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Most children require a decent and nurturing role model, otherwise they cannot see the optimistic qualities of life nor form lasting relationships with anyone. In Monique Truong’s Bitter in the Mouth, Harper Evelyn Burch, or great-uncle “Baby Harper”, befittingly serves this niche as the role model for the protagonist, Linda Hammerick. Throughout the text, there is evidence of their sincere bond such as Linda confiding and finding solace in him. This is significant because comparatively speaking, it is arguably the only healthy relationship Linda has. As a result of this bond, his involvement in the story is to not only serve as a confidant to Linda, but rather a much more essential purpose; he highlights the positive aspects of the recurring …show more content…
Love in its very nature is a diverse thing, ranging from both the “healthy” and “unhealthy” kinds with Harper representing the former. He demonstrates this through his familial bond with Linda which consists of authenticity, comfort and acceptance: “I fell in love with my great-uncle Harper because he taught me how to dance…Harper was my first love.” (Truong 3). Characteristically, children will reserve that manner of love to one of their parents as they are the ones who supposedly form the first positive connection with them. However, Harper instead receives this privilege which implies that he is the closest person to Linda due to him being the one to form said connection. An additional source of their “healthy love” appears in their willingness to openly talk to each other, “Missing Baby Harper was the worst part of not going back to Boiling Springs. We spoke on the phone every week.” (144). This establishes that Linda values their bond as she chooses to continually maintain …show more content…
This suggests that aside from Harper, Linda is a part of a dysfunctional family as family narratives typically revolve around dysfunction. This dysfunction is the “unhealthy love” that Thomas and DeAnne expose to Linda through their daily lives and marriage, “he and DeAnne had been married for almost twenty-five years, many of them happy…I saw only the other parts…There was only unhappiness.” (6). As a result of their influence, Linda engages in a relationship that parallels her parents’ by dating a man who is similar to her father, “Leopold Thomas Benton-I may have fallen in love with him for his middle name.” (177-178). In this relationship, Linda herself acknowledges that this is not a heartfelt love and recognizes that it is merely collaboration, “Are you in love, Linda? No. Will you marry him? Yes. Why? Because the two questions are not one and the same.” (197-198). She is able to recognize this façade because Harper shows her repeatedly what true love should feel like. Even though, familial love and romantic love have differences, they share similar aspects such as openness and genuineness which enables Linda to form a distinction between real and disingenuous love. Paradoxically, while Linda comprehends that their relationship is not love, she still does not leave Leo until he breaks up with her. This
Baby narrates her story through her naïve, innocent child voice. She serves as a filter for all the events happening in her life, what the narrator does not know or does not comprehend cannot be explained to the readers. However, readers have reason not to trust what she is telling them because of her unreliability. Throughout the beginning of the novel we see Baby’s harsh exposure to drugs and hurt. Jules raised her in an unstable environment because of his constant drug abuse. However, the narrator uses flowery language to downplay the cruel reality of her Montreal street life. “… for a kid, I knew a lot of things about what it felt like to use heroin” (10). We immediately see as we continue reading that Baby thinks the way she has been living her life is completely normal, however, we as readers understand that her life is in fact worse then she narrates. Baby knows about the impermanent nature of her domestic security, however, she repeatedly attempts to create a sense of home each time her and Jules move to another apartm...
No matter what actions or words a mother chooses, to a child his or her mother is on the highest pedestal. A mother is very important to a child because of the nourishing and love the child receives from his or her mother but not every child experiences the mother’s love or even having a mother. Bragg’s mother was something out of the ordinary because of all that she did for her children growing up, but no one is perfect in this world. Bragg’s mother’s flaw was always taking back her drunken husband and thinking that he could have changed since the last time he...
In 1938 modern novelist and physician, Dr. William Carlos Williams produces a novel “Jean Beicke” which may well be synonymous with his life, and his disposition with the society that emerged in the early twentieth century. The novel not only confers on the deprived state some of the children entering the pediatric hospital the narrator happened to work at. It also delves into the disposition the narrator (possibly other pediatricians) possesses over the neglectful nature of the child’s parents. Surely, this must reflect William’s worldview from a post-world-war standpoint, where the new generations of children are helplessly starving to the point of death. This degradation in human empathy may have been a direct result of either World War 2 or the great depression that followed. Although it does reflect a sense of hope and tenacity as the narrator attempts to overcome his/her prejudices and try to save the life of a young malnourished girl, Jean.
When two siblings are born together, and are close in age, many people wonder whether they will be the same or different altogether. A “River Runs through it” shows two brothers who grew up in the same household, and grew up loving to do the same activity fly fishing. Both brothers were raised in a very strict presbyterian household. Norman is the older brother, and he is much more responsible and family orientated. Paul is the irresponsible younger brother; Paul as an adult was not at home much anymore. Both brothers were loved equally as children, but how they view and use love is what separates them. Paul and Norman differ in behavior and character.
Alan is selfish with love. He cries out, “Wonderful!” when told that he will become the sole interest in Diana’s life. The old man says, “She will want to know all you do. All that has happened to you during the day. Every word of it. She will want to know what you are thinking about, why you smile suddenly, why you’re are looking sad.” Alan replies to this statement with, “That is love!” All Alan wants is someone to care for him, but he doesn’t know that. He thinks he wants someone to obsess over him, for him to be the only thing that person cares about, thinks about, and talks about. That, to Alan, is love.
