Imagine you are reading a story in class and the teacher asks you the theme. Often class members will provide different answers. This might make you wonder if there is a single right answer. Since the theme is the moral or topic of the story, most stories can and do have more than one. For example in the story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, in this story more than one theme is shown and perceived through the protagonist Lizabeth. Examples of these themes are poverty, maturity and the relationship between innocence and compassion. All this can be found in modern life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The setting of the entire story features the theme of poverty, which was common during the Great Depression. In these difficult times, Lizabeth's parents are constantly working to provide for the family and their absence becomes one of the things that motivates Lizabeth's anger. When Lizabeth hears her father cry to her mother over his deep feelings of worthlessness, due to his inability to work and provide for his family, it causes Lizabeth to gain uncontrollable rage which leads to the destruction of Miss Lottie's marigolds. (pages 221-222, Collier) Nowadays, problems such as hunger, thirst, and disease have more than one connection to poverty. Poverty means that people do not have the minimum amount of food and shelter necessary to sustain life, possibly experiencing permanent problems. The lack of materials can lead people to carry out irrational actions such as stealing or carrying out illegal work. These results encourage further problems, such as going to prison causing the family to go into further debt for charges or bail loans. The destruction of Miss Lottie's marigolds leads to the themes of maturity, innocence and compassion, all of which tie together. In lines 370-375, Lizabeth states that “only through the loss of innocence can compassion be achieved.” In his case, the loss of innocence will result in maturity. As Lizabeth reflects on how ashamed she was of standing among the ruined marigolds, a sudden realization of her lost innocence gave her maturity. Then, when she was older, Lizabeth realized that the reason she was ashamed was because she had destroyed the only beauty that Mrs. Lottie had created in the midst of poverty and ugliness. The moment of lost innocence grants Lizabeth her maturity and compassion. Nowadays, “people think that the loss of innocence means the loss of virginity, but this is far from the case. Innocence involves a blind acceptance of things as they are, an ignorance of the area beneath the surface. ” (lines 369-373, Collier) “This was the beginning of compassion, and one cannot have both compassion and innocence.” (lines 374-375, Collier) To know compassion is to have awareness of the suffering of others with sympathy for the events that affect their life.You may have experienced this when your friend's pet or loved one died and you comforted them and showed your sympathy in this case it would be the loss of ignorance towards death. Nowadays, maturity is often associated with turning 18, when one becomes an adult. However, maturity is the time when one reaches the most advanced stage in the process of maturation or development people say you look mature for your age, it often means you have an advanced mindset for your age At some point you may have needed to be a more mature person while monitoring i?