Moreover, Maria often disassociates herself from her actions and looks at her life in third-person. One example would be when she told Carter about her pregnancy and “and she wondered with distant interest just how long the scene would play” (Didion 50). Besides, Simard argues that Maria’s perspective on her relationship with Kate is unhealthy as well. He says that “Kate is a concept to Maria, a self-object, someone Maria needs to complete herself – even though her affection for her daughter is undoubtedly authentic, if misguided” (Simard Page). One can see how Maria’s narcissistic personality creeps into every facet of her life starting from her career to BZ’s suicide to her relationship with her daughter. She is most likely in the right place …show more content…
For one, she did not cope well the the death of her mother. According to Simard, Maria’s constant driving on the freeway “might represent a desire for a reunion with the mother, since her mother’s suicide was in an automobile” (Simard Page). That shows deep seated scar so to speak and that definitely requires help from professionals. Furthermore, Maria has to cope with the retardation of her daughter. That must be one the worst experiences a mother can have. All the same, Maria’s actions are contradictory to her desires to reunite with her daughter. She visits her and wants to be with her. However, her reckless actions are not conducive to becoming a good parent. Another important problem that Maria faces is the memory of her abortion. She says from the mental health hospital “I try not to think of dead things and plumbing. I try not to hear the air conditioner in that bedroom in Encino” (Didion 10). Maybe Maria’s treatment works and it encourages and helps her to forget about her dreadful experiences and memories. BZ’s suicide could be another thing that might require help from the professionals. To change and recover and take control of one’s life is always possible; all the same, it is rarely done …show more content…
She had an abortion. Her daughter is taken away from her. She divorced carter. Her mother was killed or committed suicide on the road. She participated in BZ’s suicide but not helping him. Her career is on the verge of collapse if not already collapsed. She is in the mental health hospital. Maria has lost everything. As Tyler Durden, from the movie Fight Club says: “It 's only after we 've lost everything that we 're free to do anything (Fight Club CITE). Maria is in a position to reclaim her life because she does not owe anything to anybody anymore. A great example of hitting bottom and coming back is a success story of J.K Rowling, the author of Harry Potter Series. She recalls "An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless ... By every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew" (Gillett). Yet she carried on and kept writing Harry Potter and chasing her dream and she ended up as the most successful writer of the modern era. She was laser-focused on her goals. That is a great example for Maria to follow. “Aside from being a good mother, her (J.K Rowling) goal was to get Harry Potter published. That’s it” (Roberston). Maria’s two goals could be rebuilding her life and getting Kate
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
Mariam can be seen as the victim of many men’s actions. A victim can be someone who is physically or emotionally hurt from another person’s actions. Because of the choices a person, or a group of people make, people are affected and made victims of the situation. In Mariam’s life, she faced many attacks from men, both physically and emotionally. She was the victim of Jahlil’s actions to send her away in order to keep his reputation. He made her the victim of his lies and actions to make sure society viewed him
Narcissism is a disorder of high self-appraisal. Individuals who encounter narcissistic views, tend to not only hurt loved ones, but can also blindly guide themselves to tragedy. This personality disorder has a tendency to lead one to “chronic feelings of depression, and suicidality” (Whitbourne). Greed is the ultimate power of defeat and according to both stories created by Kate Chopin and Edgar Allan Poe, some of the characters result in just that. Armand in “Desiree’s Baby” and Fortunato in “Cask of Amontillado” are both portrayed as narcissistic characters in terms of lusting for pride and arrogance, to get what one wants for their own good nonetheless, hurts those around
...ecome savage, she would have been happy to see him. All she wanted before was to see her husband again, and now she is treating it like he is a beast as well. This is done by Marquez so the audience will recognize that savagery does not work to benefit the victim but take away aspects that they once had in their life, such as love. Marquez advocates civility through Maria.
1. Initially Reyna Grande and her siblings Carlos and Mago were left behind while their parents immigrated to the United States to work. During that time Grande faced many struggles among the most prevalent were her feelings of abandonment, the neglect she and her siblings faced at the hands of their paternal grandmother, and the ostracization due to their circumstance. Reyna and her siblings were left behind when she was a baby by her father, as a result Reyna had no concrete recollection of him during hi absence. Two years after her father left her mother left to help him in America when Reyna was four years old. Until that point Reyna’s mother had been the only parental figure she had known. The abandonment didn’t stop at the physical absence
Secondly, It appears as though Carlos has a much more difficult life than Nicole and it is she who is mentally ill. I believe this goes back to the discussion of Nature vs. Nurture, because nature plays a part in her genetics (mother). Furthermore, Nurture is a root of the problem because of the way she is raised by her father and stepmother, and her excessive use of alcohol. Looking at Carlos, he lives a much different type of life that is very planned out and strict.
...l” (Marquez ). Normally when someone is angry, they hold a grudge for a while but not for the rest of their life. Maria’s grudge against her husband lingers from day to day and she is never able to forgive him. Humans forgive and forget, they move on from the things of the past. Maria’s grudge is another example of her insanity and her inability to move on.
