautiful when her house was falling apart.
26. Christyana | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
The end of this story was poignant because Lizabeth felt sorry about what she had done.Ms.Lottie planted marigolds to enhance the beauty in the mist of all the ugliness. The ending of the story was ironic because Lizabeth ended up planting the exact same flowers that she destroyed many years ago.To me the moral of the story is family matters, And be careful what you do because there will always be an out come
27. Imani Thomas | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:29 pm
The end to Miss Lottie’s conflict, which was Lizabeth and her group of friends destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds, which were the only thing she had in her life that deserved her love and attention. Her body was wrecked and she had a son, John Burke, who was her mindless son of passion, and a falling down hut for a house. The end to Miss Lottie’s conflict was poignant and ironic because something that she put all her time and passion and hard work into that ended destroying her. I think that the most ironic part was that the one that she worked hardest to preserve her marigolds, they even came before herself, her home and her son. Lizabeth from all of her contrition had wished that Miss Lottie would plant more marigolds, so she could finally feel like she was forgiven. I believe this was out of her guilt and regret Lizabeth grew up and planted marigolds.
28. Mariana S. | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
The end to Miss Lottie’s conflict is both poignant and ironic, because the way it ended was pointless and ridiculous. Lizabeth destroyed the only thing that gave Miss Lottie basically a reason to live. Twice when Lizabeth destroyed a part of Miss Lottie’s marigolds she felt remorseful, but did it again. Lizabeth couldn’t sleep because of the guilt of what she had done which made it poignant. Also it was ironic because even though Lizabeth did it out of spite she never forgets what she did to Miss Lottie that summer. This is why I think the end to Miss Lottie’s conflict is both poignant and ironic.
29. Frank H. | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
The end to Mrs. Lottie’s conflict was poignant because she had been working her whole life trying to keep the beautiful flowers alive in a poverty stricken part of town. The kids would throw stones at her flowers to ruin them. She would yell, “Y’all git! Go home!”(124). In the end of the story it didn’t matter what she yelled at them, because the flowers had been totally ruined. The end of Mrs. Lottie’s conflict was ironic, because her whole life she had been trying to keep the flowers alive. After Lizabeth destroyed them she had lost hope, and never replanted them. The area again was left to dust and poverty. “For as I gazed at the immoble face with the sad, weary eyes, 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 dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility”(126)
30. Randasia bevelle | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
This is the end to Miss Lottie conflict because she’s ot stressful anymore. The flowers reminded her of tings that she wanted and coujld not have. THey also probably brung back bad memories. What Lizabeth did actually helped Miss Lottie out alot. Lizabet didn’t realize it, but she did.
31. ArabiaL | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:43 pm
In the end Lizabeth destroys Miss Lottie’s marigolds. This ending is poignant because, Miss Lottie planted the marigolds to give her the beauty she had long ago. Then Lizabeth comes and destroy the perfect yellow flowers. The end is also ironic how Miss Lottie isn’t full of rage anymore. While Lizabeth is sad and feeling guilty for what she did
32. Josh Macks | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
The end to her struggle is poignant because she had worked her entire life to preserve beauty, and now in a childish act of anger and destruction it is destroyed. It is also ironic because after all the work to make her neighborhood, and life, less ugly, it is through Lizabeth’s intemperate outburst that the young girl learns a beautiful thing-compassion.
33. Justin P. | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
This end to Miss Lottie’s conflict is poignant for several reasons. One reason is that she had tried her best to preserve the peace wherever she lived and after all that time it came to an end. Another reason is how one of the good kids in lizabeth through the riot out of anger of Miss Lottie. It is ironic in the fact that after this happened Miss Lottie passed away. Another reason it was ironic is beacause lizabeth felt very bad after she was the main one who led the frenzy.
34. Chris Bankston | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
The end to Miss Lottie’s conflict was ironic because her attempt at trying to bring beauty into her impoverished and “ugly” life was ruined by someone who also lived in poverty, someone who actually grew up in poverty. Because of that you would think that Lizabeth would understand what Miss Lottie was trying to do, which was try to bring joy and a purpose amid her poverty. It was pretty poignant because those marigolds were the last things Miss Lottie had to bring joy or purpose to her life. Since Miss Lottie’s home was so old and broken down, she planted the marigolds to bring some type of beauty to her home. But since Lizabeth ruined the marigolds Miss Lottie had really no reason to live, because they were probably what helped her wake up in the morning, what gave her a purpose to go on. Those are the reasons I think the end to Miss Lottie’s conflict were both ironic and poignant.
35. Callum A | September 24th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Lizabeth destroying Miss Lottie’s marigolds was certainly both poignant and ironic for Miss Lottie. She was obviously upset that her work was ruined, and it had been for nothing. It made her feel great sadness and regret. “[Miss Lottie] had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility” Also, she had worked hard to not only plant the flowers, but to protect them. It was certainly ironic that the very event she tried ever so hard to prevent from taking place, eventually destroyed her marigolds. “Whatever was of love and beauty and joy that had not been squeezed out by life, had been there in the marigolds she had so tenderly cared for.”
36. Meagan Collins | September 27th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
In the short story, “Marigolds”, Miss Lottie, an old and very poor woman, most prized possession were her marigolds. Lizabeth, a fourteen year old girl, ruins the marigolds after a depressing day. Miss Lottie has spent a lot of time on her marigolds, and she has made them her most important thing. The marigolds were the only beauty amid her poverty-striked life. Its ironic because Lizabeth ruined Miss Lottie’s life so quickly and carelessly. It is poignant that Lizabeth ruined Miss Lottie’s only joy so impulsively.
37. Raymond | September 28th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
it is poigant because it caused her alot of pain and sarrow. and its ironic because she wasnt mad at lizabeth. and its also ironic because when she got older she grew her own marrigolds.