In staging reality, setting is critical for both Chad and Undine’s performances. In expatriate fiction, Europe is associated with more freedom than Puritanical America and is used as a medium for performers to present and explore both themselves and cultural and social differences between their home in America and abroad. In Going Abroad, William Stowe suggests that Europe is a space in which higher class and non-essential laborers can “prepare for or advance their careers” (Stowe 7). As a continent with a vast collection of cultural goods, Europe conflicts with the barren American landscape. Acquiring a “Europeanized” persona helps Undine and Chad to gain experience that they employ at home, and cultural accumulation provides an advantage …show more content…
As a first generation wealthy American woman, the only good she has to negotiate with is her body and marriage allows her to use this to gain access into higher classes. Undine lacks desire and her emotional distance in marriage causes her to see it as” nothing more than a calculated, profitable, investment” (Cite). As a wife, she is associated with the culture and respect of her husband despite her personal vulgarity. Husbands are a good to Undine. The value of consumption lies in the experience the good promises to deliver and each of Undine’s husbands offer a new role for her to play from respectable socialite to European aristocrat (MacCannell 23). However the irony in Undine’s performance through marriage is that she is a commodity as well and her value rises and falls as her marital status changes throughout the novel. In her marriages, Undine is compared to a stock that is always changing in value relative to external factors. Upon receiving her first divorce she realizes that she is “diminished trading capacity” after failing to obtain a marriage to Peter van Degen and being left alone and unwanted (Wharton 252). While she believes herself to be in control men still dominate the business world and consequently the marriage market. The men she is connected to determine Undine’s social capital. When she is without a man, and not desired by any, Undine realizes she has no value. Even Undine’s name, likens her to a good rising and falling. She is named after a hair-waver her father marketed around the time of her birth. Being named after a product of her parent’s business wealth and one that relates to up and down like a wave, further stresses Undine’s status as a commodity (Wharton 57). Many critics argue that Undine represents a New Women figure in asserting independence and commodifying men and entering the business sphere (Patterson 213). However
The lives we lead and the type of character we possess are said to be individual decisions. Yet from early stages in our life, our character is shaped by the values, customs and mindsets of those who surround us. The characteristics of this environment affect the way we think and behave ultimately shaping us into a product of the environment we are raised in. Lily Bart, the protagonist in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, is an exceedingly beautiful bachelorette who grows up accustomed to living a life of luxury amongst New York City’s upper-class in the 20th century. When her family goes bankrupt, Lily is left searching for security and stability, both of which, she is taught can be only be attained through a wealthy marriage. Although, Lily is ashamed of her society’s tendencies, she is afraid that the values taught in her upbringing shaped her into “an organism so helpless outside of its narrow range” (Wharton 423). For Lily, it comes down to a choice between two antagonistic forces: the life she desires with a happiness, freedom and love and the life she was cut out to live with wealth, prestige and power. Although, Lily’s upbringing conditioned her to desire wealth and prestige, Lily’s more significant desires happiness, freedom and love ultimately allow her to break free.
Aurylaitė, Kristina. Crossing the Boundary, Donning a mask: Spatial Rules and Identity in Daniel David Moses’ and Tomson Highway’s Plays. Cross Cultures: Readings in the Post/ Colonial Literatures in English 89. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007. Print.
From dreams deferred to identity affirmed Lorraine Hansberry’s, “A Raisin in the Sun,” presents readers with many differing themes. The most prevalent and reoccurring theme is the effect money plays on society’s views of manhood and happiness. Readers are shown multiple characters with a diverse view on manhood. From Walter Lee with his matching societal views that a man should be able to provide whatever his family needs or wants to Lena whose views are a biased compilation of her late husband’s behavior and her own ideals, that a man should maintain his honor and protect his children’s dreams.
In Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, the interconnection of people and events, that might ordinarily be viewed as disconnected or unrelated, is implicitly presented in the characters section. Dual roles are implemented by a playwright that has one actor portraying the roles of two or more characters, with or without thematic intentions. The use of “dual roles” in several scenes of this play can be viewed as a demonstration of Kushner’s effort in maintaining the interconnectedness between characters, communities (i.e. queer, heterosexual, AIDS and political communities) and events to which they are relative. This essay will argue that Kushner’s use of dual role’s effectively interconnects characters, events and their communities that may be seen as usually unrelated. Analysis of four specific characters, Antarctica, Oceania, Australia and Europa, in Act Five, Scene Five of “Perestroika”, will demonstrate the connection of each Act Five, Scene Five character, to the actors main character based on the implicit evidence presented in the actors “primary” and “secondary” roles, the scenes dialogue and the character interactions. As one will see, by implementing dual roles, Kushner is able to expand or preserve the concept of a major character while the actor portrays another character, keeping the audience from having to completely renegotiate their knowledge between what they physically see of new characters and actually use the new context to view triumphs and struggles for a major character.
We are introduced to Edna Pontellier, a young woman of twenty-nine years who is married to an older, aristocratic man in his forties. They have two young children, who are cared for by servants, and they live a cultured and pampered life in New Orleans in the late eighteen-hundreds. The family is spending the summer on Grand Isle with several other families. It appears that the husband, Leonce Pontellier, is very self-contained man, in his own world, reading the newspaper and seemingly annoyed at the bustle of life going on around him. Everything is his world, including his wife and children, are prim and proper possessions. His expectation of his wife are to be available to him at all times, serve his desire for intellectual conversation, and if for any reason she is not, he rebels by leaving the house and going to his club. He returns to the mainland during the week and Edna is left with the women, children and the eldest son of the island’s hostess, Robert. Edna and Robert appear to have resonated to each other. They enjoy the same things and have developed a happy and platonic friendship. It is obvious to us that Edna feels a great deal emptiness in her heart and soul. She has always felt her life should stand for something more, although she does not know just what that “more” is. Her re...
