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Introduction to native american literature
Challenges For Native Women
Introduction to native american literature
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In the short story, “Head Cook at Weddings and Funerals,” By Vi Plotnikoff, Marusa who is Aunt Florence’s daughter, expresses herself as an independently driven person. Marusa is not afraid to voice her opinion; Furthermore, she is a responsible young lady despite the circumstances she has to overcome to get what she wants. Marusa is a very attractive lady, “Marusa, who was extraordinarily pretty with her dark curls, sparkling brown eyes and tiny figure.” Although, she presents herself as very manipulative and a control freak. She tries to command everything that Peter does and if she does not get her way she will cry until she does, “Your mother and mine won’t like it,” he said in a mild, hesitant voice. ‘Whose wedding is it anyway?
of the book, Janie resents her grandmother for “living” her life for her and planning her future. To find out what will happen in a persons future, they need to live their life on their own an...
"I Stand Here Ironing", by Tillie Olsen is a short story portraying the life and regret of a young mother struggling to raise her oldest daughter. The mother- daughter relationship is the major part of the story and the attitude of the mother toward her daughter, Emily, and the actual character of the mother are two very important elements. The character of the mother can be said to be strong and persevering, and along with her age and experience came her wisdom. At first her attitude toward her daughter seemed more of resigned and regretful, but as Emily grew up and became a beautiful and talented young women, the mother knows to let her be and leave her to live her own life. The character of the mother is crucial to the entire story, for it is this that will determine her attitudes toward her daughter. She at first, seemed very naïve and weak in a big scary world, with society constantly nipping at her heels, but, as she lives, she learns to take life as it comes and try her hardest to do her best. Which at that time was no easy thing to do. The strength and love that the mother exhibits constantly keeps the idea of hope with the reader. The character of the mother is a determining factor in her attitude towards her daughter. As her character changed, so did her feelings about Emily. In the beginning of the story, the mother talks of how sorry and regretful she is of her daughter’s childhood. She looks at her unfortunate daughter, Emily, with pi...
The granny and the misfit are two completely opposite characters that possess two different beliefs. The grandmother puts herself on a high pedestal and the way she calls the misfit ‘a good person’ based upon his family background gives the reader an idea of what the grandmother acknowledges to be considered as ‘good’. Self absorbed as sh...
In the short story, Grandmother’s Sunday Dinner by Patricia Hampl, the various literary elements work together in order to tell the flashback of a woman’s dinner with her family. The central symbol, the grandmother's passion for food, represents a family tradition and the stubborn grandmother herself represents a force with whom to be dealt. The central symbol allows for the author to generalize the theme. Because the grandmother symbolized a reckoning force, the author would have to be polite towards her grandmother who “was a woman possessed by an idea” (Hampl 55), depicting the theme of treating everyone with respect. Moreover, adding to the entertainment, irony forces the reader to stop and enjoy the humor that characterizes the irony.
In “Caroline’s Wedding”, Caroline’s mother shows how love of family encourages her to survive through the breaking of tradition for her daughter's happiness.
In the short story “the Birthday Party” by Katharine Brush, the author use of many literary devices helps to convey her purpose. The purpose which was the way women were treated during the 1940’s. This was shown through diction of the authors shor writing and its situational irony.
Marriages in Biblical Tradition typically represent a symbolic expression of the covenantal union between God and his people. A wedding banquet during this time period in history was a joyous occasion that had a great importance in the lives of the betrothed. “The Gospel of Matthew, like all the New Testament Gospels, was composed as a literary work to interpret the theological meaning of a concrete historical event to the people in a particular historical situation” (Boring 89). Mt 22:1-14 utilizes this tradition and expresses wedding celebrations in order to exemplify the significance of Jesus’s goal to bring salvation to those on Earth.
