Love and or the lack of love affects all people differently. The lack of love can cause guilt, and make some people feel unwanted. Love can make us realize that those around us are more than strangers, they are the ones who truly have our backs even in the darkest of times. Mary Hood’s story “How Far she went” tells us about some of the ways love can affect people. The story starts out with granny taking care of her granddaughter, because the granddaughter’s father can no longer take care of her. The granny and the granddaughter often do not see eye to eye with each other and therefor it causes them to bicker and at times leave each other’s company abruptly.
The granddaughter is the first to show how the lack of love, in her mind, from her
The granny has a flashback to a little bit after she gives birth to her daughter. She talks about how everyone thought she was joking about the child and feeding it hay, but to her there was no love for this child she had. Her daughter Sylvie grew up without her mother’s love and became a wild child resulting in a child out of wedlock. Granny felt guilty she had not felt the love for her own child and carried that with her daily. Granny had a fear that her granddaughter would turn out the same way, she could already see that she was on that path. Granny did love one thing in her life, her little dog. She took the dog with her to work at the church and she loved it more than she felt like she could love any other thing. Page 282 says, “-the little dog found her. He could be counted on. He barked all the way, and squealed when she pulled the burr from his ear.” She felt something for this dog, that she could not feel for her own child part of me feels as though that is also contributing to her guilt towards the whole
He says “A theme that I obtained from that segment of the story was sacrifice, because they had to sacrifice in order to save the girl and the grandmother.” The grandmother sacrificed the one thing she thought she loved most to save herself and her granddaughter, the dog. This to me was the affect that love has one a person. The granny loves either herself or her granddaughter so much that she was willing to sacrifice the dog in order to save them from the bikers, a darkest time. Nobody can imagine what it felt like for the granny to make such a sacrifice, to kill the one thing you felt like you had a connection with to save someone who seemed as though they wanted nothing to do with you. It seems crazy at first that the granny would even do that for a rebel like her granddaughter, someone who goes off with older boys, a person who talks back, someone who threatens her, and someone who makes the readers feel as though when she lashed out at her granny earlier the granddaughter really felt those things. Then when you think about it, the granddaughter was lashing out because she felt as though her father did not want her, she left with those older boys because she was upset, and she actually really does not hate her
Janie's Grandmother is the first bud on her tree. She raised Janie since she was a little girl. Her grandmother is in some respects a gardener pruning and shaping the future for her granddaughter. She tries to instill a strong belief in marriage. To her marriage is the only way that Janie will survive in life. What Nanny does not realize is that Janie has the potential to make her own path in the walk of life. This blinds nanny, because she is a victim of the horrible effects of slavery. She really tries to convey to Janie that she has her own voice but she forces her into a position where that voice is silenced and there for condemning all hopes of her Granddaughter become the woman that she is capable of being.
...ther is losing her daughter to time and circumstance. The mother can no longer apply the word “my” when referring to the daughter for the daughter has become her own person. This realization is a frightening one to the mother who then quickly dives back into her surreal vision of the daughter now being a new enemy in a world already filled with evils. In this way it is easier for the mother to acknowledge the daughter as a threat rather than a loss. However, this is an issue that Olds has carefully layered beneath images of war, weapons, and haircuts.
...ve interest was free born and wished to marry her. However, after Harriet?s attempts to pursued her master to sell her to the young neighbor failed she was left worse off than before. Dr. Norcom was so cruel he forbade Harriet anymore contact with the young man. Harriet?s next love came when she gave birth to her first child. Her son Benny was conceived as a way to get around Dr. Norcom?s reign of terror. However, this is a subject that was very painful for her. She conveys to the reader that she has great regret for the length she went to stop her Master. Along with her own guilt she carries the memories of her Grandmother?s reaction to the news of her pregnancy. Clearly this was a very traumatic time in Harriet?s life. In light of these difficult events Harriet once again found love and hope in her new born son. ?When I was most sorely oppressed I found solace in his smiles. I loved to watch his infant slumber: but always there was a dark cloud over my enjoyment. I could never forget that he was a slave.? (Jacobs p. 62)
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” a short story by Katherine Anne Porter, describes the last thoughts, feelings, and memories of an elderly woman. As Granny Weatherall’s life literally “flashes” before her eyes, the importance of the title of the story becomes obvious. Granny Weatherall has been in some way deceived or disappointed in every love relationship of her life. Her past lover George, husband John, daughter Cornelia, and God each did an injustice to Granny Weatherall. Granny faces her last moments of life with a mixture of strength, bitterness, and fear. Granny gained her strength from the people that she felt jilted by. George stood Granny up at the altar and it is never stated that she heard from him again. The pain forced Granny to be strong.
