In the novel Dare Me by Megan Abbott, Abbott portrays the ugly nature of female friendships. In the backstabbing and competitive world of high-school cheerleading, Addy Hanlon has been the sidekick of Beth Cassidy, queen bee of Sutton Gove cheerleading squad ever since they met. Beth is a master at manipulation, who keeps everyone in their place, until the arrival of a new cheerleading coach, Colette French. As Coach takes Addy into her own, Beth begins getting intimated, something that rarely happens.
Addy and Beth’s relationship is quite unique, but not so much in a good way. Beth calls the shots while Addy does as she’s told. Addy seems to enjoy being known as Beth’s sidekick. She brags that she is Beth’s ”fidus achates,” as if being a
…show more content…
Not until the death of Will, Addy starts to wonder if she can be just as ruthless. But now that Coach has gained Addy’s loyalty, Beth finds herself backed into a corner. Beth is no longer ‘Top Girl”, captain or even Addy’s priority. Beth invests her body, mind and soul in bringing down Coach for getting in between Addy and her.
Towards the end of the novel, it’s revealed Beth and Addy had shared a kiss at cheer camp. All along Beth was in love with Addy, she knew for a fact that Addy didn’t love her back. Loving Beth would have taken away her control, just like it took away Beth’s control. “Love is a kind of killing, Addy." Beth says. But neither would admit that there was something greater than a friendship. Finally, when Beth falls off the pyramid, she accepts that Addy can’t love her, because she has to be on top. Beth did not care if Addy hooked up with some guy like she previously tired too, because in Beth’s mind atleast it was not Coach, a girl. Beth wanted to be the only girl in Addy’s life because Coach was someone Beth viewed as a threat to her position. Addy’s changing under the Coach’s rule scared her. Coach had the power to kick Beth to the side which she did.
“It was you and me, Addy.” Beth said reminding her finally of them and acknowledging that it was never going to be them, it was always going to be
soon puts Janie to work and treats her more like a mule than a wife. Logan
Elizabeth loved John and he loved her back, but Zeena and Ethan didn’t love each other. John didn’t leave Elizabeth for Abigail, while Ethan was going to leave Zeena for Mattie. Also, Elizabeth actually talked to John, while Zeena wasn’t around Ethan that much to talk to him. Elizabeth was seen doing housework and taking care of their kids. Zeena wasn’t seen often because she didn’t do housework; she was mostly alone upstairs. Another difference was that, Elizabeth ad John had kids and Zeena and Ethan did not. It proves that Elizabeth and John loved each other, and Ethan just needed Zeena, so he wouldn’t be lonely. Elizabeth stopped the affair by firing Abigail. While, Zeena tried to but Ethan and Mattie tried to commit suicide so they wouldn’t have to live without each other; they just got injured making Zeena take care of Mattie. In the end of The Crucible, John dies because he wouldn’t admit to witchcraft. Earlier in the book, John confessed to his relationship with Abigail, but Abigail refused his acknowledgement of the affair. The judges called in Elizabeth to see if it was true because John said that she never lies. She lies to protect John when he needed her to tell the truth. If she would have told the truth, she could have saved his and many others lives. In the end of Ethan Frome, Zeena ends up taking care of Ethan and Mattie. Zeena pushed Ethan away causing Ethan to think about running away with Mattie. Ethan and Mattie didn’t want to live without each other. Mattie, in result, was paralyzed. Zeena now lives with Mattie, the woman who tried to steal her husband, and Ethan, who still loves Mattie. If Zeena would have learned to love Ethan, nothing would have happened. Elizabeth’s and Zeena’s actions allowed their relationship with their husbands to be ruin by their
To prove that she is loyal to White imagination here is a quote from the book. “But she had caught it; the crystal cube was safe.” This quote represents Alyss saving the looking glass maze cube from hitting the ground and cracking. If it cracked it would be broken forever, never allowing the queens that come after Alyss to go through the maze. Another example of Alyss’ loyalty would be when she went into the maze to become the warrior queen that she had to become to save the queendom. “Do i kill or...but what’s to be done with her if I don’t? She’ll pose a threat as long as she lives.” In this quote Alyss struggles with how to handle her aunt. She shows loyalty to the queendom by thinking about getting rid of her aunt for the better of the land. She said that she would pose a threat as long as she lives. What that means is that it would be threatening the queendom if she does not kill her. This shows she is pretty loyal to white imagination/queendom.
