Eugenia W. Collier’s short story, “Marigolds”, and Amy Tan’s short story, “Two Kinds”, contain the common thread of loss of innocence. In Collier’s short story, Lizabeth has not lost her innocence, therefore neglects the fact that her actions may be causing harm to others. In Tan’s short story, Jing-Mei does not realize that her mother only wants her to accomplish the best. Each character progresses throughout the stories and realizes that their actions were not the best. This progression can be described as the loss of innocence. At the end of each story, Lizabeth and Jing-Mei understand what was done and resolve. In the beginning, the innocence of both characters was contained within themselves. They had no understanding of the outcome
