A Clan Connected through History No Great Mischief by Alistair Macleod is powerful in its art of storytelling, and provides a clear and concise, yet artistic view into a story told from the view point of Alexander MacDonald, an orthodontist and member of the Chalum Ruaidh clan. Alexander travels regularly to see one of his older brothers, Calum MacDonald, in his apartment in Toronto, Ontario in Canada, where most of the story takes place. The story centers on Alexander more so than Calum’s interactions and memories of childhood. However, tales told to Alexander by his grandparents about his family lineage become entangled with the memories provoked by the visit with his brother. These various tales involve stories of his great-great-great-grandfather, Calum MacDonald, and aspects of his life after coming to the United States as well as other members of the clan, and basically the history of the clan itself. The novel ultimately fuses the past with the present as it seamlessly switches back and forward between the two, highlighting select scenes of the MacDonald family history and its current state. Lineage defines the close-knit relationship held by the members of the Chalum Ruaidh clan in No Great Mischief; this is seen in the interactions between the members of the clan, in the family values held by …show more content…
Throughout the entire story, it is evident that the Chalum Ruaidh clan members have a well woven relationship due to the since of community developed through there interactions. This is seen in the short excerpt from the novel that follows: “Everyone (the clan members of the small town) could see their three dark forms and the smaller one of the dog outlined upon the whiteness over which they traveled.” (p. 48) Before the death of Alexander’s parents and his brother, Colin, who fell through the ice of a strait supposedly frozen solid between two islands, it is evident that the towns people, who were mostly if not all MacDonalds, watched the
A lighthouse’s piercing beam of light shines over the murky land, providing respite—albeit brief—from the harsh battering of the neighboring terrain. Trouble, by Gary D. Schmidt, wraps this picture eloquently in the form of a compelling and captivating contemporary fiction book. Trouble primarily centers around a boy named Henry Smith, who never really understood the formidable potential of the omnipotent entity Trouble in his safe and idyllic life. Henry had always fallen into the dark shadow of his brother, Franklin, as a result of Franklin’s physical prowess. “…especially since he could never hope to match the records that Franklin—Franklin Smith, O Franklin Smith, the great lord of us all, Franklin Smith—had put up on the wooden Athletic Records panels for his rugby play.” (7). Henry’s brother, however, was extremely arrogant, and put his brother down at every chance he got, which causes Trouble to appear. “‘You do that climb, you have guts…you don't have any guts.’ Franklin punched his arm. Too hard. Then he laughed and walked away.” (38). Although the word “Trouble” usually brings to mind pictures of kids attempting to pull their parents’ hair out, it strikes the Smith family in a very different way: with the death of their Franklin due to being run over by Chay Chouan, a Cambodian immigrant. The family is utterly devastated with Trouble’s unforeseen arrival. “And his father hadn't shaved—which was, Henry thought, the first time that had ever happened.” (11). Having been promised to be taken to Mount Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine, right before Franklin had died, Henry takes the news the worst. His thoughts completely revolve around Katahdin, and how he would hike it at any cost, if just to...
Michael Patrick MacDonald lived a frightening life. To turn the book over and read the back cover, one might picture a decidedly idyllic existence. At times frightening, at times splendid, but always full of love. But to open this book is to open the door to Southie's ugly truth, to MacDonald's ugly truth, to take it in for all it's worth, to draw our own conclusions. One boy's hell is another boy's playground. Ma MacDonald is a palm tree in a hurricane, bending and swaying in the violent winds of Southie's interior, even as things are flying at her head, she crouches down to protect her children, to keep them out of harms way. We grew up watching Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow and Peanuts. Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up watching violence, sadness and death.
The chapter I read opened my eyes to Culture and Conflict. The story discussed conflict between Bina and Kevin, and their relationship with Binas parents. Binas parents were unimpressed that Bina decided to marry a man from a different culture, which is an untraditional act. This caused conflict between Bina and Kevin’s relationship. Kevin promised Bina that he would try and practice a more Indian lifestyle, but over time these promises started to fail. This put tension on their relationship and often made Bina feel self-conscious about her relationship. In the end Bina came to realize she could practice still practice her culture, Kevin’s family’s culture and their new Canadian culture.
