In ‘Alias Grace’, one of her most satisfying novels till date, Canadian author Margaret Atwood takes us back into the mid-1800s in the life and mind of Grace Marks, who was notoriously convicted for the murder of her employer, Thomas Kinnear and his house-keeper Nancy Montgomery. Reading Susanna Moodie’s account of the story, Atwood became interested and dug deeper into the story only to find several discrepancies in Moodie’s version of the story. Hence, she started writing her own version of the story, Alias Grace, which although primarily based on reality, is a work of historical fiction.
The central character in the book is Grace Marks, who migrated to Canada from Ireland when she was 13 years old. On the way to Canada, Grace lost her mother because of a tumour that the latter had developed due to the unhygienic conditions on the voyage. After that, the only person whom Grace was close to was Mary Whitney, a co-servant in the Parkinson household. Mary Whitney’s death, due to pre-marital pregnancy and lame efforts to abort the foetus, weighs heavily on Grace who claims to have hea...
The layout of the book devotes each chapter to a key figure in Anne’s case. The story begins, fittingly, with Anne Orthwood, the young indentured servant, who had a brief affair with the young nephew of Colonel William Kendall who was of high social standing in the community. Pagan does a masterful job of describing the human aspect of the people surrounding each case. He ties the human element with the decisions made by the justices of the peace. These ties offer a clear understanding of the malleability of the laws and the legal modifications that were made by empowered justices. For example, indentured contracts became extremely pliable to local interests. Anne’s indenture was sold three times in two years, each was without her consent as would have been needed in England. The second sale of Anne’s indenture provoked the case of Waters v. Bishopp, in which Waters had discovered Anne’s pregnancy and sued Bishopp for breach of contract and selling a “faulty product”. The English followed the caveat emptor rule, in which a...
The Orphan Train is a compelling story about a young girl, Molly Ayer, and an older woman, Vivian Daly. These two live two completely different yet similar lives. This book goes back and forth between the point of views of Molly and Vivian. Molly is seventeen and lives with her foster parents, Ralph and Dina, in Spruce Harbor, Maine. Vivian is a ninety-one year old widow from Ireland who moved to the United States at a young age. Molly soon gets into trouble with the law and has to do community service. Molly’s boyfriend, Jack, gets his mom to get her some service to do. Jack’s mom allows her to help Vivian clean out her attic. While Molly is getting her hours completed, Vivian explains her past to her. Vivian tells her about all the good times and bad in her life. She tells her about how she had to take a train, the orphan train, all around the country after her family died in a fire. She told her about all the families she stayed with and all the friends she made along the way, especially about Dutchy. Dutchy is a boy she met on the orphan train and lost contact with for numerous years, but then found each other again and got married and pregnant. Sadly, Dutchy died when he was away in the army shortly after Vivian got pregnant. When Vivian had her child, she decided to give her up for adoption. Molly and Vivian grew very close throughout the time they spent together. Molly knows that Dina, her foster mother, is not very fond of her and tells her to leave. Having no place to go, Vivian let her stay at her house.
Anna’s older sister Margaret had a baby girl. Anna’s father owned a vineyard and was a wine merchant, while Anna mother was a stay at home mother.
The story also focuses in on Ruth Younger the wife of Walter Lee, it shows the place she holds in the house and the position she holds to her husband. Walter looks at Ruth as though he is her superior; he only goes to her for help when he wants to sweet talk his mama into giving him the money. Mama on the other hand holds power over her son and doesn’t allow him to treat her or any women like the way he tries to with Ruth. Women in this story show progress in women equality, but when reading you can tell there isn’t much hope and support in their fight. For example Beneatha is going to college to become a doctor and she is often doubted in succeeding all due to the fact that she is black African American woman, her going to college in general was odd in most people’s eyes at the time “a waste of money” they would say, at least that’s what her brother would say. Another example where Beneatha is degraded is when she’s with her boyfriend George Murchison whom merely just looks at her as arm
The childhood of Frances Piper consists of inadequate love, loss of innocence and lack of concern, ultimately leading to her disastrous life. As a six year old child, she encounters several traumatic events, explicitly the death of her loved ones and the loss of her innocence. Over the course of one week, there have been three deaths, two funerals and two burials in the Piper family. “Frances was crying so hard now that Mercedes got worried. ‘I want my Mumma to come ba-a-a-a-ack.’”( McDonald 174). As a young child, there is nothing more upsetting than losing a mother. A family is meant to comfort each other to fulfill the loss of a loved one; however, this is not the case in the Piper family. Mercedes, only a year older than Frances, tries to console her even though she herself is worried. The loss of motherly love and affection has a tremendous impact on her future since now her sole guardian, James, expresses no responsibility towards her. Instead, he molests Frances on the night of Kathleen’s funeral to lessen the grief of his lost daughter. As a result “These disturbing experiences plague Frances with overwhelming feelings of low self worth and guilt that haunt h...
