"Marigolds" takes place in a shantytown in rural Maryland during the Great Depression. Lizabeth, the narrator of the story, recalls that it was a "dry September" when the situation with Miss Lottie's marigolds took place. Later that night, Lizabeth overhears her father relate how helpless he feels that he can't provide for his family. Hearing her father cry incites Lizabeth into a rage, and she sneaks out and races to Miss Lottie's house in order to destroy all of Miss Lottie's marigolds. Miss Lottie comes outside and discovers what Lizabeth has done. Looking back on that moment, Lizabeth recalls how Miss Lottie was nothing more than "a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility." This event marked
