Zindel's Marigolds and Symbolism

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Penina Beede Honors World Literature Paul Zindel Play Essay Friday, October 5, 2012 Tillie Hunsdorfer, as the Marigold After a person goes through something, no matter how awful the experience was, the person knows he or she has been shaped based on that event. One can be thankful, or bitter, or remorseful about how the experience has shaped them. Maybe when one is experiencing this hardship he or she can take solace in the fact that it is for the best, and he or she will one day be thankful for the hardship. In the play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel, Tillie is a smart girl, living in a household with an abusive mother who is emotionally disabled, a sister who is senseless and prone to convulsions. The play takes place as Tillie is discovering her talent for and interest in science, as she embarks in her project for the science fair. Tillie tests marigolds raised from seeds exposed to radioactivity. The seeds of the plants exposed to the gamma radiation have different reactions based upon how close they are to the gamma rays. Tillie’s experiment is a metaphor for her own life. although Tillie is exposed to such a volatile environment in her home, she realizes that she will prevail, and will somehow be thankful for her experience growing up. At the end of Act II, Tillie describes in her of her Science Fair project that the seeds closest to the radiation are the most affected. At the end of her presentation, Tillie says, “… I believe, I believe this with all my heart, THE DAY WILL COME WHEN MANKIND WILL THANK GOD FOR THE STRANGE AND BEAUTIFUL ENERGY FROM THE ATOM” (89). Tillie is not only speaking about her plants’ reaction to the radioactivity, but her own experiences in her life. Just as we cannot yet fully understand the ways that the gamma rays have affected the plants, Tillie knows she does not yet understand the

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