"Oh, how fascinating it was! How she enjoyed it! How she loved sitting there, watching it all!" It is obvious how much pleasure Miss Brill receives from such a humble activity. She has a habit of eavesdropping on other people’s lives and “listening as though she didn’t listen” which gives the impression that this activity helps her cope with being lonely and helps her leave “the little dark room” that she lives in. Miss Brill takes the time to notice every individual around her and hopes that others notice…
A true gift is, in one sense, an unexpected blessing bestowed by a person –or even, perhaps, by fate. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee gifts are used as symbols of the people’s character and also help the reader understand the book better as it unfolds.…
-Mrs. Wilson: mid-30s, thickish figure: faintly stout, seems to be in more control than Mr. Wilson (she completely walks past her husband, but when she needs a favor done, she acts sweetly; “without turning around spoke to her husband in a soft, coarse voice: “get some chairs, why don’t you, so somebody can sit down.”)…
It was obvious to the reader that she was quite on edge due to her hasty manner that she had as she went to greet Mrs. Bowles and Mrs. Phelps when they arrived. Mildred jumped to answer the door, disorganized, comparable to how the natives fled the…
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird presents two types of women in the Depression era south. There are the women who support the feminist movement, and those who are the standard Southern women that society expects them to be. Some women revolt against the standards inadvertently, they are just being themselves. This contrast represents changing attitudes toward traditional roles.…
The grandmother and Mrs. May have many similarities. They consider themselves to be Christians but carry themselves in a different manner. Mrs. May says “she thought the word Jesus, should be kept inside the church building like other words in the bedroom” (O’Connor). To hear others talk about Jesus she felt like a child insulted her. The grandmother says,” It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust” (O’Connor). She loves to discuss God but doesn’t really believe any word God says. Mrs. May and the grandmother are also very negative women. The grandmother complains the whole trip and makes fun of people they see. She sees a negro child and refers to him as a pickaninny. Mrs. May states,…
The most blatant and simple type of humor is found while observing the flat characters of Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Hopewell. These two women begin the story by participating in routine gossip with one another. Their constant bickering and desire to feel superior to the other is humorous because of how uneducated they sound. O’Connor puts them in the category of “good country people” due to the fact that they are pure, simple, and honest. This is ironic because good country people are referred and compared to as trash multiple times in the story. Another example of irony includes when Mrs. Hopewell said that the Freemans were a “godsend,” but the reason she had hired them was that there were no other applicants. Despite Mrs. Freeman being extremely nosy, Mrs. Hopewell ironically refers to her as a “lady and that she was never ashamed to take her anywhere or introduce her to anybody they might meet” (O’Connor 379). O’Connor uses these two women to lighten up the mood of the story before introducing Mrs. Hopewell’s atheist and pessimistic daughter Joy.…
Calpurnia was ecstatic to take Scout and Jem to church with her, she had them dressed up in extravagant clothing, making sure that everything was matching and flawless. “When they saw Jem and me with Calpurnia, the men stepped back and took off their hats; the women crossed their arms at their waists, weekday gestures of attention” (p.118) Jem and Scout felt like royalty because all full of the men and women were treating them as if they were, parting to make pathways for them, it made the children feel honoured in a way, as if they were special. Except for one Negro woman, “What you up to, Miss Cal?” (p.119) said a voice coming from behind them, this woman ‘Lula’ had her weight on one leg and rested her elbow in the curve of her hip, pointing at the children with an upturned palm. By this female’s body language, you could assume she wasn’t pleased with Calpurnia bringing the children to the church. Scout and Jem felt unwelcome because of Lula’s attitude towards Calpurnia, however Calpurnia stood up for and supported them with confidence. From this the kids learned that Calpurnia didn’t care that they were different from each other in societies eyes, she treated them like they were her own family. “We’re mighty glad to have you all here. Don’t pay no ‘tention to Lula, she’s contentious because Reverend Sykes threatened to church her. She’s a troublemaker from way back, got fancy ideas an’ haughty way, we’re mighty glad to have you all” (p.119) When a church member named Zeebo said this to Scout and Jem, they were confident enough to be comfortable in the church, and didn’t let Lula’s opinion bother them any further. After sitting down and letting the Reverend begin his session, the children began to gain an understanding of the black community. After the morning offering for Helen Robinson was requested, Jem and Scout realize…
