In the play, Nanny also serves as a constant reminder to Beatrice of what may happen to her someday if she is left penniless at the mercy of her children in her old age. She is an elderly "human vegetable" whom Beatrice has agreed to take care of (for a price, of course). Nanny, one of Beatrice's schemes, lives with Tillie's family. Tillie's sister, Ruth, is mentally disturbed, and often wakes up in the middle of the night screaming in terror because of bad dreams. The family is poor, and Tillie's eccentric mother, Beatrice, is constantly concocting impracticable "get-rich-quick" schemes. Meanwhile, Zindel shows us the complications Tillie must cope with in her everyday life. Under his supervision, Tillie conducts an experiment measuring the effect of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon marigolds. Marigolds is the story of Tillie (a nickname for Matilda), a young girl whose science teacher awakens her interest in atoms, the beginnings of the universe, and experimentation. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, written by Paul Zindel, is loosely based on the playwright's youth, particularly on his mother.
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