Citing Evidence/Inferences
What conclusions can you draw about the narrator's present life from the last paragraph in the story? Cite textual evidence.
She has built a comfortable life for herself, as she states that time has taken her "worlds away from that time and palce, from the dust and squalor" of their lives. However, she describes her life as barren, though, she isn't poor financially. "For one does not have to be ignorant and poor to find that one's life is barren as the dusty yards of one's town."
"We children made a game of thinking of ways to disturb John Burke and then to elude his violent retribution." lines 138-140
Do the children deserve retribution for their actions?
Yes. They're deliberately cruel to a mentally challenged man, so they deserve punishment. That punishment, however, shouldn't be violent.
In lines 324-338, identify the different feelings that are causing Lizabeth to return to Miss Lottie's. Provide at least 3 examples.
"the need for my mother who was never there," "hopelessness of our poverty and degradation," "bewilderment of being neither child nor woman," "fear unleashed by my father's tears"
"I feel again the chaotic emotions of adolescence, illusive as smoke, yet as real as the potted geranium before me now." lines 17-20
Explain these similies.
Adolescence was a conflicting time for the narrator, and she's unable to fully understand the feelings and emotions associated with that time.
What does the narrator mean when she says she has "planted marigolds"?
She has looked for or found elements of beauty when circumstances were otherwise ugly.
Miss Lottie's face is described as having a "stern stoicism." Why might her face show this?
She's had a difficult life with poverty and her son but has had to move on regardless. Additionally, she knows the children are taunting her and may not want to show them how much it bothers her.
How does the narrator's understanding of Miss Lottie at the end of the story compare to her feelings about the woman at the beginning of the story?
Lizabeth previously viewed Miss Lottie as a cray old woman obsessed with her flowers. At the end, she feels compassion. "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. She had been born in squalor and lived in it all her life." lines 356-359
"But memory is an abstract painting- it does not represent things as they are, but rather as they feel."
What we see and remember in each memory is based on how it makes us feel.
What's the story's theme? Provide evidence for your response.
There is beauty in ugly situations.
With the loss of innocence comes compassion for others.
Why was Miss Lottie's rage described as impotent?
She's old and no longer powerful physically.
What was the story's setting? How did it affect Lizabeth to the point that she eventually caused her to destory Miss Lottie's flowers?
The shanty-town is full of dusty roads and grassless yards. It's a community of poor people living in ramshackle homes. This oppressive poverty fills Lizabeth with rage and conflicting emotions that she barely understands, causing her to lash out at Miss Lottie.
In lines 287-293, the narrator makes many comparisons. What are they and what is their impact?
"my father, who was the rock on which the family had been built," "sobbing like the tiniest child," "out of tune, like a broken accordion"
They emphasize the narrator's fragility and confusion while highlighting the dire situation of the family due to the Great Depression.
Why does the narrator describe her feelings about the time period and this event with the marigolds as poignant?
The events were important to her and impacted her greatly.