As most parents rear their kids, they put up a curtain which aims to block their children from worries and violence. While it may be the instinctional path, both Gemma and I want to understand our parents and take a glimpse at their personal struggles to help guide them as they guide us. In “Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog”, Stephanie Vaughn writes from a twelve-year-old’s perspective to emphasize the blurred view Gemma has of her parents. When Gemma talks with her mother about going through puberty Gemma observes that “[her mother] must have known immediately what the problem was, but she did not smile.” (41) Her mother conceals her own humor to try to be an ideal mom…
Uses literary allusions as a way to assist her in illustrating the strained relationship between herself and her father, as well as every other relationship in her life. The story jumps back and forth in time with a main focus on Bechdel’s relationship with her father, his untimely death, a presumed sucide.…
3. What does Ray’s stumbling over the name of parent, Mrs P… tell us about him?…
The theme of characters pursuing actions for selfish reasons is exhibited in Roberta’s relationship with her mother. For “[o]nce in the olden days of Roberta’s life there was a dog named Cookie”(9), and Roberta held this dog close to her heart, it was the one figure in her life that she could rely on and have faith in. However Roberta’s mother was “…always screaming at Cookie for everything…screaming…
Nanny’s beliefs often clashed with Janie's. Nanny believed in the thought of living rich. Nanny pushes this belief even when Janie doubts her love with Logan. Nanny confronts Janie’s want for “some dressed up dude” but only “got to look at de sole of his shoe everytime he crosses the street,” (Hurston 23). Nanny reminds Janie that she should look for wealth in a man, not his looks. The hardship of slavery in Nanny’s past has influenced her to believe this and she aims to implement it in Janie. However, Janie continues to deny the belief of wealth over love and vies for independence from Nanny. Janie leads to hate Nanny and realizes that she “had hidden it from herself all these years under a cloak of pity,” and Nanny had betrayed her by “by pinching it [the horizon] in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter’s neck tight enough to choke her,” (89). Nanny’s past life constrained Janie and had held her down and though Janie may have met Nanny’s needs, she ignored her own standards. The only thing that held her down was her pity for Nanny. The novel outline that Janie’s independence from Nanny’s criteria would clash and if Nanny were still alive, they would have fought. Nanny’s need for a lavish life and Janie’s need for a broad horizon intensify the relationship. Janie and Nanny’s rivaling opinions are disputable and this develops their relationship to its…
The character of the Ratcatcher plays an important role in the play “Kindertransport” by Diane Samuels, not just as an antagonist but as a vital symbol in the play’s context. During these pages, Eva’s mother, Helga is reading Eva’s favorite book about the pied piper of Hamlin. But also, during this scene there is cross cutting between Helga reading the book and Faith (Evelyn’s Daughter) also reading the same book, but in a different setting. The Ratcatcher in this scene is portrayed as an evil and dark mysterious figure, whose ultimate plan is not immediately recognised, but towards the end of the scene, the Ratcatcher is the embodiment and symbol of separation, as the scene moves into another short scene which depicts Eva finally on the Kindertransport leaving her family and heading for a new life in England. This scene also depicts some actual accounts of the Kindertransport, as some children and parents alike thought that living in England would only be a short term arrangement as Eva states ‘see you in England’. This is also dramatic irony as the audience knows that not all children were reunited with their families.…
Her childish, innocent attitude is enhanced with how she responds to hearing the news of Eva, as she says ‘’Oh – how horrible’’ which seems genuine as opposed to her father’s rather dismissive attitude. This shows that she is quite compassionate. This is further highlighted when she tells her father that ‘’these girls aren’t cheap labour, they’re people!’’ recognising the problem with his mentality.…
In Katherine Patterson’s “The Great Gilly Hopkins” We meet the main character of the story, Galadriel Hopkins. Galadriel does not care for her name and prefers to be called Gilly. Gilly is an eleven year old girl who was left in foster care by her mother, Courtney. Gilly is a very sharp and self-reliant child who is also very bitter and angry after spending so many of her years in foster care. Gilly undertakes a tough exterior by creating an identity for herself as the “great Gilly Hopkins” to guard herself against any further emotional pain brought on by several of her inhospitable foster parents. Gilly is a loner and a trouble maker who separates herself from those who try to care for her. Gilly is finally matched with Maime Trotter, a foster mother who is a respectable care giver. Gilly dreams of reuniting with her biological mother and one day sends a letter to her mother begging her to come rescue her. While living with Trotter Gilly gets into trouble. She leaves a rude and racist card to her teacher Mrs. Harris. Agnes Stokes, a classmate of Gilly’s who tries to win her friendship. At first Gilly dislikes her new foster home and foster brother, William Teague. Gilly initially enjoys tormenting William but like her new home and Mrs. Trotter eventually grows to like him. Just as Gilly grows a custom to her new life at the Trotter home, Gilly’s mother request that custody of Gilly goes to her biological grandmother, Nonnie Hopkins. While Gilly bonds with Nonnie she learns that her mother, Courtney is coming to visit her in Virginia. Gilly is excited to hear the news but is upset to learn that her mother had no desire to return home with Gilly and was paid by Nonnie to come and visit her. Despite wanting to return to the Trotter home Gilly decides to deal with her new situation in order to make Trotter proud. Throughout the novel, “The Great Gilly Hopkins” we see Gilly, the main character curse on a frequent occasion. Despite the controversy against the use…
