“Difficult times show someone's true character.” An anonymous author stated this quote to provide an image of Americans’ lifestyle during The Great Depression. In the short story, “Marigolds”, Eugenia Collier uses imagery to convey the difficulty of life and uncertainty of many Americans experienced by showing Americans’ will to survive, the fragility of the stock market, and their wavering hope even during the darkness.
In the beginning of the story, “Marigolds,” Eugenia Collier portrays the image of her’s and thousands of other Americans’ difficult childhood. In paragraph 3 she describes her childhood as “...futile waiting was the sorrowful background music of our impoverished little community when I was young.” Throughout a majority of …show more content…
18). This expression represents Lizabeth’s neighborhood and many other neighborhoods throughout the U.S. during the Great Depression. People did not have the money or resources to take care of themselves, let alone their homes. Many citizens ended up losing their home and became homeless. She further describes the home by writing “A brisk wind might have blown it down…”(Collier par. 19) Mrs. Lottie’s home symbolizes the crash of the stock market, which began the Great Depression. As the stock market built back up, it became very fragile.The smallest problem could send it crashing back down and thousands of people back into poverty. It also represents the vulnerability American citizens suffered through. They did not know what to do after a lot of their possessions were taken away. Their possessions were taken and their hope was diminished.At the beginning of the great depression Americans had an abundance of hope, but as time went on their hope of ever returning back to normalcy was demolished. The imagery used in paragraphs 18 and 19 shows Americans uncertainty during and after the Great Depression. Their possessions not only represented the lack of resources they had but also their hope being stripped from
In the beginning of the story, “Marigolds,” Eugenia Collier portrays the image of her’s and thousands of other Americans’ difficult childhood. In paragraph 3 she describes her childhood as “...futile waiting was the sorrowful background music of our impoverished little community when I was young.” Throughout a majority of …show more content…
18). This expression represents Lizabeth’s neighborhood and many other neighborhoods throughout the U.S. during the Great Depression. People did not have the money or resources to take care of themselves, let alone their homes. Many citizens ended up losing their home and became homeless. She further describes the home by writing “A brisk wind might have blown it down…”(Collier par. 19) Mrs. Lottie’s home symbolizes the crash of the stock market, which began the Great Depression. As the stock market built back up, it became very fragile.The smallest problem could send it crashing back down and thousands of people back into poverty. It also represents the vulnerability American citizens suffered through. They did not know what to do after a lot of their possessions were taken away. Their possessions were taken and their hope was diminished.At the beginning of the great depression Americans had an abundance of hope, but as time went on their hope of ever returning back to normalcy was demolished. The imagery used in paragraphs 18 and 19 shows Americans uncertainty during and after the Great Depression. Their possessions not only represented the lack of resources they had but also their hope being stripped from