Hobson's Choice by Harold Brighouse

1184 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender roles in english literature

Hobson's Choice by Harold Brighouse Maggie can be described as a woman of many qualities; there are many aspects of the play that can verify this statement. The scene starts with Maggie saying "Dinner at half past one girls, we’ll give him half an hour" This looks as if Hobson has gone to the pub but Maggie has told him that lunch is at one but he says its not. So Maggie says it’s at half one. From the words "We'll give him half an hour" it seems as if this argument is a regular occurrence. Maggie is a very dominant character and because of this, she makes a great saleswoman. "This is a shop you know. We're not here to let people go out without buying." In this scene, we also meet the other main character of the book, Hobson. He is an old man, who likes to show that he has money, by the clothes and the jewellery that he wears. Towards the end of this scene, we meet Willie Mossop. He plays an important part of this play. When we first meet him, he is a shy fellow. "I'm not much good at owt but leather." As the play progress, Maggie marries Will and they start up a business together. By the end of the play, Willie is a completely different person, he is no longer shy, but he is a very confident character who is not afraid to speak his mind. Thanks to Maggie Willie had changed in character. Maggie first becomes aware of Willies talent, when a customer, Mrs Hepworth, visits the shop and demands to see Willie. We find out here how little faith people have for Willie, as when Mrs Hepworth wants to see the maker of her shoes, Hobson tries to apologise as he thinks that Willie has done something wrong. "I assure you it shall not occur again, Mrs Hepworth." By the time Mrs Hepworth has left the shop, she has complemented Willie, insulted Hobson and Maggie has made up her mind that Willie is the man for her. A short while after, Hobson decided to go to the Moonrakers. While he had gone, Maggie took the opportunity to tell Willie her proposal and so she yet again calls him up to the shop. He is still shy and so he doesn't want to come right up. Maggie tries to builds Will's confidence, by telling him how clever he is and how he could do much better. "You're a natural born genius at making boots." This makes Willie feel a little bit better around Maggie as he now knows that she has confidence in him.

Show More
Related

  • Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: Change

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    looks at her, and when she said something about the moon, he looks at it.

    Read More

  • Bait And Switch By Barbara Ehrenreich

    1675 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich takes a comical look at the troubles that plague "white collar" unemployed. This book offers an in-depth view of the Barbara Ehrenreich's struggle to get a "good job," which she defined as a job that would provide health care and an income of $50,000 a year.(6) This book was written in 2005 and is still up to date with the current unemployment problems. She uses her own experiences and observations for the reader to get an accurate picture of how hard it is for people who "did the right things" like going to college and are still unemployed for various reasons. The specific topic of Ehrenreich's book is upper class unemployment and the various desperate measures they take to gain employment. Many of these people spend more money on job searching, career coaches, personality tests, job fairs, and are rejected over and over again.

    Read More

  • Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” ― Albert Einstein In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag meets a girl who is different from the others in the city. The city is full of people who watch television almost all of the time rather than doing something with their life.While he doesn’t think very much, she thinks and observes often. Over the next few weeks of seeing her daily, his way of thinking completely changes. Being a fireman, the change in the way he thinks is so difficult to fathom so that he steals a book from one of the houses the firemen had to burn. Montag is figured out by his boss and has to burn down his own house. Soon afterwards, Montag must go on the run to avoid being arrested. The government is on guard trying to find him to show people what'd happen if they were to break laws. Getting help from an older man who had learned to handle the knowledge while Montag could not, Montag is able to make it out of the city quickly with little damage done to himself. Ray Bradbury is warning readers of the horrible impacts caused by laziness and how the government can take advantage of weak minded people.

    Read More

  • Silver Linings Playbooks by David O. Russell

    2568 Words  | 6 Pages

    Silver Linings Playbooks tells the story of Pat Solitano Jr. (played by Bradley Cooper), a high school teacher diagnosed with bipolar disorder who is trying to get his life back together. The movie opens as Pat is released from a psychiatric hospital after eight months of treatment and moves back in with his parents. He is determined to get back together with his wife, Nikki, despite all the signs that say she does not want to be with him - such as the restraining order she filed against him. Pat meets recently widowed Tiffany Maxwell (played by Jennifer Lawrence), who is suffering from depression and overcoming a sex addiction that ensued from the death of her husband. Tiffany offers to help deliver Pat’s letters to Nikki if he enters a dance competition with her. As the movie goes on, Pat and Tiffany’s relationship progresses and they learn to cope with their issues.