In addition, Maria plays the role of the lady in waiting who essentially doesn’t do anything for herself except take orders. Later on the reader soon realizes that, Maria is a strong witty character that takes matters in to her own hands. Maria developes a strategy, first she goes for the messed up drunken Sir Toby and her goal is to straighten him out. Maria confronts Sir Toby about his drunkenness, “That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard my lady talk of it yesterday” (1.3.128). Sir Toby begins to take notice in Maria. Maria begins to plot with Toby to bring down Malvolio (the condescending butler) as a practical joke. Through the process of plotting against Malvolio with Toby, Maria develops a back bone something she was not known for with Olivia. Maria took the lead in the plotting and Toby starts taking her orders, “Observe him, for the love of mockery, for I know this letter will make a contemplative idiot of him” (2.5.18-19) As a result of the jokes success, Mari...
When one speaks of narcissism, often the image of a self-absorbed and self-aggrandizing, but overly sensitive person comes to mind. Some features of a narcissistic personality may make it seem like having confidence, however, it crosses the border from healthy confidence to putting yourself on a pedestal. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) people who suffer from the pathological form of narcissism, Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), possess an exaggerated sense of importance, believe they are superior or special, expect special treatment, and/or set goals based on obtaining approval from others. The criteria for NPD includes a sense of entitlement, lack of empathy, and a need for personal gain
In the story, “I Only Came to Use the Phone,” Maria is left alone in a sanatorium and reveals her weak and fragile mental state. This uncovers Maria's fatal flaw that will lead to her downfall. She becomes “crazy” because she never had much self-esteem. She has a problem settling down because she was married three times. This commitment issue greatly weakens her because of her many breakups. Finally, she marries a magician named Saturno who loves her more than anything. She changes when she is with Saturno. Maria quotes Vinicius de Moraes when asked by Saturno how long she will love him: “Love is eternal for as long as it lasts”(Marquez 80). When Maria becomes trapped in the mental asylum, she loses the steady presence of the man she loves. This breaks through her newly built self-esteem and leads to the demise of her mental health. When she is first in the sanatorium, Maria constantly asks, “Is there a telephone?”(Marquez 72). She is desperate to hold on to the life she had with him. Since the matrons of the sanatorium will not let her contact her husband, the bond that she has found with him is disconnected. She has only herself on whom to rely. The other inmates are completely insane and are useless to aid her in her escape. Maria is not strong enough to leave herself. When the doctor tells her that she is not able to call or leave because she is insane, sh...
Failing to find a positive opportunity for work, Maria’s next job is seemingly much worse in multiple ways. Maria gets offered enough money to hold her over for a long time in Colombia, by becoming a international narcotrafficker, even though it still “yields ve...
Rose Mary is a selfish woman and decides not to go to school some mornings because she does not feel up to it. Jeannette takes the initiative in making sure that her mother is prepared for school each morning because she knows how much her family needs money. Even though Rose Mary starts to go to school every day, she does not do her job properly and thus the family suffers financially again. When Maureen’s birthday approaches, Jeannette takes it upon herself to find a gift for her because she does not think their parents will be able to provide her with one. Jeannette says, “at times I felt like I was failing Maureen, like I wasn’t keeping my promise that I’d protect her - the promise I’d made to her when I held her on the way home from the hospital after she’d been born. I couldn’t get her what she needed most- hot
Evidently, with what readers presume to be the “man of her dreams”, Clemencia's mother seems to be in her own world as she completely disregards her life with her former husband and their children. This does not bode well for Clemencia as she holds a lot of resentment towards her mother, that will likely never resolve due to the fact that Clemencia's mom is not around in the world anymore. Even though, her mother may not be in this world anymore, Clemencia will always wonder why her mom did marry her father.
She talks about how she lost some many babies in her stomach that her husband started to wonder if she was killing them on purpose. Finally, she finds what she thinks is her final chance to have a child, “I thought she was a gift from Heaven when I saw her on the dusty curb, wrapped in a small pink blanket, a few inches away from a sewer as open as a hungry child’s yawn.” (79) After losing baby after baby Marie’s hope is finally restored by finding a child in the street. Although this baby is found to be dead later, the idea of having a kid brings joy to her tragic situation. She is uplifted and overjoyed after feeling remorse from her miscarriages. Once Marie realises the baby is dead she decides to bury it. The pool man catches her, accuses her of witchcraft and alerts the police. While waiting to be arrested Marie is not indulging the thought of being locked away, instead she is imagining something better, “We made a pretty picture standing there. Rose, me, him. Between the pool and the gardenias, waiting for the law.” (96) Marie will most likely be in confinement for the rest of her life for a false accusation but rather than dwelling on it, she pictures this happy family in front of her. Although this situation suggests she’s hitting rock bottom, hope and beauty is still
Marie’s body can't support to have one so she found a girl on the street named Rose. She brings Rose home and it seems like Marie is doing something nice. “The girls who slept with my husband while I was still grieving over my miscarriages” “I picked her up and pressed her cheeks against mine” (Danticat 93). After Marie brings her home, it later seems to the reader that she does something truly disturbing. She actually brings a home a dead baby rather than “saving Rose” from the street. Marie then tries to bury the baby, but gets caught by the Dominican grounds keeper. “I left her in a shack behind the house, where the Dominican kept his tools. Three times a day, I visited her with my hand over my nose” “ I watched her skin grow moist, cracked, and sunken in some places, then ashy and dry in others.” “I felt a grip on my shoulder as I lowered her into the small hole in the ground” (Danticat 98). “I call the gendarmes” “They are coming” (Danticat 99). It seemed like Marie wanted to help but she just ends up doing something very disturbing. That is what makes Marie very intriguing and the story has a sense of