Preview

Live Like a Dog, Alone

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
855 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Live Like a Dog, Alone
ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT : "LIVE LIKE A DOG, ALONE"

1. Give a summary of "Live Like a Dog, Alone"

The short story is about two persons, who both live alone. Miriam is a middle-aged single woman. She has a great career and no children. But her heart is dysfunctional, and therefore she sometimes has to go to the hospital.
The story is set inside a taxi, which is driving Miriam home after a visit at the hospital.
The taxi driver and Miriam talks. Not in the usual polite way of conversations between drivers and costumers, but instead of the drivers personal life.
He seems quite depressed and unhappy with his life. He tells Miriam how he feels about living alone and his thoughts about it collides with the way Miriam feels.
During the ride, the two persons get aware of their different perspectives on their, in some point, similar life. That does somehow broaden their horizons, and gives them a new awareness about the way they and other people live.

2. Characterize Miriam and the way she lives

Miriam is a woman who lives alone, with no husband and children. She has been married once, but they didn't get any children. She has a great career, as I see it she's some kind of doctor or specialist in stress. Ironically, she's very stressed herself. That affects that she has to go to the hospital where her heart is stopped and then started over again.
I think that she basically is happy about her life, even though she lives alone. She thinks it shows independence and strength, which both seems to be admirable qualities in our culture.
But at the same time I think that she sometimes is very unhappy. I think that she regrets that she never had children, but she won't admit it, not even to herself. She very much wants other people to like her and she thinks that she has a big responsibility for other people's wellbeing. An example of that is in the beginning of the story. She has just been to the hospital and must be quite exhausted. I think that other people

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    First of all she presented with relationship issues which focused predominantly on her sister and her husband, as well as more generally, in terms of dealing with authority figures and clients. Low self-esteem and low self-confidence were also impacting M.E.’s life. She felt unable to speak her truth and verbalise her needs. Menopausal symptoms, coupled with adrenal fatigue, had demonstrated to her the need to focus on herself for the first time in her life. Finally a lack of clarity as to where she felt she wanted to go in terms of personal progression and achievement was another factor.…

    • 3028 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Law Case Assignment

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The areas of law applicable to the factual scenario falls under remedies, if a party breaches a contract, the other is entitled to monetary damages. The purpose of damages is to put the plaintiff in the position it would have been in had the contract been performed. The courts have a method they have developed to determine the appropriate monetary damages in contract cases. The principle of law that is most appropriate for the factual scenario is referred to as expectation damages. Expectation damages give the plaintiff the benefit of its bargain, putting the plaintiff in the cash position they would have been in as if the contract had been complete. The general formula for expectation damages is Expectation Damages = Compensatory Damages + Consequential Damages +…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tom Brennan

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages

    she’s got no self care, withdraws her self from life bye laying in bed. After she’s seen Daniel you’d always notes a spring in here step …….. once it lasted two days and as she’s starts to get better she starts to cook for her family.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bronx Masqurade

    • 2695 Words
    • 4 Pages

    thinks that he has no opportunity in the future. As the book continues he realizes that he…

    • 2695 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She did not delve into much detail about how her actions affected her relationships with her family and her lovers, which we can assume could be strenuous at times. When she begins to discuss the issues of having children of her own, she even goes so far as to question if people with manic-depression are in danger of becoming endangered. She says that if we eventually rid the world of people with manic-depression using genes and prenatal diagnosis, we risk the world of becoming a much blander place. After some quick research, it becomes clear about her stance on artistic creativity and psychological illness as she has written an entirely different book on the subject. I find this view of hers to be a stretch, and that not every artist must have some sort of psychological…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    She is fighting to find acceptance where she can, whether that be in Naxos, Chicago, New York City and Harlem, Copenhagen, or even in Alabama. I see her suffering from dysthymia which is a functional level of depression, but she is border line to having a form of bipolar disorder. She has times where she feels great, as she comes down from those highs, she feels mad and anxious, most of the time due to someone judging her for some reason. She always finds a reason to become angry and this brings her down into a low in which she wants to find a way to become happy again. I see that when she has this religious vision and marries the reverend that she is in a high mood and then she comes down from that and this causes her to have a form of psychosis begin by the ending of the…

    • 1995 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    This journey taken on the bicycle across several countries with his grandpa helps him in a sense find himself and his new and better identity. This is special to me because as I moved from Minnesota to Texas, I also felt like my identity changed for the…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Her attitude towards her mother shows a lack of empathy and an uncaring personality. I was surprised when I saw her concern for her son, but her character seems more worried about his education than his wellbeing. She joins the opposing side of Roberta’s protest just to go against her. This woman is obviously hurt and shows slight sociopathic tendencies. Reading from her unreliable point of view is intriguing and opens the story for questions and discussions.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anita Diamant, author of the historic fiction novel, The Red Tent, is a devout Jewish-American living in Newtonville, Massachusetts with her husband and daughter, Emilia. She has written five books about contemporary Jewish life, The Red Tent being her first novel.…

    • 5163 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Box Man Solitude

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages

    She provides the two examples of the lady in the shop, having a lonely lifestyle and assumes that she is all alone, she has kids but don’t want to see her, and she also talks about the lady down the hall that spends her time watching tv all day, which would seem normal to us, this provides her with credibility or ethos.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Chapter 1 the author explains the symbolic reasoning of why a character takes a trip. They don't just take a trip they take a quest. Structurally a quest has a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a reason to go there. Quests usually involve characters such as a knight, a dangerous road, a Holy Grail, a dragon, an evil knight, and a princess. The quest also involves the character to gain self-knowledge out of taking the adventure to the stated place where he or she is going.…

    • 1763 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mama in "Everyday Use"

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages

    tough times and makes the most of what she has. She is a woman that tells things how they are, nothing…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Play It as It Lays

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Maria’s family is one aspect of life she is detached from. Maria is separated from her husband Carter Lang. Together; they have one child named Kate. The fact that Maria and Carter are separated seems to evoke feelings of helplessness for Maria. She is left alone and resorts to memories for comfort. Feelings of vulnerability and constraint seem to be a reoccurring theme in her life. Maria has no control over Kate. Due to medical conditions from birth, Kate must be under constant medical supervision. Living under medical supervision is what is normal for Kate. As a result, Maria is left feeling dismal because there is nothing she can physically do to help her daughter.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Feminist's View

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The main female character in “A Sorrowful Woman” had a family. She had a husband and a child who loved her, yet she wanted no part of it. She was depressed and angry. “The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again” (Meyer 39). A feminist critic might say that a woman needs to be more than just a wife and mother. Women want to be educated and work outside of the home. A mother/wife needs to do more than just housework and child care, they need other duties. They want/need to feel more important. Not all women feel this way though, some women’s life goals are to marry and have children like Faye in A Secret Sorrow. Faye so badly wants to have children but is unable. Faye is a stereotype of how women are perceived. In Faye eyes and others’ women are born to marry and have children. Faye feels that the fact that she can’t have children makes her less of a woman. “You wouldn’t want me any more.” “I’m afraid… afraid to marry you” (Meyer 32-33). Faye believes that because she can’t have children, then she shouldn’t marry either because she would be letting her future husband down. Once Faye realizes that you can have children and a family other ways she is once again content with…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was never easy for her, she didn’t have the best life as a kid it was very hard. Her dad was an alcoholic and they didn’t have much money. At least she knew what she wanted, maybe she didn’t know exactly what she wanted long term. She knew what she didn’t want in life.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays