Romanticism in Katherine Anne Porter’s Old Mortality
Katherine Anne Porter’s characters in “Old Mortality” make contradicting statements throughout the story with their personalities as much as their words. Eva, the “Old Maid,” symbolizes aging, and the hardships and pain that can be associated with it. Amy can be thought of as her foil, because she seems to represent the antithesis of Eva in every way.
Frozen in time with her premature death, Amy remains for the older members of the family the strongest link to the values and ways of life they were so comfortable with during the Victorian Era. Eva, as she pushes votes for women, is representing, in addition to propelling, the movement to gain a woman’s right to vote-- something that even older women in the family look down upon: ‘“In our part of the country, in my time, we were so provincial—a woman didn’t dare to think or act for herself. The whole world was a little that way,” she said, but we were the worst, I believe. I suppose you must know how I fought for votes for women when it almost made a pariah out of me…”’ From the beginning, we are made to see that Amy is beautiful and loved, while Eva is simply ridiculed for what she cannot change, and not respected for her beliefs and lifestyle.
Eva is not favored because she is an unpleasant reminder of reality, and reality is something they seem to all be trying to forget. “Eva was a blot, no doubt about it, but the little girls felt she belonged to their everyday world of dull lessons to be learned, stiff shoes to be limbered up, scratchy flannels to be endured in cold weather, measles and disappointed expectations. Their Aunt Amy belonged to the world of poetry.” Thus, everyday living is dull and tedious but Amy, in addi...
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...an see the hazards that are associated with too much vanity and not enough reality: ‘“How is your father? I always liked him. He was one of the finest-looking young men I ever saw. Vain, too, like all his family.”’
Katherine Anne Porter’s use of irony in “Old Mortality” serves to weave an image through the reader’s mind—an image that reveals the danger of romanticizing the past. In hindsight things always appear better, such as Harry’s recollection that all his female relatives are thin “thank god,” when there are several extreme examples of when this was not the case. In life, nobody can be as perfect as someone else is in death, even though things might not have been so at the time. It is a great difficulty to live up to people from the past, especially people who conformed so well, and never got the chance to lose what is loved most about them—their beauty.
Unlike the other women of Victorian society, Edna is unwilling to suppress her personal identity and desires for the benefit of her family. She begins “to realize her position in the universe as a human being and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her” (35). Edna’s recognition of herself as an individual as opposed to a submissive housewife is controversial because it’s unorthodox. When she commits suicide it’s because she cannot satisfy her desire to be an individual while society scorns her for not following the traditional expectations of women. Edna commits suicide because she has no other option. She wouldn’t be fulfilled by continuing to be a wife and a mother and returning to the lifestyle that she...
Lily is her own barrier in her life that is keeping her from accomplishing great things that she is capable of. Lily shows that she never really loves herself or gives herself enough credit by stating, “Standing there, I loved myself and I hated myself” (71). Lily does not love herself at all. She is not happy on what she has accomplished and hates that fact that she might have killed her mother. Lily does not understand how to cope with difficulties in her life. She wants to be involved with everyone to keep her mind busy and not think of situations that need to be discussed. Lily hates how she is not able to live her life to her full potential. But yet, Lily enjoys being mysterious and making her own life a story that only she knows what is real and what is a lie. Throughout the novel, Lily builds up barriers that she has not broken out to tell people. She finally cracks and shows her real self to August. She tells her whole life story all in one setting. This is overwhelming for August, but she is happy that Lily tells her when August knows the whole time. Lily come full circle with herself. She finds love in the house of women and finally is able to feel wanted and acceptance.
The number of doctors that present in the United States of America directly affects the communities that these doctors serve and plays a large role in how the country and its citizens approach health care. The United States experienced a physician surplus in the 1980s, and was affected in several ways after this. However, many experts today have said that there is currently a shortage of physicians in the United States, or, at the very least, that there will be a shortage in the near future. The nation-wide statuses of a physician surplus or shortage have many implications, some of which are quite detrimental to society. However, there are certain remedies that can be implemented in order to attempt to rectify the problems, or alleviate some of their symptoms.
Before reaching this moment, the reader can discern that Louise is struggling between the thoughts of how she “should” be reacting to the news of her husband’s death against the feeling of elation of being free from her perceived marital constraint. Louise is living in the late 19th century where society believed women belonged in a domestic realm where they “manned” the house (cooking, cleaning, raising the children) binding them to their home and husband. A time when a woman is to be the social moral compass and live by a strict social code of conduct. Even in the description of Louise it is clear she upholds these values: “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin 306). It is also when the reader gets the first glimpse of Louise’s repressed life.
One example of a very important technological advancement was the Bessemer Process which was the process of refining iron ore to make steel. The United States could not have built the transcontinental railroad, skyscrapers, and Carnegie could not have created his great steel monopoly. Industrialization brought with it an emphasis in science, not only as engineering machines to perform specialized jobs, but also in management strategies. Frederick Taylor designed a method of production knows as Taylorism. The process of Taylorism involved employers subdividing tasks to decrease need for highly skilled workers which would increase efficiency. The majority of workers in America were now unskilled laborers, opposed to previously when skilled laborers were essential. Newly arriving immigrants were happy to fill these jobs due to their desperate situations, and employers were happy to hire them because their desperate situations equaled lower wages. Technological advancements helped the industrial worker in a few ways, but also hurt them
A painting can not be reproduced and is created solely by the artist, who owns the piece. It is created on a single media via a brush and paints. Conversely, a print can be reproduced thousands of times as long as the carved wooden block has not worn down. The artist draws the outline of the print onto a sheet of paper, and it is sent to a carver. The carver places the image, face down, on a wooden block, typically cherry, and cuts through the paper, in the same manner as the brush strokes. Once carved, the block is sent to a painter who paints one color onto the block and transfers the paint onto a new sheet of paper in a rubbing motion with a hand tool. Should the piece require more colors, a new block is carved from a stamp, one block for
The U.S. expends far more on healthcare than any other country in the world, yet we get fewer benefits, less than ideal health outcomes, and a lot of dissatisfaction manifested by unequal access, the significant numbers of uninsured and underinsured Americans, uneven quality, and unconstrained wastes. The financing of healthcare is also complicated, as there is no single payer system and payment schemes vary across payors and providers.
