Analysis Of Marigolds In To Kill A Mockingbird

Almost everyone has had a tantrum before, so there should be no surprise when it occurs in novels and short stories. Notable characters such as Lizabeth from the short story, “Marigolds”, by Eugenia Collier and Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, impulsively burst with rage, unable to control their emotions because after all, they are just children. The fourteen-year-old African-American girl named Lizabeth along with her family struggle financially in an impoverished town during the Great Depression Era. Despite this, Lizabeth and her little brother enjoy childish acts especially annoying Miss Lottie, an elderly neighbor who cultivates Marigolds in her yard. Later in the novel, Lizabeth lets loose her emotions from her impoverishment and her parent’s financial problems out on these flowers by trampling on them. On the contrary, the elderly neighbor, Mrs. Dubose, in To Kill a Mockingbird is the one pestering Jem, Atticus Finch’s thirteen-year-old son, and not the other way around. The fact that Atticus defended a black man accused of rape displeases her; thus, Mrs. Dubose verbally attacks Jem by comparing his father to African-Americans.This is considered an insult during the Great Depression, the time period of the novel, as black people are viewed as lowly human beings. As a result, Jem takes personal offense to this and strikes back at Mrs. Dubose by ruining her camellias. Even though the physical destructions of the flowers are similar, Lizabeth and Jem’s reason behind it, the consequences and the process of maturation are different.

Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, many characters develop and mature in unique ways. Boo, who fears talking to others, Aunt Alexandra, who is against people of other races or social classes, and Scout, who is young and is not aware of life’s challenges, constantly suppress their emotions and personality. Their life choices and decisions that they make throughout the book, lead them to be more accepting of others and less prejudice. As the book progresses, Boo, Aunt Alexandra, and Scout learn life lessons and develop into mature adults.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Alabama’s state flower, the camellia, to represent prejudice. Mrs. Dubose’s camellias represent the prejudices in Maycomb County that cannot be easily overlooked or disregarded. In chapter 11, Mrs. Dubose says to Jem, “Your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for!”(Lee 135). Consequently, Jem destroys her camellia bushes in an attempt to demolish the racism and prejudice that Mrs. Dubose displays. When explaining the purpose of his invasion, Jem says, “She said you lawed for niggers and trash” (Lee 138). By saying this, Jem explains that his reason for destroying Mrs. Dubose’s beloved camellias is that she was making racist and prejudicial remarks (“What Do the Camellias Symbolize”).

In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee, the author has used numerous different methods to portray the themes of innocence, maturity and growing up. These themes were put in so that the audience could become more empathetic towards the characters, especially the protagonists. She depicts these themes through characters, events, using symbolism, imagery and contrast located throughout the book.

Throughout every life, humans experience a rite of passage where they encounter transformative events that allow them to develop and grow towards adulthood. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street both express this maturation and development from naivety. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem Finch lives in Maycomb, Alabama, a community gripped by racist attitudes during the Great Depression. In several childhood experiences, Jem grows after realizing the true character of his county’s members and gaining a greater sense of compassion towards other people. Esperanza of The House on Mango Street lives in an impoverished community where she is forced to realize the maturation of her sexuality at a hastened pace. Jem and Esperanza begin the journey to come of age through their loss of innocence from their respective encounters of racism and gender roles; however, Jem matures through his disillusionment and gaining of a greater sense sympathy in his experiences with illnesses and racism while Esperanza grows by gaining autonomy and independence because of her encounters with racism and sexual maturity.

Harper Lee, in her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, uses white camellias as a symbol to display the aspects of innocence. The white color of the camellias often goes with simplicity, hope, and innocence.The first time Lee uses the symbol of the camellias is to demonstrate the destroyal of innocence when Jem destroys the camellias. Jem is enraged that Mrs. Dubose insulted his mother, “he did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned” (Lee 103). Crushing the flowers, symbolizes the many ways that those aspects can be destroyed through rash and hasty decisions. This quote exhibits that when Mrs.Dubose insultes Jem's mother that he loses all control and is furious because that is something he

In the short story “Marigolds”, Eugenia Collier uses character development of the protagonist and mood to help the reader better understand that happiness doesn’t come from destroying one’s attempt at making beauty.