    Read More

  • Unnatural Selections By Barry Schwartz

    312 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article, “Unnatural Selections” by Barry Schwartz, he states the importance of the default option using multiple examples and persuasive writing techniques to explain his reasoning to the reader. In the beginning of his essay, Schwartz uses an example of Buffalo Wild Wings to explain his reasoning on defaults and why they should be changed. “Research evidence suggests that labeling the smaller portions ‘regular’ will move far more people to order them than if the portions were labeled as they are now.” (10). Schwartz uses this example to effectively show the reader that defaults do influence how we make a decision. Moreover, Barry uses persuasive techniques such as relating the problem of default choices to a serious issue like

    Read More

  • Brave New World By Aldous Huxley

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book, Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley, is a radical story that is interpreted as a potential caution to us, society, if we keep making poor life choices. In the novel, Huxley depicts a culture where people are programmed to live forever and forced to think that sex and drugs are. For them, the idea of having a family with a mother and a father is absolutely repulsive to think about. Even though some of Huxley’s thoughts are unrealistic, the meaning behind them can be seen today. Nowadays, the three ideas that are bringing us closer to the Brave New World true are the advancements in technology, an obsession to remain young, and the increasing rate of drug use.

    Read More

  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    From reading Fukuyama’s Our Posthuman Future I gathered that if the human mind and body are shaped by tons of genes, as the decoding of the human genome seems to highlight, then biotechnologist will be able to change both one day in searching to perfect the flawed human clay, will modify human nature. Fukuyama asserts his thoughts about what in fact is at stake with biotechnology in which he states, “Is…the very grounding of the human moral sense”. Throughout the reading it became clear that Fukuyama’s purpose was not to delineate the consequences of biotechnology, but to argue that biotechnology threatens both the very distinction of a human being and the existing social fabric. He also asserts that government institutions should be established to evaluate and regulate biotechnological innovations. Throughout his book he investigates ways in which biotechnology may change the human essence with no intention to experience repeat of history and the hopes to stray far away from a post human future. It seems that Fukuyama fears that biotechnology will make monsters of us all to say the least being that human values are rooted in human nature and human nature is rooted in our biological being, which is particularly in our genes. Tampering with human biology could alter human nature, convert our principles and last but not least undermine capitalism.

    Read More

  • Michael Pollan's Why Bother By Michael Pollan

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    We, as human beings, tend to take advantage of the things that we receive in this world. Due to this reason, we do not seem to care about the problems occurring amongst us, but instead only complain and point fingers when a problem occurs. In Why Bother by Michael Pollan, he brings up a point explaining how we rely on the specialist to fix our problems as we do not bother to fix the problems on our own. With the term of specialization, it is an act of being restricted to something specific meaning in this case a study of something specific so that there is more of an understanding. This is viewed as a negative term in Pollan’s view because with specialization, everyone in the society thinks that any problem we have has its own specialized person that can work on it. Due to that reason, no one will step up and fix the problem right in front of them because they assume someone else got it. An example he brought up to visualize his point of how a change can make a difference is the idea of planting a garden. There is no specialization there, but what is needed is the shining of the sun, the planning, and planting of people. With this, a garden is made by just a typical person as all was required were their own thoughts and actions. Just like the visualization of the garden, I believe if small changes are done, this will help improve the world making it a better and healthier place rather than relying on someone else since that really would not bring any changes. Also, the people who makes the changes will also gain positive aspects out of this doing. We should not always rely on other people to make changes, but instead “do bother” according to Pollan.

    Read More

  • A Modest Proposal, By Jonathon Swift

    148 Words  | 1 Pages

    If Jonathon Swift was here today, he would feel utterly disgusted about how are society is today. He would ultimately be ashamed of what we have become, the satirical pieces that we have read and the abhorrence that was explained; you can tell how he would feel if he were here today. We have unquestionably lost our touch as becoming what we are supposed to become as a whole, some of us is in it for just ourselves without even turning eye for those people in need. The way we run things, the way things are with our Governments and how many people believe that they're superior to everyone else on the totem pole, Swift himself would absolutely go berserk. In reality, we are all the same, because we all bleed red. Swift would feel the same way about

