What is the tone of this story at the beginning when Marian arrives at the “Old Ladies’ Home”? How does the tone shape your expectations for what is to come?

What literary techniques does Welty use to contrast Marian and the two women she visits in the Old Ladies’ Home?

The unnamed woman says to Marian that she has a “You have a nice multiflora cineraria there”(137). How does her knowledge of plants shape your reading of the exchange that happens in the old women’s room?