In Jo Ann Beard’s “The Fourth State of Matter” and Jay McInerey’s “It’s Six A.M. Do You Know Where You Are?”, two completely different main characters find themselves recently separated from their spouse and alone. Throughout both of these stories, we see the struggles that these individuals face as they cope with their grief after separating from their significant other and accepting their new realities. The narrator in “The Fourth State of Matter” consumes her time in caring for her ailing dog and working as a physics magazine editor; the main character in “It’s Six A.M. Do You Know Where You Are?” spends his time abusing cocaine and looking for another companion. While the two characters handle their situation in two completely different ways, they do, however, possess some similar qualities. Ultimately, they have both come to find themselves in a reality that is stuck between the past and the future. In the end, both characters are able to accept their divorces probably because they have felt so lonely for far too long; they can finally move on with their lives. “The Fourth State of Matter” and “It’s Six A.M. Do You Know Where You Are?” both depict how misfortune can leave the characters in each story in inertia between reminiscing on the past and moving forward into the future and how difficult moving on can actually be for these characters who fear the feeling of being abandonment so much.
In “The Fourth State of Matter”, the narrator is suspended in her own grief after her recent separation from her husband followed by yet another unexpected tragic event. In the beginning of the narrative, she refers to her spouse as “the husband”, refraining from calling him by his actual name. The narrator probably does this because she ...
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...being lonely for the rest of his life. He was now finally figured out on his own that being single forever is not necessarily his fate.
Throughout both of these stories, we see the struggle that these two characters face as they each learn to manage their emotions after being separated from their spouses. While it may have initially seemed as though they were leading two completely different lives, they are actually leading two very similar lives all at once. Whether it is constantly cleaning up after a sick dog or searching for women at the bar after getting high, by the conclusion of each story, these characters have ultimately grown to accept their new, “wedged” lives as they are. They have feared the feeling of abandonment for so long that they have essentially forced themselves to move on rather than remaining stuck in this limbo they have found themselves in.
middle of paper ... ... It isn't as though they don’t love their husbands; they are more looking for some freedom for them to do what they would like to do, without being told what is best for them. Mrs. Mallard experienced some momentary grief, but then she feels excited about what she will finally be able to do with her life. She actually understood that she will finally be able to live for herself, but she finds out he is not dead; her grief comes back as is what kills her.
staying in school, and even though he found a wonderful woman named Sheila who he,
In both “Separating” by John Updike and “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason, the couples’ marriages are coming to a devastating end when they are faced with a harsh reality of their dying relationships. In “Separating,” the husband, Richard, and the wife, Joan, have decided to separate and have finally agreed to tell their children individually. In “Shiloh,” the husband, Leroy, is blind to the fact that his wife, Norma Jean, has fallen out of love with him and is preparing to leave him. Although these relationships alike are coming to a fatal end after much change in their relationship since they first came together as one, their spouses deal with the divorce in similar aspects but different ways.
...pared because of the infidelity and betrayal to their loved ones, and contrasted because of the different emotions that each of the main characters from feeling regretful and very indifferent.
While some differences between Ventura College and the colleges that Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus wrote about in their essay are evident, the similarities are salient. Ventura College meets the characteristics that Hacker and Dreifus described in their essay, Ventura College has a low tuition rates, small class sizes, and all students have access to counselors and instructors. The only difference between Ventura College and the colleges that Hacker and Dreifus talked about is funding. Ventura College doesn’t cost a lot of money to attend, but is experience it provides actually worth the price?
“Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.
Books written in the Gilded Age are most usually an accurate representation of the lives led by those characters represented in them. They give us an in depth and up close and more personal look at the difficult and fast-changing times back then. Although Maggie and O Pioneers! differ in geographical terms, they both make me feel like I actually understand what it was like to live back then. When you compare them side by side you can see that both sides of life affect the personalities and characterizations of people depicted.
The theme of power being abused is carried out in both I Only Came to Use the Phone and Lord of the Flies. The reasoning as to why we would see this theme as the base for both stories is because it is such a common theme; it is known that everyone craves power because of the self-satisfaction they gain from it. The authors of these stories realizing that, used the theme of abuse of power to create chaos within the story and create interest, and they did this by having their characters go after something that makes themselves feel powerful. In Lord of the Flies it was the powerful feeling of hunting for the boys, and in I Only Came to Use the Phone it was the power that the Matron had over Maria by sexually harassing her. Although those two examples seem as though it is people who abuse power it goes beyond that; as if the evil within everyone is awaken by power and that evil is what succumbs them to abuse the power.
In the beginning of both of the pieces of literature, the main character(s) have not had the experience that will shape their values yet. Rather, as time moves forward in the stories, the
An analysis of Mycerinus and Kha-merer-nebty II and Augustus of Primaporta, reveals that there are many similarities, but also many differences between these two pieces of sculpture. These similarities and differences are found in the subject, style, and function of both works of art.
The famous French playwright Moliere once said, “The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.” Throughout our lives, we often are faced with hardships that cause us to change ourselves, the people around us, and the situation itself. Because of this, it may reveal our true characteristics to show who we truly are. In the memoirs “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls and “Warriors Don't Cry” by Melba Patillo, they vividly illustrate the story of how they faced their struggles. They both prevailed because of their tenacious mind sets, but handled the situations in both different and similar ways. The characteristics of the characters Jeannette and Melba show the similarities and differences between the characters.
Some people think that if they could only change one aspect of their lives, it would be perfect. They do not realize that anything that is changed could come with unintended consequences. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken both illustrate this theme. They demonstrate this by granting the main character three wishes, but with each wish that is granted, brings undesirable consequences. The main idea of this essay is to compare and contrast “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish.” Although the “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” are both fantasies and have similar themes, they have different main characters, wishes, and resolutions.
In “The Yellow Wall-paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the unnamed female protagonist is going through a rough time in her life. (For now on, this paper will refer to this unnamed character as the “the narrator in ‘Wall-paper,’” short for “The Yellow Wall-paper. The narrator is confined to room to a room with strange wall-paper. This odd wall-paper seems to symbolize the complexity and confusion in her life. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard must also deal with conflict as she must deal with the death of her spouse. At first there is grief, but then there is the recognition that she will be free. The institute of marriage ties the two heroines of these two short stories together. Like typical young women of the late 19th century, they were married, and during the course of their lives, they were expected to stay married. Unlike today where divorce is commonplace, marriage was a very holy bond and divorce was taboo. This tight bond of marriage caused tension in these two characters.
The couples share a certain amount of love for each other but the disconnection was stronger. The protagonist’s disconnection is evident because her husband treats her like a little girl instead of a wife when he takes her “ …in her arms and called [her] a blessed little goose” (p121). The Mallard’s disconnection is also evident because her husband’s “face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (p 15). This is not the emotion a wife wants to feel from her husband.
Both the films, The Blind Side and Rudy, address many common issues. Two in particular that stand out are education and sports. Both Michael Oher and Daniel Ruettiger (Rudy) pursue their education in order to follow their dreams. In these cases, both dreamed of becoming college football players. The long journeys they take to reach their goals bring out each characters motivation and dedication to get to the top.