Dubsose Lee shows one of the most important scenes of maturation in the novel. Lee intentionally gives the reader a very negative impression of Mrs. Dubose, describing her as so “vicious” that the Finch siblings feared walking by her front porch in fear of “being raked by her wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation” and name-calling (99). Mrs. Dubose is one of the adults that regularly throw insults at the children about their father Atticus for defending Tom Robinson. One particular insult causes Jem to reach his breaking point and he retaliates by cutting down Mrs. Dubose’s camellia bushes, which she values very much. Jem is unable to control his emotions and he disobeys his father when he cuts down the bushes. Lee uses the camellia flowers to symbolically represent Mrs. Dubose and the rest of Maycomb’s racist residents. Lee shows the reader how by trying to protect his fathers name; Jem does something regrettable and destructive. Through this scene Lee shows how hate creates more hate and how the answer to solving a problem is never retaliation. Lee uses Atticus and Mrs. Dubose to convey how trying to find the good in others can benefit

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird a major theme is the loss of innocence. Whether from emotional abuse, racial prejudice or learning, Boo, Tom, and Scout all lose their innocence in one sense or another. The prejudice that each character endures leads to their loss. Through the responses of Boo, Tom, and Scout, Harper Lee shows how each character responded differently to their loss of innocence.

When she insults Atticus by saying he was “no better than the n*ggers and the trash he works for” (Lee 102), Jem goes mad and proceeds to chop off every one of her camellia bushes. Mrs. Dubose is a grand symbol of racism, her insults and slurs pertaining to both Atticus and the blacks apply to the rest of Maycomb. Jem’s rampage on the white camellias indicates his strong desire to dispatch the racist ways of the whites within his hometown, making him seem “simply mad” with a loss of his “tranquil disposition” and “slow fuse” (Lee 102) to those around

This lesson will make Scout sympathise with the people around hers situations, even if she doesn’t like them or can’t relate, which will make her a more sympathetic person and will help her shape her life around her. Furthermore, Atticus had another chance to teach a lesson to one of his children when Jem, his son, in a fit of rage against Mrs.Dubose, a sour old woman who was a neighbor of the Finches, he cut off all of the buds on Mrs.Dubose’s camellias. In response to this, Atticus makes Jem read to her every night as both a lesson and a punishment. Eventually, after her death, he

The beauty of empathy and compassion for others can often aid in the restoration of ones faith in humanity. Throughout Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, sympathy is shown through many actions of characters such as Scout, Jem, Atticus, Miss Maudie, and Boo Radley as you follow each of their respective plights through the small town of Maycomb. The viewpoint of their home changes shape as Jem and Scout are put through the horrible ideals and racism of southern society during the 1930s. Their journey to adulthood is riddled with evil, but even so, their ability to put themselves into others' shoes and find the good in them only grows stronger. Through the teachings of Atticus/Miss Maudie, growing compassion for Boo Radley, and the trial

To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, allows us to look back in time to the 1930s and view the everyday lives of both black and white people during the Great Depression. Published in 1960, the novel is written to show us, the reader, what living was like in the 1930s by exploring the lives of a lower income white family and the life of a black man. Being that the book took place in the 1930s, racism is a prominent subject that frequently appears throughout the subject. Atticus Finch, a white man, is a lawyer who has to stand up for a black man when he is immorally accused of raping a white woman. It can arguably be said that Atticus Finch is not a racist because he may of had his own prejudice, but He still fought with an unwavering determination to try and prove that Tom Robinson was innocent, Atticus also always treated Cal, his maid who was black, with that of an equal status to a white person, and also when Tom Robinson died, he personally came to tell his family that he was dead.

Later on Jem has a bad” encounter with a neighbour, Mrs. Dubose. “ Your father’s no better than the blacks and trash he works for”, she mouthed. Rather to be the bigger person like Atticus had rasied him to be, he decides the best idea to settle things was by hacking away at Mrs. Dubose’s camellias. Atticus was courage enough to make Jem learn his lesson by forcinghim to read to a women who had degradeed his name infront of his children. Scout in particular was accused of having a black loving father and taunted by this.

It is seen how emotional Jem Finch can be many times throughout the novel. One of the most important example of this character trait is when he runs into Mrs. Dubose, a mean old lady seems to take pleasure from verbally tormenting the kids in her neighborhood. She at first starts yelling at Jem’s sister Scout and Jem ignores it, but then she starts mocking jem’s father, which makes him become irrational and causes him to smash all her flowers. Atticus Finch later explains to Jem why she