“Marigolds” Practice Character Sketch Lesson
Review: The Five Methods of Characterization
Physical Description / Direct Narrator Commentary
Dialogue
Action
Reactions of Others
Thoughts/Feelings/Motivations
Whichever you use, you must have quotes!
Share your Elizabeth statement: Elizabeth is…
Convert: Your Elizabeth sentence into an actual
thesis:
What is a thesis? You can also call it a “claim.”
Part 1: Elizabeth from the story "Marigolds" by
E. Collier is . . .
Part 2: This is shown by Collier's use of
__________, ____________, and ___________.
Each blank is a Method of Characterization.
Combine into one sentence.
Example:
Example:
Take a look at a few theses from other freshman
students.
In the story “Marigolds”, the author Eugena Collier
develops the main character Elizabeth from a
rambunctious child into a young woman that
understands others, through her use of dialogue,
actions, and reactions of others.
In the short story “Marigolds” by E. Collier, the
character Elizabeth is portrayed by the author as a
teenager with fleeting innocence and quick anger
through the use of her thoughts, the reactions of
others, and her own actions.
In the story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, Elizabeth
is a young girl who is shown as making impromptu
decisions and being naïve as well as childish
through the setting, her actions and other’s
reactions to her.
REVISE YOUR THESIS TO A FINAL FORM.
If time, write one of your support paragraphs.
You have great examples from the notes we did
together about the story & Elizabeth.
Support Paragraph Examples
Thesis: In the story, “Marigolds,” by E. Collier, Elizabeth progresses through the
innocence of adolescence and into the awakening consciousness of adulthood through
the use of her thoughts, actions, and reactions of others.
Throughout the story, Eugenia Collier develops Elizabeth’s character on her path
through adulthood using Elizabeth’s thoughts. In the beginning of the story, as Elizabeth
has a flashback of her childhood, she recalls aggravating Miss Lottie, an elderly woman
who lived near her. At the time, her mind is still veiled from the world, and she means
nothing of what she does out of anger, or desire to hurt. When her brother suggests
they irritate Miss Lottie, her childish thoughts cannot fully comprehend the effects of her
actions of only that “…annoying Miss Lottie was always fun (Paragraph 16). Later in the
story, Elizabeth’s mind begins to lift the veil. When she overhears her father’s sobs, her
image of his perfection and solidity are crushed and she is left scared and confused,
questioning “How could it be that my father was crying (Paragraph 44)?” And finally, as
she is finally exposed to the reality of the world, the great transition from girl to woman
is complete. After she had destroyed Miss Lottie’s marigolds out of her own childish
anger, her brain finally clicked and she came to the realization that Miss Lottie was not
so much a witch, but “only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the
midst of ugliness and sterility (Paragraph 63).
Thesis: In the story “Marigolds”, the author Eugena Collier develops the main character
Elizabeth from a rambunctious child into a young woman that understands others,
through her use of dialogue, actions, and reactions of others.
Eugena Collier uses the reactions of others to mature Elizabeth who grows up after
seeing Miss Lottie’s reaction to the destroying of her marigolds. The marigolds
represented hope, so when Elizabeth destroys them, she wrecks all of the hope that
Miss Lottie had in her ramshackle house. As Collier describes the scene, “The witch
was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in
the midst of ugliness and sterility.” (pg. 84) When that beauty is taken from her, Miss
Lottie never plants marigolds again, so it is as if she gives up hope. “Of course I could
not express the things that I knew about Miss Lottie as I stood there awkward and
ashamed. The years have put words to the things that I knew in that moment, and as I
look back upon it, I know in that moment marked the end of my innocence.” (pg. 84)
This event matures Elizabeth because she begins to realize other people have feelings
too, and that she needs to respect them. As Elizabeth narrates, she never was the
same childish girl, and has since too planted marigolds, which shows she learned her
lesson.
Thesis: In the short story “Marigolds” by E. Collier, the character Elizabeth is portrayed
by the author as a teenager with fleeting innocence and quick anger through the use of
her thoughts, the reactions of others, and her own actions.