In a romance, the daughter is young, innocent, and awaiting her perfect prince charming. During the story, the mother of Lucynell decides her future by convincing Tom Shiftlet to marry her. Shiftlet asks the mother of Lucynell, "where would you find you an innocent woman today'? I wouldn't have any of this trash I could just pick up" (O’Connor 606). In return the mother asks Tom Shiftlet if he is married, and he replies that he is not because all he desires is an innocent women. She replies with, “I wouldn't pass up a chance to live in a permanent place and get the sweetest girl in the world myself. You ain't no fool,' I would say” (O’Connor 607). She uses this to convince Shiftlet to marry her daughter. It is a parody of a typical romance because the daughter and the prince fall in love, not having the mother arrange the relationship. Even though the mother seems to want the best for her daughter, the reader eventually comes to a realization that she just wants a son in law. She does not take into account the feelings and emotions of her own daughter. This allows the reader to see the real side of human nature, one of selfishness and greed. Lucynell, the daughter, is just an innocent and unknowing women that is being subjected to her mother’s greedy decisions. The author writes saying, “The girl was nearly thirty but because of her innocence it was impossible to guess” (O’Connor 607).
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
The love one has for their family causes one to do anything to keep them out of harm, including taking the role of mother/father. Henry Lawson creates an image in his readers’ mind of the protagonist and all that she does for her
The speaker reflects on the teenage girl’s childhood as she recalls the girl played with “dolls that did pee-pee” (2). This childish description allows the speaker to explain the innocence of the little girl. As a result, the reader immediately feels connected to this cute and innocent young girl. However, the speaker’s diction evolves as the girl grew into a teenager as she proclaims: “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back, / abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (7-9). The speaker applies polished language to illustrate the teen. This causes the reader not only to see the girl as an adult, but also to begin to grasp the importance of her situation. The speaker expresses what the bullies told this girl as she explains: “She was advised to play coy, / exhorted to come on hearty” (12-13). The sophisticated diction shifts towards the girl’s oppressors and their cruel demands of her. Because of this, the reader is aware of the extent of the girl’s abuse. The speaker utilizes an intriguing simile as she announces: “Her good nature wore out / like a fan belt” (15-16). The maturity of the speaker’s word choice becomes evident as she uses a simile a young reader would not understand. This keeps the mature reader focused and allows him to fully understand the somberness of this poem. The speaker concludes the poem as she depicts the teenage girl’s appearance at her funeral: “In the casket displayed on satin she lay / with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on” (19-20). The speaker elects not to describe the dead girl in an unclear and ingenuous manner. Rather, she is very clear and
The simplistic plot of the novel and the overall theme of love allows the author to span the lives of the main characters. The reader sees the span of the life of two of the main characters, Sidda and her mother Vivi, as they struggle to love each other based on their own childhood experiences. The reader also sees our two main characters in parallel encountering love and affairs of the heart; yet the most powerful love throughout the book is the love of four friends who stick together through the good and the bad. Vivi loves the Ya-Ya’s; as adolescents they are looking for love and someone to look up to. Vivi didn’t know how to love Sidda because Vivi’s mother didn’t know how to love her; therefore, Sidda doesn’t know how to love Connor because she has never experienced love and is now afraid to be in love. The simplicity of the novel is that everyone is always looking to be loved. The simplicity is that in real life people are always searching to be loved, or finding love. Near the beginning of the novel when the ya-ya’s are in their adolescence as young girls, going through the normal obstacles of childhood- fighting with their parents, getting into mischief, smoking and breaking curfew- they realize that by sticking together they can get through anything. They formalize this bond with a ceremony early on, "I am a member of the royal and true tribe of the Ya-Ya’s…I do solemnly swear to be loyal sister Ya-Ya’s, and to love and look out for them, and never forsake them through thick and thin, until I take my last human breath" (Wells 71). Wells shows the reader that the inability to show love can be passed down through generations: Sidda expresses to Connor why she is afraid to marry him, "She [Vivi] didn’t know how to love me, so I don’t know how to love you" (Wells 284). Sidda is saying that her mother couldn’t ...
Lindsay’s motifs and themes range far and wide, though there are a few emphasized ones. First is love in its many forms. Just as C.S. Lewis explains in his book, The Four Loves there are four general types of love: affection (brotherly), friendship, romance, and unconditional (God’s love). Lindsay’s work, whether he knew it or not, spans
Cummings theme of how strong someones love can be appeals to readers minds, because everyone wants that connection with their partner, That undying love for one another. Some people long for a love...
Aubery Tanqueray, a self-made man, is a Widower at the age of Forty two with a beautiful teenage daughter, Ellean whom he seems very protective over. His deceased wife, the first Mrs. Tanqueray was "an iceberg," stiff, and assertive, alive as well as dead (13). She had ironically died of a fever "the only warmth, I believe, that ever came to that woman's body" (14). Now alone because his daughter is away at a nunnery he's found someone that can add a little life to his elite, high class existence; a little someone, we learn, that has a past that doesn't quite fit in with the rest of his friends.
Having inherited the myth of ugliness and unworthiness, the characters throughout the story, with the exception of the MacTeer family, will not only allow this to happen, but will instill this in their children to be passed on to the next generation. Beauty precedes love, the grownups seem to say, and only a few possess beauty, so they remain unloved and unworthy. Throughout the novel, the convictions of sons and daughters are the same as their fathers and mothers. Their failures and accomplishments are transferred to their children and to future generations.
When evaluating Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s role in the family structure, they both provide insight into the origins of their daughters’ personalities. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet both play integral parts in their children’s lives; they give or attempt to give them guidance in marriage, in happiness, and in love. Whether it’s Mrs. Bennet expressing her over-bearing love or Mr. Bennet giving Elizabeth some well-needed advice, they both aim to help their daughters using their inborn parental love.