Marigolds: Discussion & Analysis of Voice
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(created by Kelley Kwok)
What is imagery?
The dictionary definition of imagery is "visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work."
Imagery is a literary device that writers use to create images in the readers' minds, appealing to your five senses, and letting you vividly picture the scene being described.
The use of imagery can not only engage the readers, but can also establish tone and mood as well as make a scene more tangible and real.
One instance of imagery in Marigolds is the beginning, when the narrator was describing the dust—"...the brown, crumbly dust of late summer—arid, sterile dust that gets into the eyes and makes them water, gets into the throat and between the toes of bare brown feet."
What is juxtaposition?
Juxtaposition is when two things or ideas are placed side by side, so that their differences are highlighted.
Characters, actions, ideas, objects, and more are all things that can be juxtaposed.
Example: I hear the sound of soft running water, and I reach my hand out. I feel the warm water, brushing softly through my fingers, and I could even describe this sensation as cozy. Suddenly, the warm running water gets hotter and hotter until it's no longer water; it's a blazing fire. Bright sparks flash before my eyes, and the unwavering flames tower over me, raging higher and higher, the intense heat sucking the breath out of my lungs.
Here, the image of the "soft running water" is juxtaposed, or contrasted with the "blazing fire."
In Marigolds, one example of juxtaposition is the dust and the marigolds. In the first paragraph, the "crumbly dust of late summer" is juxtaposed with Miss Lottie's marigolds, which are described as "a brilliant splash of sunny yellow." This helps illustrate how different the marigolds were from the environment, and help explain the symbolism of the marigolds—they represent "beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility."
What is diction?
Diction is the choices a writer makes to convey an idea or set a tone.
For example, a writer can use formal diction, where they would choose more professional and complex words/phrases/sentences. A writer can also use informal diction, where more casual words are used.
For instance, there is a difference in diction between "greetings, it has been a long period of time since our last encounter" and "hey, it's been a while."
What is connotation?
Connotation is the ideas or feelings that we associate with a word, in addition to its literal meaning.
Denotation is the literal meaning of the words, without the emotions we associate with them.
Example: "Aroma" and "stench" both have the same denotative meaning, but "aroma" has a more positive connotation, whereas "stench" has a negative one. Some words have a neutral connotation, meaning we don't associate positive or negative feelings with the word.
A Brief Analysis of Marigolds
The short story Marigolds by Eugenia Collier is about how the narrator, Lizabeth, goes through a life-changing experience which she gains adulthood from, and reflects on even later in life.
Not only did the narrator learn about more about herself and her growth through this experience, she also learned more about Miss Lottie. In the beginning, Miss Lottie was a "witch", a mean old lady, but after ripping out the marigolds, Lizabeth realized that Miss Lottie was a woman "who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility."
Lizabeth also learns more about people in general, and starts to understand them more, after understanding Miss Lottie. For example, she thinks "innocence involves an unseeing acceptance of things at face value, an ignorance of the area below the surface. In that humiliating moment I had looked beyond myself and into the depths of another person." The narrator realizes that compassion is accepting your faults and understanding a person, while innocence is skipping the understanding and saying you were okay. This moment has a huge impact on the narrator, pushing her out of childhood and into adulthood, making her realize she should try to understand people before making assumptions about them.
Furthermore, through her experience in learning about the marigolds, and seeing Miss Lottie as a person who "dared to create beauty," Lizabeth probably reflects on this and decides to plant "marigolds" in her own life, daring to create beauty in the midst of dust.