At a glance, the poem seems simplistic – a detailed observance of nature followed by an invitation to wash a “dear friend’s” hair. Yet this short poem highlights Bishop’s best poetic qualities, including her deliberate choice in diction, and her emotional restraint. Bishop progresses along with the reader to unfold the feelings of both sadness and joy involved in loving a person that will eventually age and pass away. The poem focuses on the intersection of love and death, an intersection that goes beyond gender and sexuality to make a far-reaching statement about the nature of being
To begin, how people view one's appearance can determine where they are ranked in the world. Trends start and end every season, and as soon as one person can no longer keep up with the trends, people start judging and unaccepting them. In the story “The Doll’s House” by Katherine Mansfield, it
Another one of these stories was “Eveline”. Many women of this time period were faced with the reality of choosing the future instead of holding on to the past in order to make a life. Eveline was mistreated by the men in her family but is not able to fully let go of the family relationship that she still found with them. This goes to show that women were underestimated for their compassion role in society. She wants to run away with the man she has been seeing for a long time. His name is Frank. She sees him as a way to escape and maybe have chance at a happier life but backs out of this decision when she hears an organ play in the streets that brought back memories of her mother’s death. Eveline shows the side of humans that desire routine and a need to feel safe in repeated routine. Paralysis is seen through the way she is frozen in her life because of routine and cannot let it go. Joyce blames the Catholic Church for the way women lived and people in general, lived their lives in fear of anything
The story Little Women takes place at a time when women were taking on uncustomary roles like physical laborer, family protector and provider, and military volunteer while their husbands served during the Civil War. Keeping within the boundaries of the time, Louisa May Alcott uses herself and her own three sisters to create this classical novel from personal experiences. Each sister is different. They each set goals and dreams for their selves whether it goes along with their contemporary society or not. With the assistance of their mother, friends and experiences, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy struggle between their personal expectations and society’s expectations as they plan for their future and choose their destinies.
At a glance, the poem seems simplistic – a detailed observance of nature followed by an invitation to wash a “dear friend’s” hair. Yet this short poem highlights Bishop’s best poetic qualities, including her deliberate choice in diction, and her emotional restraint. Bishop progresses along with the reader to unfold the feelings of both sadness and joy involved in loving a person that will eventually age and pass away. The poem focuses on the intersection of love and death, an intersection that goes beyond gender and sexuality to make a far-reaching statement about the nature of being
Some people may love looking at themselves, others may not enjoy it as much, however there is one extreme case. According to ancient myths, Narcissus was a young man known for his beauty, when one day he goes to a river for a drink, but is mesmerized by his own reflection. He then falls in love with his own beauty until his death. The myth states that even to this day he is still staring at himself in the River Styx. The poem Narcissus at 60 by Linda Pastan provides a new section of his story about what would happen if Narcissus had never fallen in love with himself. Pastan’s poem is a brilliantly written poem and provides ideas of non-narcissism to the world.
Myra, who is dying of illness, escapes the confinement of her stuffy, dark apartment. She refuses to succumb to death in an insubordinate manner. By leaving the apartment and embracing open space, Myra rejects the societal pressure to be a kept woman. Myra did not want to die “like this, alone with [her] mortal enemy” (Cather, 85). Myra wanted to recapture the independence she sacrificed when eloping with Oswald. In leaving the apartment, Myra simultaneously conveys her disapproval for the meager lifestyle that her husband provides for her and the impetus that a woman needs a man to provide for her at all. Myra chose to die alone in an open space – away from the confinement of the hotel walls that served as reminders of her poverty and the marriage that stripped her of wealth and status. She wished to be “cremated and her ashes buried ‘in some lonely unfrequented place in the mountains, or in the sea” (Cather, 83). She wished to be alone once she died, she wanted freedom from quarantining walls and the institution of marriage that had deprived her of affluence and happiness. Myra died “wrapped in her blankets, leaning against the cedar trunk, facing the sea…the ebony crucifix in her hands” (Cather, 82). She died on her own terms, unconstrained by a male, and unbounded by space that symbolized her socioeconomic standing. The setting she died in was the complete opposite of the space she had lived in with Oswald: It was free space amid open air. She reverted back to the religious views of her youth, symbolizing her desire to recant her ‘sin’ of leaving her uncle for Oswald, and thus abandoning her wealth. “In religion , desire was fulfillment, it was the seeking itself that rewarded”( Cather, 77), it was not the “object of the quest that brought satisfaction” (Cather, 77). Therefore, Myra ends back where she began; she dies holding onto
This idea of Aestheticism transformed the people of 19th century Europe. The Picture of Dorian Gray was written in 1890, during the height of the Aesthetic movement. This practice and lifestyle demonstrates the values of English society at the time. They were very concerned with self-image, and self-gratification. This lifestyle corrupted many people’s attitudes towards themselves and others. The values of European Society during the late 19th century were very focused on vanity. PROVE THIS WITH QUOTE. This explains the vain an...