It is a common belief that a woman should love her husband at all times. However, this social norm is not always true. In the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard, a woman with known heart trouble, must be told by her sister and a dear friend of her husband’s death in a train accident. After being told the news, she retreats to her room on her own to process her thoughts. At first she sits and cries in sadness for a very long time. Then, she is overcome with happiness. She now realizes that she can live her life as a free person, only for herself. She does not need to live for her husband, she can now make all of her decisions on her own. When her sister comes to check on her, Mrs. Mallard shows her happiness
In the 1950’s through the 1960’s women were not respected in there everyday lives, in the job field or in general. They did not have the rights they deserved, so during this time the “women’s movement” began. Women fought for their rights and fought for the self-respect that they thought they deserved. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the character Mama, expresses her feelings of pushing or extracting a new side for a woman. Her role explains that woman can be independent and can live for themselves. Through her behavior in this play she demonstrates that women can support and guide a family. Mama is in charge of the family, which is unusual, since men are traditionally the “head of a family”. Through Mama’s wisdom and dialect she expresses and portrays an image of pro-feminism. Mama’s experience in the play A Raisin in the Sun illustrates the expressions, the emotions, and the feeling with which Mama and women had to cope. She was able to characterize this through her passionate dreams, her control and her strong willed attitude.
Marjane’s mother was one of the most influential people in her life, her mother taught her to be strong and independent. By introducing her mother through the story of her mother getting photographed at a demonstration, Marjane presents her mother as being independent and rebellious (Satrapi 5). Later in the novel Marjane’s mother argues with her father to allow Marji to come to a demonstration with them, she claims it is Marji’s time to “defend her rights as a woman” (76). Because her mother taught Marji that it is okay for a woman to rebel and speak her mind, Marji never hesitates to speak up and will not conform and allow herself to become just another veiled, female traditionalist. Marjane’s mother shows her acceptance of Marjane as an independent woman when she visits her in Austria and asks her for a cigarette (204). Marjane’s mother is not ignorant, nor does she hold her daughter back to the rules of society. She knows Marji is grown up and treats her as an adult, allowing Marji not only to view their relationship in a different way but also to view herself in a different way: an independent adult who can make her own choices.
The play "The House Of Bernarda Alba" gives an interesting portrayal of a middle class home consisting entirely of women. The plot is set in a small town, middle class house in a society dominated by men. It is believed to be set somewhere in Spain in the 1930s. The play was written in a time when the suppression of woman was still strong. The mother, the head of the household, does everything she believes is necessary to keep her house within a good social standing in the town. The mother had become the master of the house after her husband died, which makes her work harder to keep a good reputation for her house of women. Looking deeper into the story one might find two sides to the dilemmas that cover the house. There are protagonists, principle characters in a story, and antagonists, characters that act adversaries or opponents to the principle characters. In this play one of the maids, Poncia, is forced to be in the middle of much of the drama consuming this house. She, Poncia, can be looked at as both a protagonist and antagonist. One might say that she fits into a back up role; helping support the main characters' roles, in the cast of characters.
In order to regain her honor, her Uncle Feliciano and her brother go to “fix” this problem. Feliciano along with his nephew go to Buddy Goodnam’s house –the man that got his niece pregnant- to settle the problem of her situation of being an unwed soon to be mother (229-232). This shows that women are expected to marry once they get pregnant. This is a very significant scene because it shows how Maruca has made a mistake and the men in her family have to fix it. Apart from that, it also shows how women are expected to be married so that the man/husband can take care of them. Overall, Maruca is not given a choice. Apart from that, nowhere in the novel does it mention that Maruca has any say in the matter of her marriage to a guy that just rejected her at the mention of her
While the girl loved the work outside she hated to do the ‘woman’s work’ inside. She disliked her mother for making her do it, and believed that her mother only made her do it be...
She was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of artisans. She had no marriage portion, no expectations, no means of getting known, understood, loved, and wedded by a man of wealth and distinction; and she let herself be married off to a little clerk in the Ministry of Education. Her tastes were simple because she had never been able to afford any other, but she was as unhappy as though she had married beneath her; for women have no caste or class, their beauty, grace, and charm serving them for birth or fa...
Mare and her family lived in New York City. Her mother was a single parent who tried all her best to make sure that her children had all that the need. Sometimes Mara’s mother Shana didn’t have money, so they went to bed without food. Mara’s life was not how she wanted it to be. She wanted a big house, a father, and a happy big family. Instead her life was the opposite. Her dad died when she was only seven. When her father died, it ruined the family. Her father was the backbone of th...