An idea that arises No Great Mischief[, is MacLeod’s ability to prove to the readers that it is impossible to talk about the Scottish-Canadian heritage without mentioning family history, loyalty and bonds. It is common for an individual to discuss all three factors when discussing family or one’s past in general. However, in No Great Mischief, MacLeod successfully manages to highlight each factor and outlines them in great detail. Therefore, the significance of family and identity in No Great Mischief manifests itself through family history, loyalty and typical relationships like family bonds—typically relationships. Together, all three of these components construct Alistair Macleod's No Great Mischief.
Accordingly, this visit to McMurphy’s childhood home offers a glimpse into what a true man ought to be. McMurphy’s young age at the time of the incident—a time before society’s rules could change what is naturally in the child—particularly shows what a boy or man ought to be. McMurphy the child exemplifies all of McMurphy the adult’s best qualities, and yet is freer: the child is active, virile, and sexually mature, without fear of retribution from the
Were Dash’s audience to return to the South Sea islands eighty years after “Daughters of the Dust” they might find the Gullah people and their lives similar to those of the Willow Springs of Naylor’s novel. Although nearly a century spans between them, these two people nevertheless share many traits. Many of the residents of Willow Springs answer to a nickname given them as a child; similarly, Viola Peazant reminisces about the nicknames given to children in Ibo Landing. Members of both communities, generations from Africa and steeped in “modernity,” still come to the traditional herbalist for help in matters of the body and spirit: Eula uses Nana’s medicine to contact the soul of her deceased mother; Bernice and Ambush come to Mama Day to heal Bernice when she becomes ill, and later for help in conceiving a child. Both Nana Peazant and Mama Day draw their knowledge from a life lived on their respective islands and their strength from their ancestors, whom they visit and tend at the village graveyards. And like Nana Peazant, Mama Day struggles to maintain a tie with her family members who have left the island and immersed themselves in the mainstream culture.
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
... a border be it physical or psychological. Examining both novels as well as doing secondary research into the Canadian border, will also help in understanding Canadian identity. A deep analysis of the two novels will also overcome the constellations of the symbolic imagery that is narration which will dramatize semantics of belonging, loss, and absence that is within the definite of the historically bound and personal context of Canadian experience.
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the protagonist, Macbeth, murders the king of Scotland and eventually murders several other people. In the end, Macbeth meets his tragic fate of being killed by the nobleman Macduff. Throughout the play, Macbeth makes decisions that affect his fate, but other characters manipulate his choices and his actions. Early in the play Macbeth, Macbeth has control over his actions, but due to the influence of other characters and his subsequent insanity, by the end of the play, Macbeth has no control over his fate.
Between the two tragedies, William Shakespeare's play Macbeth and William Faulkner's novel The Sound and The Fury there are many striking similarities. Both of these tragedies show the struggle of good and evil. The characters in Macbeth and The Sound and The Fury, Macbeth and Quentin Compson show remarkable similarities, but they are unique in their way. This paper discusses how: (1) Quentin Compson and Macbeth show qualities of a tragic hero, (2) Quentin and Macbeth’s guilt leads to their downfall and finally (3) by the end both works of literature Quentin and Macbeth find time meaningless.
The one who is at fault in the play of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare is not all who presume it is. Some say the blame is on the Witches, some say Lady Macbeth, but Macbeth is the real man at fault. He was at choice of his decisions, only slightly pressured by his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth dug himself into a hole he was not able to climb out of. There was no return to the light side for him as he had no regrets, he was inhumane, and cold-blooded. There are many examples that show his inhumanity towards others throughout the play, one cold-blooded act to another with no turning back. It was a painful ending for Macbeth since no one showed sympathy for him as his head ended up on a sword. Macbeth is at fault for all the critical events within the play as he is the one that killed Banquo, King Duncan, and Macduff’s family.
