Blogger #13- Michelle Guo- Period 7- 3/10/21- Day C

 Aim

How does a writer create effects through the connotations of words and images?

Do Now
Describe an event in your life that at first seemed like fun, yet after the incident concluded you were ashamed or disappointed with yourself. Why do you believe you felt that way? (Whole Class Discussion)

We began the class with a whole class discussion based on the do now. A few students shared out their experiences such as Lapyan who explained how he used to share random facts he knew during class but stopped since he thought it made him look weird. Ms. Peterson then shared an experience of her own from when she was young that at first seemed like fun but ended with a feeling of being ashamed or disappointed. Ms. Peterson spoke about how she painted a black lacquered piano with hot pink nail polish and that to this day she still feels great shame and disappointment since her family still has that piano. We concluded that these events are not uncommon and that they happen to all of us. At some point in life, we will experience a feeling of shame or disappointment for something. This message relates to our previous homework, which was to read and annotate a story called “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier. “Marigolds” was a story that was based on a topic of regret as well as shame and disappointment. 

Kahoot

After discussing the do now, the class transitioned to the kahoot that Ms. Peterson prepared to earn team points for our respective teams based on the reading of “Marigolds” which we did for homework the day before. 

Team Collaboration (responses to each question are shown below) 

After completing the kahoot we were directed to work as a group collaboratively to answer questions based on the short story "Marigolds" by Eugenia Collier

• Please answer the following questions COLLABORATIVELY with your TEAM, based on your annotations from the story. Additionally, rephrase ALL questions as part of your answers, and make sure to fully develop ALL responses by answering ALL components of each question.

1. In Paragraph 22, why are the marigolds so important to Miss Lottie, and why do the children hate them?

a. What stands out about the imagery in paragraphs 22 and 27?

The imagery in paragraphs 22 and 27 stand out since it describes the beautiful and bright marigolds which are so different in comparison to the rest of Miss Lottie’s house. The paragraph states “Beyond the dusty brown yard, in front of the sorry gray house, rose suddenly and shockingly a dazzling strip of bright blossoms, clumped together in enormous mounds, warm and passionate and sun-golden.”

2. Describe the internal conflict occurring for the narrator, Lizabeth. Find “textual evidence” to support your statement.

The internal conflict occurring for Lizabeth is that Lizabeth battles herself with innocence and growing up. In the story Lizabeth looks beyond herself and into the depths of another person and learns about compassion. In the text it states “Suddenly I was ashamed, and I did not like being ashamed. The child in me sulked and said it was all in fun, but the woman in me flinched at the thought of the malicious attack that I had led.”

3. Lizabeth overhears her parents’ conversation. How does it make her feel? What is the consequence of her hearing this conversation?

When Lizabeth overhears her parents’ conversation it made her feel very upset and bewildered because while overhearing her parents talk she heard her father cry. Lizabeth never heard a man cry before and to see her father like that made her feel bewilderment and fear. She always saw her father as a strong man who was the rock of the family and hearing her father cry made her feel the exact opposite. After overhearing the conversation, Lizabeth felt alone and so she woke up Joey to go with her outside. Lizabeth walked over to Miss Lottie’s house and there she destroyed all the marigolds in the garden out of a great impulse for destruction.

4. What can you infer from the text as to Lizabeth’s reasons for her final act of destruction?

I can infer from the text that Lizabeth’s reasons for this final act of destruction was that she was filled with emotion which was why she went to Miss Lottie’s house and destroyed all the marigolds in the garden. The text states “I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst—the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father’s tears.”

5. Paragraphs 57 &  60 are especially rich in Juxtaposition. (Contrasting)

Juxtaposition: (pronounced juhk-stuh-puh--zish--uh-n) is the placement of two or more things side by side, often in order to bring out their differences. Imagine a man walking a well-groomed dog on a pink leash on one hand and a rough Rottweiler on a spiked collar on the other hand. The juxtaposition could be shocking, humorous, or just plain strange. Regardless, this literary term calls attention to two distinctly different things by placing them right beside one another, or juxtaposing them.

Examine the diction and imagery and show your understanding of juxtaposition by identifying two images or words set up for comparison.

One example of juxtaposition in paragraph 57 is the line “I leaped furiously into the mounds of marigolds and pulled madly, trampling and pulling and destroying the perfect yellow blooms.” This sentence contrasts the beautiful yellow flowers and the ugly actions of Lizabeth. Another example of juxtaposition from paragraph 60 is the line “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.” The narrator no longer saw Miss Lottie as a terrible witch and instead a broken old woman.

6. Consider the last sentence of the story...

“And I too have planted marigolds.”

...and make inferences about whether the narrator is speaking literally, figuratively, or both.

I infer that the narrator is speaking figuratively and that the sentence “And I too have planted marigolds” means that the narrator dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness. She now has to look for the things in her life that are beautiful.

Class Discussion

Following the group activity, the class all gathered back in the main room to discuss our answers to the six questions we answered in our groups. For the most part we all had similar answers to the questions except for the last question, which is where responses differed. A few of my fellow peers believed the narrator spoke literally rather than figuratively, and that narrator planted marigolds after that experience with Miss Lottie. However, there is no wrong answer to this question since there is no way of knowing if the narrator was speaking literally, figuratively, or possibly both. 

Individual Activity (response is shown below)

Brainstorm here! Try to describe the narrator’s voice. 

• Think of ways to explain how the writer’s diction and imagery create this voice. 

• You might also mention other literary elements, such as juxtaposition, that contribute to the narrator’s voice or point of view.

The narrator’s voice is first person and is filled with all sorts of emotions, the writer creates this voice by using imagery that describes the vivid scene such as  “And then I was sitting in the ruined little garden among the uprooted and ruined flowers, crying and crying, and it was too late to undo what I had done.” The writer also chose very descriptive words to describe how Lizabeth feels in the story by stating “the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father’s tears”

Reflection

What did I learn?

Why did I learn it?

How will I use what I learned?

Today, I learned about the short story "Marigolds" and its topic of regret and disappointment. Marigolds is a story told by someone who once did something that seemed fun at first but ended in feeling ashamed and disappointed. I also learned about juxtaposition and how it can be used to contrast two different things. In the short story “Marigolds” the author used juxtaposition to bring out the differences between two things. Along with learning about juxtaposition, my knowledge on literary devices we learned in the past such as connotation, diction, and imagery also grew. I learned that diction and imagery are often in sentences that show juxtaposition, since word choice and images can be used to contrast two different things. Connotation, which is the ideas or feelings that a word invokes was used throughout the story to create different effects in the story. Authors tend to express a deeper meaning in their stories, and when they do, they use connotation to create different effects in their story. I learned this to gain a deeper and greater understanding of literary devices and how they are used in stories so that in the future I will be able to use these literary devices in my own stories. I will incorporate literary devices such as connotation, juxtaposition, diction, and imagery in my writing to create different effects as well.