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The portrayal of women in literature
The portrayal of women in literature
The portrayal of women in literature
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Analysis of Gail Godwin's A Sorrowful Woman Gail Godwin's short story "A Sorrowful Woman" revolves around a wife and mother who becomes overwhelmed with her husband and child and withdraws from them, gradually shutting them completely out of her life. Unsatisfied with her role as dutiful mother and wife, she tries on other roles, but finds that none of them satisfy her either. She is accustomed to a specific role, and has a difficult time coping when a more extensive array of choices is presented to her. This is made clear in this section of the story. As a housewife and a mother, Godwin's protagonist leads a fairly structured life. Her activities are mostly confined to caring for her husband and child and caring for their home. Though she is obviously unsatisfied with this, as shown by her attempts to discard this role, she is not comfortable without such a structure. Even when she has moved into the white room, she develops a routine of brushing her hair in the sun each day. When she decides to write a poem, she shies away from the project once she realizes how many options are open to her; the idea of so much freedom seems to distress her. Even when she thinks that "her poem could be six, eight, ten, thirteen lines, it could be any number of lines, and it did not even have to rhyme," the words themselves are rushed, the pacing of the sentence communicating her nervousness and discomfort. Her dissatisfaction with her role in life also leads Godwin's protagonist to try on other roles. Though she tries on many, none of these seem to satisfy her either; she "tried these personalities on like costumes, then discarded them." Her inability to find any role that actually satisfies her probably contributes to her general sense of helplessness and continued withdrawal from her family and, indeed, the rest of the world. Since she cannot find any particular role that suits her, she attempts not to have any role at all; the coldness and isolation of the undecorated white room make it seem that she is trying to empty herself of her previous life. Her withdrawal from the world is also presented in this passage. She chooses to move into the white room, now no longer decorated by the previous inhabitant. White can be a very cold, sterile color, and it serves to illustrate her lack of attachment to the room or to her own home.
She starts her poem by addressing her dead brother Johnny and gives a series of complaints about the condition of her kitchen. Just like what happens to many people, she recounts how they hesitate to undertake their responsibilities and blame them on other people or circumstances. She gives the ordinary excuses of a lazy person, accusing the presence of the mess in her kitchen rather than her indolence. She claims the crusty dishes have piled up while it is she or her guests piled them in the sink. She expects the plumber to repair the drainage although she didn't even call him. She would probably have a better kitchen if she called the plumber and then washed the dirty dishes. Instead of taking action, she stands, watches, and then blames everything else apart from herself. She recounts that is the ordinary thing that people do, and before she could solve her kitchen mess she drifts to another distraction and notices that it's already winter. Ideally, people will find tons of distraction but will not find time to accomplish their
The white in the room could represent the nothingness or pureness that is left after the work is done. After everyone has fulfilled their main role and been cleared up (including the cleaners) there is nothing left to achieve so there is nothing in the landscape and nothing left in the world.
In the stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin both women suffer through expectations brought on by society and the ideas of marriage. Emily loses her sanity trying to obtain love and live up to the expectations of society. Emily kills the man she loved so that he would never leave, and so that she could maintain her reputation. She was put on a pedestal, and that pedestal would end up being her destruction. Louise is a woman afflicted by heart problems, which could relate her unhappiness. After losing her husband she starts to feel free; however when her husband walks through the door she dies. Louise was a prisoner of societies making, she was never given a voice. She could never explain her unhappiness because women were expected to love and obey their husband’s without complaints. Marriage to these women meant different things, although the idea of marriage damaged both women. Louise and Emily were women damaged by the pressures of who they are expected to be.
