English I
Mrs. Renzenbrink
Name____________________________
Date_________________ Period______
“Marigolds” Study Guide
Part 1: Short Story Elements
1. Theme: What do you think the theme of this story is?
2. Setting: What is the setting (time and place) of the story?
3. Point of View: What point of view is the story told in? How do you know?
4. Characters: Who are the characters in the story (name or description)?
5. Characterization: Find one example (quote) of indirect characterization AND one example of direct
characterization.
a. Indirect:
b. Direct:
6. Conflict: Identify one internal conflict AND one external conflict in the story.
a. Internal:
b. External:
Part 2: Analysis Questions
7. Who is Miss Lottie?
8. Why are the marigolds important to the narrator?
9. Identify how the story changes. Starting with “I was loafing…” to “…Y’all got ‘em all while they was still
green.”
10. Tragicomic means “having both tragic (sad) and comic (funny) elements.” Describe what is tragic about
the children and what is comic.
11. What does the narrator mean when she says “old fears have a way of clinging like cobwebs”? What
type of literary device is this?
12. Why do you think the children “pick on” Miss Lottie?
13. Summarize the conversation that Lizabeth overhears. How does the sound of her father’s crying affect
her?
14. What clues in the text indicate that Lizabeth’s father has been out of work for a very long time?
15. What is the climax or turning point of the story?
16. How does Lizabeth change in the moment she comes face to face with Miss Lottie? What does she
recognize in Miss Lottie’s face?
17. Why does Miss Lottie never plant marigolds again, despite Lizabeth’s “wild contrition” – her sincere
remorse?
18. Interpret what marigolds symbolized to Miss Lottie and what they symbolize to the grown-up Lizabeth?