There are three phases of thought for the Grandmother. During the first phase, which is in the beginning, she is completely focused on herself in relation to how others think of her. The Second Phase occurs when she is speaking to The Misfit. In the story, The Misfit represents a quasi-final judgment. He does this by acting like a mirror. He lets whatever The Grandmother says bounce right off him. He never really agrees with her or disagrees, and in the end he is the one who kills her. His second to last line, "She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life," (O'Conner 152). might be the way O'Conner felt about most of us alive, or how she felt that God must feel about us.
The grandmother is very judgmental and her actions lead up to her family’s death. She calls a little boy a cute “little pick ninny” and we see her true colors. Pick ninny is a derogatory word towards black people and no good Christian woman would ever say those words (O’Connor 412). The grandmother tries very hard to be a good woman but her actions oppose everything she wants society to believe about her. The grandmother sees that her grandchildren are not the most behaved kids so she tells them they should be good people by listening and showing respect. She wants her grandchildren to have respect for their “native states and their parents and for everything else” (O’Connor 412). She tries to tell her grandchildren to be good
When this tale is looked at from a deeper perspective, it is learned that the mothers wish is to be loved and not have to worry about her child that has come in the way of her and her
The daughter alludes to an idea that her mother was also judged harshly and made to feel ashamed. By the daughters ability to see through her mothers flaws and recognize that she was as wounded as the child was, there is sense of freedom for both when the daughter find her true self. Line such as “your nightmare of weakness,” and I learned from you to define myself through your denials,” present the idea that the mother was never able to defeat those that held her captive or she denied her chance to break free. The daughter moments of personal epiphany is a victory with the mother because it breaks a chain of self-loathing or hatred. There is pride and love for the women they truly were and is to be celebrated for mother and daughter.
Initially, the conviction of The Grandmother never was about anyone’s needs but her own. She wants people to think she is Christ-like because she wears a nice Sunday dress. The real character is revealed under crisis. The Grandmother is arrogant, materialistic, and always cares about what other people think about her. As they were on the way to Florida The Grandmother makes an insensitive comment about a black boy with no on pants on the street. She seemed to have a lack of sympathy or curiosity about the situation of this boy. This remark is insensitive and shows the reader the viewpoint of The Grandmother. She is in essence an old lady that is set in her ways. She fails to notice anyone’s view point but her own. It isn’t until the very end of the story where even The Misfit notices the change in The Grandmother, which is why he states that she would have been a better woman if someone was there to pull the trigger, her whole life. The Grandmother has never shown compassion about anyone, other than herself. There is also a deeper meaning to what he means; he tries to illustrate that people are not tested until they meet that ...
The word “puppy” is most commonly thought of as a happy and joyful companion. This is exactly what is thought when reading the title of a story by George Sanders called “Puppy”, but in this case, the story is not all happy and joyful. The main characters of this story are Marie and Callie. To learn more about these characters this essay will be discussing the character and the ways they show similarities and differences between each other and both of their families. Through further discussion, perhaps it can be determined how the symbolism of the puppy as it relates to a member of Callie’s family.
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...
Towards the middle of the memoir, the theme is shown through the irony of Jeannette’s mother’s situation as well as Jeannette’s feelings towards
As any romantic will assert, love is by far the most powerful force known to human hearts and minds. This sentiment is espoused throughout history, almost to the point of cliché. Everyone has heard the optimistic statement, “love conquers all,” and The Beatles are certain, however idyllic it may be, that “all you need is love.” Humanity is convinced that love is unique within human emotion, unequalled in its power to both lift the spirit up in throws of ecstasy, and cast it down in utter despair.
Love. Everyone is familiar with that four-letter word, but do they actually know what it means? What is love exactly? Is love being with someone you care about the most? Or is liking something way more than you do? It is astounding to think that this four letter word could mean so much in many different ways and how it could affect your (or another person’s) life. Everyone has their own view on love. Whether it is a positive view or a negative one, somehow, love always finds a way to end up in a person’s life, even if they aren’t looking for it.
The image of a short rope hanging from the dog’s neck is repeated throughout the piece to symbolize both, a past struggle, as well as a current obstacle, hindering his ability to move forward smoothly on his journey. Furthermore, the rope represents a past mentality of slavery and how even though this slave is now free, he isn’t really ‘free’ at all. The dragging rope is a constant reminder of where he has been and who he is on the surface. Society has fixed this idea that he carries no value and although he is persistent with repentance, this chastisement is seemingly perpetual. When the child introduced the dog to the family, “scorn was leveled at him from all eyes” as he made his case to the “family council,” announcing why this dog is worthy enough to become a member of the house (Crane 13). As it becomes evident that the dog is no longer being accepted, he becomes internally embarrassed and filled with shame as he is put on a display of mockery. The father returns home from work “in a particularly savage temper” and decided the dog could stay, but only because he believed it would provoke hostility in the family (Crane 13). Soon after, the child took the dog to his room and cried softly, while the father began his typical violent outbursts on the wife. The father’s ill humor is what permits the ‘acceptance’ of the dog in the family. A few nights later, the father storms the apartment drunk and throws the dog out of the window and the dark-brown dog falls to his