Perhaps one of the biggest issues foreigners will come upon is to maintain a strong identity within the temptations and traditions from other cultures. Novelist Frank Delaney’s image of the search for identity is one of the best, quoting that one must “understand and reconnect with our stories, the stories of the ancestors . . . to build our identities”. For one, to maintain a firm identity, elderly characters often implement Chinese traditions to avoid younger generations veering toward different traditions, such as the Western culture. As well, the Chinese-Canadians of the novel sustain a superior identity because of their own cultural village in Vancouver, known as Chinatown, to implement firm beliefs, heritage, and pride. Thus in Wayson Choy’s, The Jade Peony, the novel discusses the challenge for different characters to maintain a firm and sole identity in the midst of a new environment with different temptations and influences. Ultimately, the characters of this novel rely upon different influences to form an identity, one of which being a strong and wide elderly personal
Christopher McCandless’ stubborn personality causes him to leave a loving home in order to start a new beginning as “ Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny”(Krakauer 23). He refuses to further educate himself with a law degree, instead taking a journey into the wild, leaving behind his mother, father and caring sister. Chris grew up as an intelligent individual excelling in almost everything he did. His parents supported him and often encouraged him in his endeavors. Unfortunately, and for clear reasons, Chris did not reciprocate his parents’ love, instead he creates an illusion of normality, causing his parents to believe that everything was fine, while he slowly drifted away from them both physically and emotionally. Chris “let them think they were right”, so they would begin to think that he was beginning to see “their side of things”, when in truth, he was merely waiting for the right time to completely “ knock them out of [h...
The scene I chose was act 2 scene 2 of Macbeth written by Shakespeare. It was between two characters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. I played the role of Macbeth. In the scene, Lady Macbeth celebrates her plan being a success. Lady Macbeth waits for Macbeth to come with news that he has killed Duncan. Macbeth announces that he has committed the murder but he is so afraid that he brings the bloody daggers with him and Lady Macbeth takes them from him, to place them with the sleeping guards. Macbeth hears knocking sounds which frightens him so his wife comes to lead him away, they then wash the blood from their hands before they get caught. My character was challenging because I had to understand his emotions and find ways of interpreting that on stage. I chose to perform this act because Shakespeare was able to create tension, build the right atmosphere to show them Macbeth’s reaction to Duncan’s murder but also show the relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Shakespeare’s use of imagery, dramatic irony, rhetorical questions helped emphasise the guilt Macbeth felt after the murder.
Family plays the biggest role in this novel. Anything that the characters say or do usually has to do with family. The first time Alexander MacDonald, the narrator of the story, mentions family it is not his own. It is one of the immigrant families picking berries along the road that he is driving on (MacLeod 1). This point takes him directly into a slight mention of his own family: the grandmother (3). Since there is no main character in the book, it is thought to be the narrator. However, I wish to disagree with this fact and say that the real main character in this book is Alexander’s brother, Calum, who lives in Toronto. The first time Calum is introduced, one of the first things to come out of his mouth is of family: “I have been thinking the last few days of Calum Ruadh,” (11). We find out that Alexander has a close relationship with his brother and he drives to Toronto to visit him every weekend. This has become almost a tradition because he does not visit him to actually have a constructive conversation or to resolve a problem, although Calum has many of them, the most serious of which is drinking, but instead he visits him only for the sake of visiting him. It is also a tradition in that they do the same thing every time: they drink, not so much Alexander as Calum. We later find out that Alexander has a similar tradition set up with other family members. The most distinct of which is his relationship with his grandmother: Grandma. When he visits Grandma, it is always the same routine: they sing long Gaelic songs, like the ones that their ancestors would. Alexander, for most of the first half of the book, does not talk about his present day family as much as his ancestors. He provides the reader with the information about how he wound up in Canada and what his ancestors had to go through to get here. Throughout this part of the book, Alexander makes it seem as...