Elizabeth’s naïveté and anger are best shown through her actions. One night Elizabeth
wakes in the middle of the night to hear her parents talking and her father crying. Her
father was “the rock on which the family had been built” (Collier 84), and hearing him cry
shatters her image of his unwavering strength. Elizabeth’s innocence begins to slip
away. She becomes scared of this glimpse of her parents’ world, so different from her
own, and channels that fear into anger. She rushed out of her house, “leaped furiously
into the mounds of marigolds and pulled madly, trampling and pulling and destroying the
perfect yellow blooms” (Collier 83-84). Elizabeth doesn’t understand what she has done
until she realizes Miss Lottie, who owned the marigolds, saw what had happened. Then
as Elizabeth “gazed at the immobile face with the sad, weary eyes, [she] gazed upon a
kind of reality which is hidden to childhood…Whatever verve there was left in [Miss
Lottie], 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” (Collier 84). Elizabeth
realizes that she has destroyed Miss Lottie’s hope. Her innocence is gone now, and she
suddenly feels ashamed. As E. Collier expertly illustrates, Elizabeth is a teenager with
sudden anger and passing innocence.
Thesis: In the story, “Marigolds,” by E. Collier, Elizabeth
progresses through the innocence of adolescence and into
the awakening consciousness of adulthood through the
use of her thoughts, actions, and reactions of others.
Throughout the story, Eugenia Collier develops Elizabeth’s
character on her path through adulthood using Elizabeth’s
thoughts. In the beginning of the story, as Elizabeth has a
flashback of her childhood, she recalls aggravating Miss
Lottie, an elderly woman who lived near her. At the time,
her mind is still veiled from the world, and she means
nothing of what she does out of anger, or desire to
hurt. When her brother suggests they irritate Miss Lottie,
her childish thoughts cannot fully comprehend the effects
of her actions of only that “…annoying Miss Lottie was
always fun (Paragraph 16). Later in the story, Elizabeth’s
mind begins to lift the veil. When she overhears her
father’s sobs, her image of his perfection and solidity are
crushed and she is left scared and confused, questioning
“How could it be that my father was crying (Paragraph
44)?” And finally, as she is finally exposed to the reality of
the world, the great transition from girl to woman is
complete. After she had destroyed Miss Lottie’s marigolds
out of her own childish anger, her brain finally clicked and
she came to the realization that Miss Lottie was not so
much a witch, but “only a broken old woman who had
dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility
(Paragraph 63).
Thesis: In the story “Marigolds”, the author Eugena Collier
develops the main character Elizabeth from a
rambunctious child into a young woman that understands
others, through her use of dialogue, actions, and reactions
of others.
Eugena Collier uses the reactions of others to mature
Elizabeth who grows up after seeing Miss Lottie’s reaction
to the destroying of her marigolds. The marigolds
represented hope, so when Elizabeth destroys them, she
wrecks all of the hope that Miss Lottie had in her
ramshackle house. As Collier describes the scene, “The
witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman
who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness
and sterility.” (pg. 84) When that beauty is taken from her,
Miss Lottie never plants marigolds again, so it is as if she
gives up hope. “Of course I could not express the things
that I knew about Miss Lottie as I stood there awkward
and ashamed. The years have put words to the things
that I knew in that moment, and as I look back upon it, I
know in that moment marked the end of my innocence.”
(pg. 84) This event matures Elizabeth because she
begins to realize other people have feelings too, and that
she needs to respect them. As Elizabeth narrates, she
never was the same childish girl, and has since too
planted marigolds, which shows she learned her lesson.
Thesis: In the short story “Marigolds” by E. Collier, the
character Elizabeth is portrayed by the author as a
teenager with fleeting innocence and quick anger through
the use of her thoughts, the reactions of others, and her
own actions.
Elizabeth’s naïveté and anger are best shown through her
actions. One night Elizabeth wakes in the middle of the
night to hear her parents talking and her father crying. Her
father was “the rock on which the family had been built”
(Collier 84), and hearing him cry shatters her image of his
unwavering strength. Elizabeth’s innocence begins to slip
away. She becomes scared of this glimpse of her parents’
world, so different from her own, and channels that fear
into anger. She rushed out of her house, “leaped furiously
into the mounds of marigolds and pulled madly, trampling
and pulling and destroying the perfect yellow blooms”
(Collier 83-84). Elizabeth doesn’t understand what she has
done until she realizes Miss Lottie, who owned the
marigolds, saw what had happened. Then as Elizabeth
“gazed at the immobile face with the sad, weary eyes,
[she] gazed upon a kind of reality which is hidden to
childhood…Whatever verve there was left in [Miss Lottie],
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” (Collier 84).
Elizabeth realizes that she has destroyed Miss Lottie’s
hope. Her innocence is gone now, and she suddenly feels
ashamed. As E. Collier expertly illustrates, Elizabeth is a
teenager with sudden anger and passing innocence.