In this day and age, George Washington’s name is so acclaimed and reputable, it holds a significant amount of meaning in itself. Not much has changed in the 239 years since he became a national hero to the people of a land who yearned to be free from British oppression. Far back into the past, becoming a hero may have meant committing dangerous and magnificent feats, and that still holds somewhat true today. George Washington, however, is especially known for his battle strategies, military tactic and leading America to freedom. For Washington, a few of the most dominant traits of heroism his personality encompasses include wisdom in guiding others, loyalty to his people and land, and courage when facing various
Author Christine Mitchell’s “When Living is a Fate Worse Than Death” told the story of a girl Haitian named Charlotte. Charlotte was born with her brain partially positioned outside of her cranium which had to be removed or she would have not survived. Her skull had to be concealed by a wrap in order not to cause further damage. Charlotte was born with less brain cells which allowed her only to breath and not feel much of the pain. Charlotte’s parents thought that the doctor’s in Haiti did not know what was best for their daughter. The doctors in Haiti thought Charlotte should not be resuscitated, undergo anymore horrible treatments and die peacefully. Charlotte’s parents were not happy with the doctor’s guidelines and thought the United States medical care would have better technology and could save their daughter. Charlotte’s parents bought her a doll which
Metaphor- The narrator moves from being covered in white paint to being encased in a white, rigid chair. He is stared at and examined at the hospital like an object. In addition, he is wearing new clothes -- strange white overalls. Certainly the white is a strong metaphor of the narrator's constant struggle to be accepted into white
Fulfilling the roles of both mother and breadwinner creates an assortment of reactions for the narrator. In the poem’s opening lines, she commences her day in the harried role as a mother, and with “too much to do,” (2) expresses her struggle with balancing priorities. After saying goodbye to her children she rushes out the door, transitioning from both, one role to the next, as well as, one emotion to another. As the day continues, when reflecting on
Instead of caring her children, live with a good husband, works with boldly inside home as well as outside home. She has no problems to work outside home because her husband is understandable. In the other hand, the narrator states the character of the husband in the story “A Sorrowful Woman” the real heart of being a loving father and a husband. In the story, the husband showed all his support and patience of his wife by doing his wife’s roles and responsibilities. “He got up hours early, did the shopping, cooked the breakfast, took the boy to nursery school (Godwin pg. 41).” This makes the obvious, the character of her husband is a real loving husband, loving father, showed all his support, and be patience. The author of the story balanced the characters’ roles by praising a patience and understanding husband with an unsatisfied and selfish wife. She chooses the wrong decision in her life. At the end, she completely withdraws her life from her happy
Grief Girl is a novel written by Erin Vincent about her and her sibling’s experience of losing both their mother and father. Vincent was only fourteen years old at the time of her parents’ death. The chapter goes into detail about the events of the night of Vincent’s parents’ death. Based on the chapter, I can conclude that Vincent definitely went through at least two of the stages of grief. The fact that the novel is nonfiction helps me connect with the emotions that Vincent felt that day. Her details are extremely vivid and it is recognizable that Vincent recalls the events from that day very well.
Act 1, Scene 5 is where we first see Lady Macbeth. She is reading a
The narrator identifies her frustration; nonetheless, attributes her frustrations but succumbs to her “nervous condition.” It gives the impression however, that recognizing this course of treatment would cause her to remain in an incipient state of insanity. But realizes that “it does weigh on one so not to do no duty in any way.” However, she cannot come to bring herself to argument and submits to her husband’s demands. During her time in solitude she passes her time in her room observing the hideous wallpaper; although, she would have preferred to be in a much colorful room with beautiful foliage just out the window rather a tedium room that offered only further anguish. Both her motivation and rebellious actions turn to her imagination onto seemingly disinterested objects of the home and the wallpaper in an attempt to ignore her rising hindrance; as well as, documents her thoughts in a secret diary kept from her
Marriage can be seen as a subtle form of oppression, like many things which are dictated by social expectations. In Kate Chopin’s The Story of An Hour, Louise Mallard finds herself in distress due to the event of her husband’s death that makes her question who she is as a person. The author cleverly uses this event to create the right atmosphere for Mrs. Mallard to fight against her own mind. As the short story progresses, we see that Mrs. Mallard moves forward with her new life and finds peace in her decision to live for herself. This shows that marriage too is another chain that holds oneself back. Not wanting to admit this to herself, Louise
wouldn't be in the Bible. If God wanted us to live by his rules, why
so she was very strict on me at times. She never wanted me to be around the wrong
A few United States Soldiers have attached to their names more controversy than Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. An 1861 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Custer became one of the Civil War’s generals at age 23 years old and received the nickname “Boy General.” His meteoric rise was based in no small degree upon his aggressiveness and reckless courage under fire.1 It was his reckless courage, however, that he was tragically defeated at the Battle of Little Bighorn, also commonly referred to as “Custer's Last Stand”. Custer failed to execute the operations process in which he failed to understand, visualize, describe, and direct his forces that ultimately resulted in his demise and cost the lives of