In Eugenia Collier's short story "Marigolds," we are introduced to Lizabeth, a confused young woman living in The Great Depression, who finds herself in a tough situation with nothing but dust and confusion. Lizabeth, an African American lives with her family, who is very poor, in a barren land. She is on the verge on womanhood, and rather confused with herself. In the town in which she lives, everyone is very poor, and many are jobless. In her town lives Miss Lottie, an old woman who plants beautiful marigolds. Lizabeth hates the marigolds; it disturbs her to see such beauty in the midst of all the pain and ugliness.

Lizabeth reveals to the reader that she is confused and caught in the middle between childhood and womanhood. For example, "(I feel again the chaotic emotions of adolescence, illusive as smoke, yet as real as the potted geranium before...