Miss Maudie is a loving friend to the children who helps them understand their father better. Miss Maudie, who is Jem and Scout’s neighbor, is a kind friend to Jem and Scout because she is always willing to spend time with them. She bakes cakes for them and always lets them play in her yard. Unlike most people, Miss Maudie treats Jem and Scout with respect rather than like children and listens to what they have to say. This leads to them talking to her about the different situations going on in their lives. Through these conversations, Miss Maudie is able to talk to them about their father, Atticus. When Miss Maudie talks to the children about Atticus, she tells them about how lucky they are to have him as a father and about how great of…
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the fire at Miss Maudie’s is symbolic for the transpirations during and after Tom Robinson’s trial. Parallels between the two events are unmistakable. While the fire raged on, for example, all the citizens of Maycomb tried to save Miss Maudie’s house. This can reflect the outcome at Tom Robinson’s trial, when Atticus tried to save Tom. Another time is during the fire at Miss Maudie’s. The townspeople know that Maudie’s blazing house will collapse. Similarly, the citizens knew that Tom Robinson would be arrested after his trial. A snippet of a conversation that Jem and Atticus have shows us that they know Maudie’s house is going down, “‘It’s gone, ain’t it?’ moaned Jem. ‘I expect so,’ said Atticus.”…
Miss Maudie exhibits excellent judgement of character. When considering a person’s disposition, she looks past their physical features and examines their circumstances. Through her forthright speech she speaks truth to the hasty assessments of the Finch children and nosy neighbors. In the case of Boo Radley, Jem and Scout consider him mysterious and frightening.…
"Hey, Miles," Marie said as she sat down. "Hey," I said. "How was your summer?" Will asked. "Okay. Yours?" "Good. We did Jesus Christ Superstar. I helped with the sets. Marie did lights," said Will. "That's cool." I nodded knowingly, and that about exhausted our conversational topics. I might have asked a question about Jesus Christ Superstar, except that 1. I didn't know what it was, and 2. I didn't care to learn, and 3. I never really excelled at small talk. My mom, however, can talk small for hours, and so she extended the awkwardness by asking them about their rehearsal schedule, and how the show had gone, and whether it was a success. "I guess it was," Marie said. "A lot of people came, I guess." Marie was the sort of person to guess a…
Meeting new people is always exciting, but being separated from those new friends can be absolutely agonizing. As time moves on, those new friends become old ones, their company grows weary, and they become just another component in life’s dull cycle. New people are means to a break from the loathsome cycle, adding a challenge to familiarize with them. When separated from these new friends, it is painful because life returns to its previous monotonous state, but the captivation to reencounter remains. In the play Cecily says to Algernon as his leave is being arranged, “it is always painful to part from people whom one has known for a very brief space of time…even a momentary separation from anyone whom one has just introduced is almost unbearable” (Wilde 31). She had only met Algernon, and had only preconceived ideas as to his qualities, so she was disheartened when their separation was arranged. Wilde uses inversion to reveal the pseudo relations in society portrayed through Cecily and Gwendolyn. When the girls meet, after resolving their altercation, become the best of friends and throughout the play, spend countless hours together, mostly spent criticizing their dishonest men. He uses Gwen and Cecily to poke fun at Victorian…
Mrs. Henderson is described as being a woman who is larger than life, and also physically larger than everyone else. She is said to ‘dominate the room’ with her confidence and also ‘occupy the whole of it’. Her confident and bombastic nature juxtaposes with the quiet and cowering presence of Mr. Gallogher who follows behind her. It is said that she is ‘dressed poorly yet tidily’, wearing a shawl and a white apron. The fact that she is dressed poorly suggests that she lives in poverty; however the fact that she is dressed tidily shows a desire to be presentable and not poor. She is similar to Davoren in the sense that although she is poor she is keen to rise above her financial position and better herself. On stage I think she would enter first, with her arms outstretched and open wide,…
The theme of alienation is spotted in the text Heat and Dust, where Olivia, and Englishwoman arrives in India, just to find herself marooned in a whole new culture and world. She “did not speak a word of the language” and could not join in the conversations between the wives of the British officials. She finds the people boring and comments that Mrs Crawford and Mrs Minnies “were so ugly in their dull dresses” and always thought that “they knew best”. She is also often seen “crying with tiredness and complaining” because she is lonely as “Douglas was extremely busy with is work all day”. Due to his increasing workload, Olivia and his relationship deteriorates and Olivia begins to seek an affilation with the Nawab who she realized was “one person in India who was interested in her”.…