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Theme of appearance vs reality
Katherine Anne Porter and the names of her characters
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Character Analysis of Katherine Anne Porter's He
In Katherine Anne Porter's short story "He," she presents several themes that she develops primarily through the actions of the main characters, particulary Mrs. Whipple. Porter portrays a poor, lower class Southern family and the difficulties they encounter. More importantly, she centers the story around the feelings of shame, pride, and an exaggerated concern for appearances through Mrs. Whipple's's relationship with her mentally retarded son and her behavior toward Him. Other characters, such as her husband Mr. Whipple and their two "able-bodied" children Adna and Emly serve to expand the story's themes and highlight the extremity of Mrs. Whipple's actions.
Early in the story we see how vital appearance is to Mrs. Whipple. She remarks to her husband that no one should ever hear them complain (324). Her real effort to maintain a front for her neighbors, however, surrounds her "simple-minded son," who never has any identity other than "He." It seems that Mrs. Whipple fears that if those around her know He is retarded, this would reflect badly on her character. Many times, unfortunately, parents of children with any birth defect worry they have some blame to account for. Mrs. Whipple, unfortunately, represents a rather extreme case. She seemed to believe that by "over-loving" her son in public and refusing to acknowledge his handicap, she could avoid social stigma and somehow quell her own insecurities. Mrs. Whipple comments to whoever would listen that He is strong, capable, and "He can do anything . . . " (325). Such exclamations, the author tells us "seemed to ease her mind" (324). In these quotations we see clearly how Mrs. Whipple's actions...
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...ok sick" (332). Furthermore, she takes care to dress in her good clothes, so no one will think she looks like charity. Even as she is about to lose her son, she cannot let go of her need to put on a performance for the society she feels has shunned her.
Porter's story gives its audience a powerful lesson that extends far beyond social standing or mental handicaps. The pathetic example of "Him" shows us just how far many of us go for mere illusions. Mrs. Whipple was willing to sacrifice her son and her family's welfare in order to mask their situation. To a world of airbrushing and political propaganda, Porter shows how dangerous the game of pretense can become and how the innocent often bear the brunt of the harm.
Work Cited
Porter, Katherine Anne. "He." The Literature of the American South. Ed. William L. Andrews. New York: Norton. 1998.
Dr. Kevorkian was an avid supporter of euthanasia. He believed people shouldn’t have to suffer if they chose not to. As a result, the unlawful physician would rig machinery so that the patient had the opportunity to kill him/herself. Buckley introduced the case of Thomas Youk in which his death was taped on a home video. The documentary was later shown ...
Tate, Allen. “A Southern Mode of the Imagination.” In Essays of Four Decades. Chicago: Swallow Press, 1968; (Third Edition) Wilmington, De: ISI Press, 1999.
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Gates, Henry Louis Jr., and Nellie Y. McKay, eds. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. 164-167.
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Schneider Keith, “DR. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; A Doctor who helped End Lives”. The New York Times. Arthur Sulzberger Jr. 3, June 2011. Online Newspaper 2014
According to West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, between 1990 and 1999, a well-known advocate for physician assisted suicide, Jack Kevorkian helped 130 patients end their lives. He began the debate on assisted suicide by assisting a man with committing suicide on national television. According to Dr. Kevorkian, “The voluntary self-elimination of individual and mortally diseased or crippled lives taken collectively can only enhance the preservation of public health and welfare” (Kevorkian). In other words, Kevor...
Safranek, J 1998, Autonomy and assisted suicide: the execution of freedom, The Hastings Center Report, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 32-6, viewed 10 May, .
Perkins, Geroge, and Barbara Perkins. The American Tradition in Literature. 12th ed. Vol. 2. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print
Perkins George, Barbara. The American Tradition in Literature, 12th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print
Bain, Robert, Joseph M. Flora, and Louis D. Rubin, Jr., eds. Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1979.
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Flaubert’s realism and Allende’s magic realism techniques allow the authors to both create and destroy suspense in order to mirror their respective attitudes towards fate. In Madame Bovary, Flaubert consistently builds anticipation with the extreme detail common to the realist genre. After building up the suspense to an almost unbearable intensity, he ends the section with a flat statement that destroys any suspense in an ultimately anticlimactic way. These endings frustrate the reader, but also mirror Emma’s journey and her romantic ideals. Flaubert parallels the plot and its implications on the idea of fate with detail. Emma and Leon, when first flirting, go to the house of the nurse for Berthe, but Flaubert describes the hedges on the way there in excruciating detail: “They were in bloom, and so were the speedwells, eglantines, thistles...
Madame Bovary, a novel by Gustave Flaubert, describes life in the provinces. While depicting the provincial manners, customs, codes and norms, the novel puts great emphasis on its protagonist, Emma Bovary who is a representative of a provincial woman. Concerning the fundamental typicality in Emma Bovary’s story, Flaubert points out: “My poor Bovary is no doubt suffering and weeping at this very moment in twenty French villages at once.” (Heath, 54). Yet, Emma Bovary’s story emerges as a result of her difference from the rest of the society she lives in. She is in conflict with her mediocre and tedious surroundings in respect of the responses she makes to the world she lives in. Among the three basic responses made by human beings, Emma’s response is “dreaming of an impossible absolute” while others around her “unquestionably accept things as they are” or “coldly and practically profiteer from whatever circumstances they meet.” (Fairlie, 33). However, Emma’s pursuit of ideals which leads to the imagining of passion, luxury and ecstasy prevents her from seeing the world in a realistic perspective or causes her to confuse reality and imagination with each other.