Miss Lottie's House During The Great Depression

Miss Lottie’s old house symbolizes the deterioration of the entire nation during the Great Depression while the marigolds she plants represent hope in the face of despair. Firstly, having Joey deciding to go to Miss Lottie’s house, Lizabeth describes the house as “... was the most ramshackle of the ramshackle homes… The boards boards themselves seemed to remain upright not being nailed together but rather from leaning together like a house that a child might have blown it down…” (pg. 257).The Great Depression is causing much economical falls, giving everyone a negative aura, which is shown using Miss Lottie’s house. Miss Lottie’s house is much “broken” because of the Great Depression. Because of the effects of the Great Depression on Miss …show more content…
There it stood and as far as I know is standing yet—a gray, rotting thing with no porch, no shutters, no steps, set on a cramped lot with no grass, not even any weeds—a monument to decay.” (pg. 257) The Great Depression had a major affect on Miss Lottie, money wise and made her actions the way it is. So many had suffered from money issues, making their life so dark and grey, but Miss Lottie at least has a light in her eyes. Lastly, though the Great Depression brings negativity, the marigolds Miss Lottie plants was her hope, but that hope is taken away from her when Lizabeth, “leaped furiously into the mounds of marigolds and pulled madly, trampling and pulling and destroying the perfect yellow blooms...Whatever verve there was left in her, 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. ” (pg. 263-264) Even though the house was a wreck, the children called her names, the marigolds’ beauty and joy were the only things that gave her