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.…
Rowena’s handicapped older sister is herself a symbol of innocence to Robert. She is the essence of kindness and compassion in Robert’s life. When Robert was suddenly ripped from that pure connection, he was left utterly distraught and confused. He blames himself for her death. “It was Robert’s fault. Robert was her guardian and he was locked in his bedroom. Making love to his pillows.”(Findley, 16) Now Robert is distressed as he carries the emotional burden of guilt. Then he is helpless to watch the horrible slaughter of Rowena’s innocent rabbits. The last connection he had to Rowena and everything she represented was killed. The qualities that made him who he was, was brutally taken from him. That day, Robert Ross was murdered.…
Survival, as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, is the state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances. In lay man terms, it is how we act and what we do in order to remain constant in our current state or situation. As children grow into teens their desire to explore the “world” around them increases, coincidently, making the need to survive increase. As students reach middle school, their desires to explore and survive are at an all-time high. Granted survival to most teens is not living with difficult circumstances, in which some cases it is, but surviving the socially acceptable behaviors that are defined by their peers. R.J. Palacio, the author of Wonder, illustrates…
George Harvey is always depicted as the vile, relentless murderer behind the rape and death of Susie Salmon, the protagonist of the novel Lovely Bones. It is easy for the reader to show absolutely no pity for this character. However, in Chapter 15, the author Alice Sebold converts this heartless soul into an individual that urges the reader to offer him sympathy instead. Sebold begins the chapter by reflecting on the tremendous amount of hardships that George Harvey endures in his childhood. As a child, George and his mother depend on each other, as they struggle through life in poverty and dread the presence of his father. Alongside his mother as her accomplice, they turn to theft as a method to receive food and resources behind his father’s back. In success, George receives the one thing he always longs for, a mother’s love. Furthermore, Susie Salmon suggests, “he did it because she wanted him to,” (Sebold, 188) which proves George’s dependence on his mother. Soon, their theft from stores shifts to graves. As George and his mother falls into a deep slumber after a night of grave robbery, they are awakened by a noise from the exterior of the truck where they had slept for the night. As they open their eyes, they stare into the eyes of three drunkards, who are there for George’s mother. With quick reaction and precise planning, George’s mother (with George’s help) runs over a man and rears onto him again. In the end, George only learns “how life should be lived: not as a child or as a woman” (Sebold, 190).…
In the poem Champagne, the use of criticism when referring to his father as ‘The old Bastard’ accentuates both Billy’s sense of alienation and sense of disconnectedness from both family and place. The reason behind Billy’s alienation is not only because of the absence of any mother figure, but because of his dysfunctional relationship with his callous father, who has destroyed Billy’s sense of belonging or connectedness to the family.…
Their last conversation together ascertains her appreciation and trust in her father, as Rex winked and pointed his finger at Janette, asking the usual question, “Have I ever let you down?” He knew that there was only one way Janette could ever answer that question (279). And she did, she smiled like how she has been doing all those year, trusting him, believing in him. Her dad’s weakness did not leave her bitter; instead she rose over the occasion to love the man.…
I recently read a book called A Complicated Kindness, by Miriam Toews. The protagonist is a teenage girl named Nomi. Nomi is growing up trapped in a small Mennonite community called East Village in the middle of nowhere, in Canada. All her life Nomi was told what to believe, with heavy emphasis on the belief that living dutifully and by the word of God in this life would guarantee salvation in the next. In Nomi’s town, you were either good or bad. There was no in between, no room for individuality or mistakes. Those who went through their life there quietly, going to church every Sunday and working at the local chicken slaughtering plant after graduation, were considered to be on their way up. Those were the people who at the end of a long, uneventful life, would be greeted happily by Jesus and live forever in his kingdom of glory. Those who broke out of the mould were doomed. Since non-conformists were clearly speeding down the highway to hell anyways, they were excommunicated from the church and forced to either leave the community or live without recognition from even their own family.…