©2000−2005 BookRags, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The following sections of this BookRags Premium Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare &Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources. ©1998−2002; ©2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design® and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license. The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". © 1994−2005, by Walton Beacham. The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". © 1994−2005, by Walton Beacham. All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copywritten by BookRags, Inc. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution or information storage retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher.…
Strindberg created a character that is driven by hereditary tendencies. Miss Julie’s mother is one of the most prominent absent characters of the play and holds a strong power over her daughter’s personality and…
The protagonist in the novel, Sethe, is deprived of her femininity by being denied motherhood. Infants born into slavery are typically removed from their mothers to disallow any chance to form emotional attachment, making it easier to debase women as human beings by denying them the natural desire to mother their children. The idea of motherhood and a mother’s identity was not just seen in the physical separation between a mother and her child. In an attempt to save her children, Sethe sacrifices herself. In a very abusive and animalistic fashion, Sethe loses the essence of motherhood, her breastmilk. Throughout the novel, Sethe focuses on her breast milk, the life-force she is naturally supplied…
compassion throughout the play. She is a symbol of the wrongly convicted. This web of…
Abigail Williams is selfish, manipulative, and a compulsive liar. The entire play wouldn’t exist, if Abby hadn’t have been so jealous and selfish. It was Abby’s fault that the girls were in the woods with Tituba trying to cast a spell on Elizabeth Proctor, because Abby is in love with her husband John. The whole reason the Salem Witch Trials even started was because Abby was in love with a man that wasn’t her’s to have in the first place, and she wanted to do anything possible to get rid of his wife so that she could replace her.…
At the turn of the 20th century, women were considered inferior to men: they were only required to stay at home, take care of households and children. “The Chrysanthemums”, as told by John Steinbeck, is a story of a woman during that period who tries to change the course of her destiny. In this story, the two-fold issues of femininity and symbolism play a critical part in explaining this helplessness. Steinbeck uses the narrative to signify the hope for change of the woman as well as her character by illustrating different similarities between Elisa and her flowers. Readers are able to comprehend how a lady feels when she is caged within her life, and the struggles to disengage from such oppression. At the end of the story, the writer expresses a sense of hopelessness for Elisa because, although she might try as much as possible to free herself, reality will rise up and keep her entrenched in a subdued role.…
The narrator, Amanda Coyne, begins her essay from the mother’s perspective. She describes herself visiting her sister in Federal Prison Camp with her nephew. The story is focused on the relationship of separated children and their imprisoned mothers. The narrator describes the mother’s unusual response to their children in regards to the smell of the flowers bouquet. The way that mothers were referring to the smell so significant gives a visualization of a deep longing and separation in their hearts. The common use of anecdotes and juxtaposition in this writing stands out as a useful tool to describe the characters. The use of a brief narrative to describe kids shows a bit of resentment children.…
The central idea in this story seems to be the mother’s search of an understanding of her daughter’s personality and outlook on life. The majority of the story is the mother trying to depict reasons for why her daughter is the way she is, so delicate, reserved, needless, and even unhappy at times. She seems to also defend her parenting choices by making excuses or blaming the urges of others in order to not have all the blame on her. She speaks about how she had no other option but to put her in the care of someone else at the age of two, even though she knew the teacher was “evil” (Pg. 925). “It was the only place there was…the only way I could hold a job” (pg. 925).…
The short story of “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid is about a mother and her relationship with her daughter. It is a harsh one sided conversation between the narrator and her mother, with the mother doing all the talking. The story gives a rich description of what her mother expects from her in all aspects of her life, from chores, to how she plays, to what she sings in church. From each line you see the viewpoint of how her mother sees the world, what is proper in her eyes and her expectations for her daughter. Throughout the story the symbolism gives deeper meaner to every verse and shows deeper insight to their realsonship.…