Bill Bryson, in the given segment of his novel Neither Here Nor There: Travels to Europe, emphasizes the drastic differences in societies across the Atlantic. Bryson’s purpose is to inform Americans on the substantial changes in culture from the USA, especially New York, to Europe. He adopts a humorous and sincere tone in order to express his experience to the audience, being the American people.
I am a traveler, but I am also a student a Gonzaga University. For the last year, I’ve been traveling the world. I’ve been happy, meeting new people and exploring new cultures while staying in run-down hostels and eating basic meals. I’ve lived in five countries last year and became a traveler. I’ve always wanted to be a traveler and now I finally am. However, it has been engrained in me that I must also be a college student. I chose Gonzaga University and I’ve realized that, even though I was always told I needed to go to college, I actually want to be here. I think Gonzaga will give a girl who has no idea what she wants to do with her life a lot of options and opportunities for figuring that out. But how can I be a traveler who explores that
In the nineteenth century, it seemed impossible to circumnavigate the world in only eighty days. That, however, was exactly what Phileas Fogg did in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. This novel follows the journey of the eccentric Englishman, Phileas Fogg, after he bet he could race around the world in eighty days. Accompanied by his faithful servant, Passepartout, and a scheming detective, Fix, he encountered many challenges he had to overcome in order to return in time to win the bet. In Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne demonstrated how increased industrialization made a profound impact in travel, technology, and business. In addition, Verne shows how industrialization contributed to an increase of nationalism and European imperialism.
The stark divide between love and marriage shown right the way through cannot be comprehended fully by the twenty-first century reader: in today’s society marriage and love are mutually exclusive - you very rarely get one without the other, and if you do it is a big controversy. In the nineteenth century, however, marriage was considered a business transaction, with feelings swept to the side. As women did not have control of their assets nor much in the way of career opportunities, marriage was the only way to gain financial security; if not, they were reliant on their male relations. This is illustrated through the predicament facing the female Bennets. The Longbourne Estate is entailed so upon Mr Bennet’s death, Mr Collins would inherit, rather than any of the daughters. It is due to this that marriage is such a prominent idea within the Bennet household: they, none more so then Mrs Bennet, are fully aware that their future depends on a swift marriage.
No one likes being alone all the time, we all need company and we all like meeting people and learning new things. These are some of the best ways we can enjoy life and all that it throws at us. What better way to meet people than going abroad to study? I tell you, there is no better way. Why do I say that you might ask? Well it’s simple, I did when I was 18 and it has worked out really well. However, there is a catch : you have got to know the language of the country you are going to, so here is the main reason why people should study and learn languages : so they can expand their horizon and acquire more and more knowledge of the world we live in. It has an infinite amount of riches to give to us, if we just ask.
The idea of going to college outside of South Carolina, even studying outside of the country, has always seemed unreachable. My mother, father, or anyone in my immediate family is not able to tell me about an abroad trip in college. Leaving home and attending my mother’s former college has always been a goal of mine. Being accepted into College of Charleston was the pinnacle of my college career at that point. That changed a year ago when I found out that my roommate was applying to study in Spain. My roommate’s reason was solely that it would be a “good look” on her résumé for future employers. Getting to experience something unfamiliar is intriguing to me. What’s learned from this visit is something that’s better explained once someone has
Mrs. Bennet’s behavior during the book can be seen as a common representation of women in a 19th century society and as a way to research marriages during this time period. Readers are often exposed to Mrs. Bennet while she is interacting with her peers socially. "' If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield,' said Ms. Bennet to her husband, 'and all the others equally well married , I shall have nothing to wish for'" (Austen 10). Ms. Bennet's quote shows how little power women in higher classes have in deciding their own future. They are unable to inherit any wealth and it is socially frowned upon for women to work, so women rely simply on their mannerisms and physical appearance to find them a spouse that will financially support them for the remainder of their life. This...
I was inspired to study abroad in England because the country has such a strong cultural identity. When we think of England, we often think about the stereotypical tea drinkers that eat bangers and mash; however England is much more than that. England stood out to me because I felt I knew so much and so little about it. I realized that I knew about the American perception of England and not the real country. Hence why I decided to study at St. Mary’s University, so I could really understand England as a culture and society. I thought studying in London made the most sense because the city is so culturally diverse and aligns with my interests. London is at epicenter for theater, pop culture, fashion, cinema, and I want to experience all of it.
Living in another country is a difficult experience for many people. A common feature of people living in a foreign country is finding them Gathered together in restaurants, discussing about their home and their experiences in the foreign country. Moreover, these groups are not all from the same home country. Often, the interests that landed them in a foreign country are enough to connect them in building the foundations of friendship, like studying same major. However, the only thing that you can see obvisely is fear. As a Saudi student in USA I can say we often have to deal with many administration issues that may even result to the cancellation of one’s citizenship. Like getting USA Green Card. There is a fear of living in another country that never goes regardless of the period that one has lived in a foreign country. However, the interests that landed them in a foreign country, including education and business. It’s the same even the student didn’t come from same place. in fact that they didn't came from the same mother country. This will presents the argument that people living in another country are subject to change depending in economic and political way in order for them to fit in the new country.
There is nothing quite like traveling, going someplace new and finding out more about the world and yourself. Anyone can become a traveler it just takes a little bit of faith and courage. Traveling across the world or even across the country is a learning experience. When you are a traveler you see how people live and how different cultures work. It is the best educational experience you could give yourself. You see how the world works in a way no one can teach you. Seeing different cultures and people help build the person you want to be. If you are a traveler the world influences you, because when traveling, you see the good and the bad, and you learn from the right and the wrong. I am very lucky that I am able to be a traveler and see this