I choose to do my biographical paper on Margaret Higgins Sanger, because I admire the work that she done and that is continuing to be done, because of her. She was one of eleven children born to Michael and Anne Higgins; a Roman Catholic working-class Irish American family; on September 14, 1879, in Corning, New York. Margaret’s father a man of the bottle and one who enjoyed talking politics, rather than earning the money needed to take care of such a large family, therefore she spent most of her life in poverty. While I think her father had an impact on the person Margaret grew up to be; it was her mother that really shaped her into the person she was. Along with the eleven children she birthed, Anne also had many miscarriages, Margaret believed that it was the many pregnancies that took a toll on her mother's health and contributed to her early death at the age of 40. (BIO, 2014)
Dead at the age of thirty nine years young, Flannery O’Conner lost her fight with lupus, but had won her place as one of America’s great short story writers and essayist. Born in Savannah, Georgia, within the borders of America’s “Bible Belt”, she is raised Catholic, making O’Connor a minority in the midst of the conservative Protestant and Baptist faiths observed in the Southern United States. In the midst of losing her father at the age fifteen, followed by her diagnosis and struggle with the same physical illness that took him, as well as her strong unwavering faith in the Catholic Church are crucial components of O’Connor’s literary style which mold and guide her stories of loss, regret, and redemption. Flannery O’Connor’s writings may be difficult to comprehend at times, but the overall theme of finding grace, sometimes in the midst of violence or tragedy, can be recognized in the body of her works. O’Connor’s stories are written about family dysfunction, internal angst towards life or a loved one, and commonly take place on a farm, plantation or a family home in the American South. Her stories of ethical and moral challenge blur the boundaries between her Catholic faith and values, which also include the values of the other religious faiths surrounding her in her youth, simply writing of the pain and struggles which people from all walks of life commonly share.
The Infant Child plays a huge role in Blanche’s early life. As a result of her mother’s death, Blanche has a fearful temperament, and
The main characters of the novel are travelling into Canada. The non-established landscape was full of wild animals, Aboriginal people, and whiskey posts. This story of conflict is entwined tightly to the story of love. Three brothers known for different qualities, an intellect, ex-military officer, and an idealist all form different relationships with their father, Henry Gaunt, an English gentleman. Therefore the theme of the story has men with money and power come to Canada with a purpose which also stays true to the historical facts because men have a commanding influence in this times social arrangement and the treatment of women gets explained in this book as a less powerful position.
The body of Kingston's essay refers to a story her mother told her about her aunt. Her mother used stories reflecting events of the family's past to try to teach her important lessons of life. In the story, Kingston's aunt becomes pregnant outside of her marriage. Since the pregnancy occurred during a time period when f...
The narrator, Twyla, begins by recalling the time she spent with her friend, Roberta, at the St. Bonaventure orphanage. From the beginning of the story, the only fact that is confirmed by the author is that Twyla and Roberta are of a different race, saying, “they looked like salt and pepper” (Morrison, 2254). They were eight-years old. In the beginning of the story, Twyla says, “My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick.” This line sets the tone of the story from the start. This quote begins to separate the two girls i...
Agatha Christie depicts a descriptive, fictional murder mystery in the novel ABC Murders. With the help of the narrator, Captain Arthur Hastings, Hercule Poirot solves the murders of four victims who are killed in alphabetical order by Franklin Clarke, more commonly known as ABC. The story elicits copious high points but the rare low point as well. Examples of these aspects can be found within the plot, setting, characters, conflict, and theme of the book. According to Stanford’s Suggested Reading List, the book is considered a “must read.” ABC Murders definitely holds up to the reputation placed upon it by Stanford and would be a favorable choice for anyone wishing to read a well written novel.
Bouson, J. Brooks. Margaret Atwood the robber bride, the blind assassin, Oryx and Crake. London: Continuum, 2010. Print.
Early on the reader is aware that Mary Katherine thoughts are unusual and eccentric for a girl her age. Mary Katherine was brought up as upper class in a small village, living with her family until their sudden death. With only her Uncle and
This essay will describe whether or not Blanches’ unfortunate eventual mental collapse was due to her being a victim of the society she went to seek comfort in, or if she was solely or at least partly responsible. The factors and issues that will be discussed include, Blanches’ deceitful behaviour and romantic delusions which may have lead to her eventual downfall, the role Stanley ended up playing with his relentless investigations of her past and the continuous revelations of it, the part society and ‘new America’ played in stifling her desires and throwing her into a world she could not relate to or abide by.