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Marigolds symbolize life, birth, and the natural order in The Bluest Eye. Claudia and Frieda plant marigolds, believing that if the marigolds bloom, Pecola's baby will be born safely. Symbolically, the marigolds represent the continued wellbeing of nature's order, and the possibility of renewal and birth. But the flowers never bloom, and Pecola's baby dies, suggesting that the natural order his been interrupted by the incestuous nature of her pregnancy. Claudia also states that marigolds did not grow anywhere in the nation because the earth was hostile to certain kinds of flowers. Metaphorically, the flowers represent the black population, who are unjustly denied the opportunity to live freely. Racism, therefore, also stands as an interruption in the natural order.
Marigolds Quotes in The Bluest Eye
The The Bluest Eye quotes below all refer to the symbol of Marigolds. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Prologue Section 2
Quotes
Quiet as it's kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father's baby that the marigolds did not grow. A little examination and much less melancholy would have proved to us that our seeds were not the only ones that didn't sprout; nobody's did…It had never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. We had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecola's father had dropped his seeds into his own plot of black dirt. Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair.
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Chapter 11
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It was the fault of the earth, the land, of our town. I even think now that the land of the entire country was hostile to the marigolds that year. This soil is bad for certain kinds of flowers. Certain seeds it will not nurture, certain fruit it will not bear, and when the land kills of its own volition, we acquiesce and say the victim had no right to live.
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Marigolds Symbol Timeline in The Bluest Eye
The timeline below shows where the symbol Marigolds appears in The Bluest Eye. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue Section 2
An unnamed narrator (later revealed to be Claudia) explains that no marigolds bloomed in 1941. At that time, the narrator and her sister (later revealed to be...
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Chapter 10
The girls sell packets of marigold seeds, planning to use the money they earn to buy a new bike. Their mother...
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...They bury the money they'd been saving for their bicycle by Pecola's house and plant marigold seeds in their back yard. They believe they will know the miracle has occurred when...
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