Marigolds

="Marigolds"=

Comprehension Questions
1. What is the setting of the story? 2. How old is Lizabeth? 3. What is the social setting of the story? 4. Why does Lizabeth destroy the flowers? 5. What were your reactions when you finished reading the story? (hint, hint, the "mood") 6. Make a list of the words found throughout the story that depict that mood.

Simile, Metaphor, and Allusion in "Marigolds"
Eugenia Collier creates meaning and clarity through her use of comparison. Read each of the passages from the story below and explain your understanding of the passage -- pointing out specific similes, metaphors, and allusions.

1. "I feel again the chaotic emotions of adolescence, illusive as smoke, yet as real as the potted geranium before me now." 2. "Joy and rage and wild animal gladness and shame become tangled together in the multicolored skein of a 14-going-on-15..." 3. "...if one were to have the grit rise before dawn each day and labor in the white man's vineyard ... offering one's sweat in return for some meager share of bread." 4. "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 that nature has created him to fly free." 5. "...those days are ill-defined in my memory, running together and combining like a fresh water-color painting left out in the rain."

Using Comparisons and Allusions
For each object or event given, write a sentence in which you use a simile, metaphor, or allusion to make the situation clear to your reader.

1. A rainy summer day 2. An angry adult 3. A raw egg you have dropped 4. Being blamed when you were not guilty 5. Being given tickets to a game or show you really want to see 6. A kite in the sky 7. Walking alone in a snowfall 8. Jumping into the pool or ocean on a hot summer day 9. Realizing you have lost something very valuable to you 10. Passing a test that you expected to fail

Recognizing Symbols in "Marigolds"
Think about each of the symbols listed below, and explain what meanings these people and objects might have.

1. The shanty-town in which the narrator was raised 2. Joey 3. John Burke 4. Miss Lottie 5. The marigolds 6. Lizabeth