During his journey to the burial site of his wife, he always was worrying about his well being before the family’s well being. The only reason that he decided to carry out Addie’s wish was that he wanted to improve his image by getting false teeth. He did care for his wife, but this caring was overshadowed by his love to improve himself.
The boy from Araby decides to go to that bazaar for the girl. When he is there he concludes, "gazing up into the darkness I saw just as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger" (Joyce 1206). The boy goes to the bazaar for the girl even though she is a nun. At the end of the night he realizes how crazy his love and actions are. He calls himself a "creature driven and derided by vanity". This statement shows that what he thought was love truly was not but him just getting wrapped up in vanity. The love he thought he had has just caused him "anguish" and "anger". Where the boy from Araby comes to terms with reality Max continues to live in a fantasy. One day as Max helps Ms. Cross in her classroom she brings up the fact that Max is too young for her. Max after a few words between the two says, "and the truth is neither one of us has the slightest idea where this relationships is going. We can 't predict the future" (Rushmore). In Max saying this it shows just how far gone his imagination has gone with delusions of being in a relationship with Ms. Cross. He is aware of their age difference and the rules that prohibit it but continues to hold hope for a "future". Max is not living in reality and is letting his emotions cloud his judgment. Love can lead people to do a number of things it led the boy to the bazaar and Max to live in a
Women were expected to stay at home and take care of the house. When Bethia’s mother dies she is expected to take of her siblings and put her educational aspirations on hold. Caleb may be a Native but even he is allowed to pursue a higher education simply due to the fact that he is male. Their friendship is also never allowed to become anything more than a friendship. Bethia’s father arranges her marriage for her, she does not actual end up going through with it but during this time arranged marriages were extremely common. Friendships between girls and boys was not acceptable let alone marriages between colonist and
Through having contrasting views from her family, Dee began to isolate herself from her old homelife, just like the main character in Araby’s obsession with Mangan's sister caused him to be blind towards his schooling and family. Dee’s mother had no education herself because she had grown up in a time of segregation when education was not seen as an important thing for females to have. Dee was somewhat ungrateful when granted the opportunity to study. This was shown by her mother saying “‘She washed us in a river ofma ke.believe, burned us with a lot of knowl edge we didn't necessarily need to know.’” This shows that after Dee began to think she was superior to her family because of her contrasting views and education, she began to isolate herself. Dee moving away from her family and abandoning her family's morals was similar to the way that the main character in Araby began to neglect and ignore all other components of his life after becoming infatuated with Mangan's sister. His responsibilities in his life seemed far less important than his study of his crush. This was clear when he stated things such as “I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days. I chafed against the work of school,” or “I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life.” The distraction of his love for this girl led him to isolate himself and become blind to
The relationship between the husband and wife seems initially to be perfect. They both show each other expressions of love. There is understanding, harmony, financial security, and good communication between them. The couple spends a lot of time together, discussing future plans, and talking about the good moments they had in the past. However, behind all of this positive interaction between the two of them is something they are both not able
“Mean Girls” begins as Cady Heron moves back to the United States from Africa where her parents were animal experts. She has an awkward first week of school where she begins to crush on a boy named Aaron Samuels, meets Janice and Damian who show her around campus because no one really wanted to get to know her on a personal level. Janice and Ian begin to spill the dirty secrets of the school including “The Plastics” who are a superficial infamous group who put everyone down. “The Plastics” infiltrate an operation to make Cady one of them, but little do they know that it is all an act to show how fake they are, thanks to Janice Ian. Because Janice and Ian told Cady of all the bad that “The Plastics” hold, she had a schema that Regina George who is the leader of “The Plastics” and her crew, were bad people and that high school was all about popularity. The reason why Janice placed this schema was because she and Regina George used to be friends back in the day. Schemas can be bad or good, but in this case, it was quite bad. It was an act of vengeance. Although the schema may have made Janice and Damian despise “The Plastics,” it made Cady Heron want to be like them. Prejudice is found within “The Plastics” because they don’t just let anyone join their group, the gi...