    Read More

  • The Wars by Timothy Findley

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    If you took a sensitive caring person and set them in the midst of a chaotic area, what do you think would, happen? Would these person adapt to this area, and live like everyone else, or would they become a mental mess unable to cope with what is going on around them? This was the theme of the novel The Wars by Timothy Findley, that is exactly what happened. Findley took a sensitive caring individual, Robert Ross and sent him to war. Ross became unable to cope with all of the events that were taking place around him, and eventually went insane. The life that Robert Ross had lived before was nothing compared to what he was experiencing during war. When Robert Ross was a child he was the captain of everything, a popular and academic student. Friends and family loved him, and he was the ideal of any boy in the community. One would think that Robert would have no problem handling the world he lived in, but that would be an inaccurate statement. The first sign of trouble, was Rowena death. Robert and Rowena were very close as brother and sister, losing one another was unbearable for Robert, which started a spiral down to the end result, insanity. Little things like killing Rowena rabbits could not be done, communicating with others was difficult, Robert decided he had to get away. But for someone as sensitive as Robert Ross, war wasnt where he should have gone. The chaos and destruction of war, and everything he experienced, like murders and rape, was unbearable for Robert, and drove him to the end result of insanity, and his death. In The Wars Timothy Findley uses an unusual time sequence to present his story. It is told from the perspective of an author trying to reconstruct the life of Robert Ross. The very first scene is of Robert Ross riding the horses down the tracks around 1918. The story then picks up in 1915 but jumps back to when his sister dies. Throughout the story there is also an element of confusion as the people telling the story, and therefore the perspective also, are constantly changing. The time sequence in this novel varies because it tends to jump from one person's opinion of Robert's situation to another. If this did not occur the novel would be much too depressing to read because of the constant view of war.

    Read More

  • Without Conscience by Robert D. Hare

    1924 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Without Conscience" by Robert D. Hare is one aimed towards making the general public aware of the many psychopaths that inhabit the world we live in. Throughout the book Hare exposes the reader to a number of short stories; all with an emphasis on a characteristic of psychopaths. Hare makes the claim that close monitoring of psychopathy are vital if we ever hope to gain a hold over Psychopathy- A disorder that affects not only the individual but also society itself. He also indicates one of the reasons for this book is order to correctly treat these individuals we have to be able to correctly identify who meets the criteria. His ultimate goal with the text is to alleviate some of the confusion in the increase in criminal activity by determining how my of this is a result of Psychopathy.

    Read More

  • The Chosen by Chaim Potok

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    "When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked on a line and finds himself unable to swim about freely, he begins with a fight which results in struggles and splashes and sometimes an escape. Often, of course, the situation is too tough for him."

    Read More

  • Bad Decisions in Accident by Dave Egger

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    In society, any accidents are perceived as negative outcomes illustrate a terrible ending that has taken place but in reality it can be perceived as something positive in the long run. By obstructing the 2005 Camaro and the three teens, it occurred that no one was injured and everything was calm. Accident by Dave Egger represents how a bad decision becomes a point of conflict and symbolism within the theme of the story.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Brdbury

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ray Bradbury was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and amongst other things an early achiever. Deciding at a young age he wanted to be an author, Ray started his career by selling newspapers on street corners. Becoming a fulltime author in 1943, Bradbury is most known for Fahrenheit 451 published ten years later. Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel following the actions and thoughts of the protagonist, Guy Montag. In Montag’s world the distribution, buying, and owning books is illegal, if found with one the holder’s house will be burned down by the city’s firefighters. Despite being a firefighter himself, Guy feels remorse for burning down houses and wishes to find the answer to why books are banned. Authors are most likely to include specific actions and themes in their writing to convince the author it is a dystopia. These characteristics might include, using propaganda, information, independent thought and freedom are restricted, a worshipped concept/figurehead, constant surveillance, fear of the outside world, dehumanized state, distrusted natural world, uniform expectations, and illusions of a perfect Utopian world. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses propaganda, fear and constant surveillance to depict the theme books should not be censored because knowledge is power.

    Read More

  • The Perfect Failure by Trumbull Higgins

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Perfect Failure: Kennedy, Eisenhower, and the CIA at the Bay of Pigs by Trumbull Higgins is a book that sheds light on the history and surrounding factors of the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Having lived in Miami for seven years, I have always been curious about why Cubans seem to feel entitled and believe that the United States owes them something. When I asked about this, I was told that the United States failed them during the Bay of Pigs invasion by leading the Cuban exiles into a battle they could not win. They felt great resentment towards the United States for refusing to assist them once they were in Cuba, leaving them at the mercy of President Fidel Castro. After reading Higgins' book, I now understand the basis for this type of thinking and resentment.

    Read More

More about Hobson's Choice by Harold Brighouse

Open Document