One of the fundamental concerns of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca is the fragile relationship the narrator develops with traditional ideals of womanhood and femininity, and the consequences that arise from the obsessive pursuit of such ideals. This conflict in ideologies is apparent in several instances, one of them being in the marriage between the narrator and Maxim De Winter; the narrator’s passage into womanhood is interrupted at a crucial point in her development, as she meets her husband who is twenty years her senior when she is in state in-between youth and impending adulthood. Her development, or lack of it, is evidently in a delicate state before the pressures of pleasing a far more mature aristocratic partner is added…
At the time the Salem witchcraft trials began, Mary Warren was twenty years old and employed as a servant in the household of John Procter of Salem Village. Before her first formal examination on April 19, 1692, Warren participated mildly in the afflicted girls' accusations. Both John and Elizabeth Procter disagreed with the conduct of the trials. Therefore, when John Procter discovered that Mary Warren participated in the accusations he threatened to whip her until her senses returned. After Mary Warren stayed in town the night of Rebecca Nurse's examination, Samuel Sibley went to court and testified to Procter's opinions about the accusers and about Mary's participation in the accusations. Sibley claimed that: "Proctor replyed if they [the accusers] were let alone so we should all be Devils & witches quickly they should rather be had to the Whipping post but he would fetch his jade [Mary Warren] Home & thresh the Devil out of her & more to the like purpose crying hang them, hang them. And also added that when she [Mary Warren] was first taken with fits he kept her close to the Wheel & threatened to thresh her, & then she had no more fits till the next day he was gone forth, & then she must have her fits again firsooth" (SWP II: 683-684)..…
Williams also reinforces his implied themes with many motifs and symbols, such as music, drunkenness, and bathing. Towards the end of scene three, Blanche turns on the radio and “waltzes to the music with romantic gestures [while Mitch imitates] like a dancing bear” (57). Because Blanche is accustomed to her insanity, which is represented by the Varsouviana Polka, she is able to move along with the music fine while Mitch, who is accustomed to reality (and has primitive traits), is unable to gracefully match Blanche’s movements and grace. Not only does the Polka music represent Blanche’s descent into insanity, but also tends to appear at moments when she is in a state of panic. Secondly, drunkenness is a major symbol throughout the play. Stanley states that “[one thing that] belongs on a poker table [is] whiskey” while Blanche lies and says “[she isn’t] accustomed to having more than one drink” (54).…
“This search takes psychological and archetypal turns as Lily confronts her own implication in her biological mother’s death. Her own link to the mother, she never really knew, is a picture of a Black Madonna with a South Carolina town printed beneath it. Kidd ties all the frayed strands of past to present…
In response to the fugitive slave act of 1850, Stowe wrote Uncle Tom Cabin denouncing the rule that forbids helping or sheltering those fugitive. As a matter of fact, the central objective from writing this book is that to shed the light on the evil of slavery in north, so that may wake people up to react against this cruel matter. Astonishingly, the book was one of the factors that triggers the civil war between North and South to free the slaves. Beside to this central target of the book, it is considered as a feminist novel as well, yet it is written before the widespread growth of the women’s rights movement in the late of 18th century. Actually, there are some people, however, claim that this novel is not a feminist novel because as Tracey Thornton said in his article" ....Stowe empowers woman to change the complexion of society...yet on other hands, this power is only handed to them in the private sector, not the public....." Namely, he says that Stowe made most of the woman in the novel being active throughout their typical role as being mothers and wives, so there are still restrained to their statues without expanding to the better. However, manifesting women in such a way without that much progress regarding their case is a good start to talk about this issue because in that time the feminist movement has not reached the core yet, so it is more suitable to hint and imply to the matter in indirect way. In fact, Stowe reflects the power of women by three images throughout the novel.…
Though Helen Burns is a short- lived character, her appearance in the book is significant on a symbolic level. In the novel, Helen epitomizes religious devotion and Christian principles, with the idea of ‘love your enemies’ summarizing her beliefs. Helen’s religious beliefs define her character and are referenced to help demonstrate the missing relationships in her and Jane’s life, as a result of being orphaned. Her religious conduct provides a comfort to her, and later on a comfort to Jane when confronted with her dying friend. The friendship formed with Helen greatly affects Jane and teaches her a lot, including how to mask her passion. Helen is the first person we see Jane form a friendly and intimate relationship with, increasing the impact and significance of Helen’s death scene; which can be viewed as a pivotal moment in Jane’s life, and a possible symbol of the death of her passion.…