The narrator of both stories did an outstanding job in setting the scene for the readers. The theme of both stories to me is about lessons learned. In Araby the young unnamed protagonist makes a promise to bring back a gift from a bazaar and was unable to purchase the gift leaving him disappointed and angry. “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (Joyce, 1914). To me the young man is angry because of all the trials and tribulations he put himself through to get a gift to impress a young lady who really was not interested in him anyway. And Sammy from A&P although a little older than the unnamed boy from Araby also shared a fixation with a female character. Sammy thought because he quit his job to make a statement to his boss Mr. Lengel that she (Queenie) would be outside waiting for him. “I look around for my girls, but they're gone, of course. There wasn't anybody but some young married screaming with her children about some candy they didn't get by the door of a powder-blue Falcon station wagon” (Updike, 1961). Sammie assumed that this act of solidarity would place him in an advantageous position with the young lady. Sammy who was surely disappointed when his expectations were not met did learn a valuable lesson. According to Sammy “I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (Udike,
Everyone viewed Conrad's mother, Beth, as perfect. Beth always had to have everything organized, neat. She had to be in control. Everything about her on the outside seems perfect. "Gracious as always, but Cal knows she doesn't like this. She is wearing a white-knit pantsuit, a long-sleeved black blouse, her hair tied back from her face with a black scarf. She does look gorgeous" (64). After her first son Buck died, and her second son Conrad tried to kill himself, she starts to realize that her family is falling apart, but she can't help them. Beth is all about appearance, how she and her family seem to other people. She can't handle talking about major problems, even when they involve the people she loves.
She was willing to let go of her pride and commitment to only be with each other in a marriage so her family could live in peace. For example, Casey says, “It ain’t right, me going up there. You’re my wife” (Offutt 143). Casey didn’t want to be with anyone else, besides his wife. Although Beth told Casey to do this for their family, she didn't throw the incident in his face for being with another woman nor become angry and spiteful.
Behavior within this group is ritualized and sharply divided along male and female lines. While the men yell whole-heartily and glower at their women, the women are meant to stand in the corner admiringly and gossip about the men's sexual powers. When we first see her, Beth still accepts these ground rules, however grudgingly. "You're a hard lady," Jake tells her, delivering what sounds like the highest compliment of which he's capable.
“Relationships are what make up our world today, they shape the ways we see things and the way that we do things, relationships affect how we see the world today”. I believe supporting what your partner does, having a great sum of trust and showing your affections towards your partner is what will make a healthy relationship great.
Throughout most of my life I have gained friendships and relationships with others that have turned into long term, but others which only lasted a short while. The friendship that has greatly impacted my life significantly over the last eight years is someone who means so much to me. This meaningful friendship all started back when I was in middle school, which has grown stronger over the years. I met Brooke in middle school because we had some of the same classes and were in homeroom together. Our friendship developed quickly and lasted throughout our high school years. We became really close our Junior and Senior year of high school. But, maintaining our friendship hasn’t always been so easy. Today, we text and call each other on our free time, but I know I can count and rely on her when I need someone to talk too. I call her my second sister and vice versa. And when we go home on breaks we see one another as much as we can. The best part of our relationship is that if one is in need of advice or in need of a shoulder to cry on, we are always there for one another. Keeping in contact is very important in our relationship and communication has played a key role in our relationship.