Suffering in All My Sons Every character in ‘All My Sons,’ suffers from the events that took place in the past. However, the most obvious of them, is mother. This is due to the fact that throughout the whole play, she is being portrayed as a tool for tension and drama. During the beginning of the play, the atmosphere created is that of a calm and ordinary Sunday morning. Even Mother’s first appearance, has a content effect towards the other characters. ‘Well, get it out of the pail. That’s my potatoes.’-Mother Chris bursts out laughing, goes up into alley. (laughing)’I thought it was garbage.’ –Keller The lightness and normality of Mothers first encounter with the other characters, leads the audience to think that nothing is amiss with her, or her surroundings. However, this is hastily changed, ‘-isn’t married doesn’t mean she’s been mourning Larry.’-Chris ‘Why then isn’t she?’- Mother (flustered)’Well…It could’ve been a number of things.’-Chris Already, some type of tension has been created between Mother and Chris, since Mother is convinced and happy that Ann has not yet married, which obviously mean she still loves and believes that Larry is alive. However, Chris has invited Ann to their house because he is in love with her, and wants to marry her, which of course he knows Mother would protest to. She would suffer from this, because if Chris and Ann were to marry, it would mean that Ann was officially over the idea of waiting for Larry, and that Mother would be the only one left, ‘Believe with me Joe. I can’t stand all alone.’-Mother Which she would seem to be unable to handle. Further drama is created, when Mother goes on to explain the bizarre dream she had, right before Larry’s memorial tree was struck down. It is from this point that the normal atmosphere seems to disappear. To Mother, the tree falling down had a meaning towards Larry status. To her it meant that he was still alive, ‘-Everybody was in such a hurry to burry him.
James Agee's A Death in the Family is a posthumous novel based on the largely complete manuscript that the author left upon his death in 1955. Agee had been working on the novel for many years, and portions of the work had already appeared in The Partisan Review, The Cambridge Review, The New Yorker, and Harper's Bazaar.
1 Peter 3:13-17 begins the third main section of 1 Peter with the theme being: God’s grace in suffering. In a world that is hostile to Christianity and to Christ Peter is admonishing his readers that the fear of the Lord conquers every other fear. In the course of life these readers faced crises, and could be tempted to give into fears and make wrong decisions but Peter is instructing to “sanctify Christ as Lord” in their hearts and they never need to fear men or circumstances. “The enemies of believers can hurt us, but never harm us. Only we can harm ourselves if we fail to trust God” (Wiersbe. 413). Peter is stating that, in a general sense, people are less likely to be persecuted when they are doing good, however, even if a believer is persecuted
“It kills me sometimes, how people die.” , Death said. Sadly, this happened to many in this period of time. Most of those who died did not deserve it, such as, Rudy, Hans, Rosa and all the victims from the holocaust. On page 241 it says, “He didn’t deserve to die the way he did.” Again, another quote from Death describing his opinion about Rudy’s unrighteous passing. This theme will present how life how life was not fair for
“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story in which James Baldwin, the author, presents an existential world where suffering characterizes a man’s basic state. The theme of tragedy and suffering can be transformed into a communal art form such as blues music. Blues music serves as a catalyst for change because the narrator starts to understand that not only the music but also himself and his relationship with Sonny. The narrator’s view of his brother begins to change; he understands that Sonny uses music as an exit of his suffering and pain. This story illustrates a wide critical examination. Richard N. Albert is one critic that explores and analyzes the world of “Sonny’s Blues”. His analysis, “The Jazz-Blues Motif in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”” is an example of how one can discover plot, characterization and jazz motif that builds this theme of suffering.
Modern psychology describes five stages of grief that people go through when confronted with tragic circumstances. The five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This system was devised by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler in their collaborations on death, dying and grieving. The fact that these stages are experienced by so many shows that grief is a universal process. The term universal means that people anywhere in the world and at any time in history share the same feelings and psychological experiences. Though people experience loss in unique ways, they experience the grieving process in the same way, and the five stages are a universal process in coping with the loss. Oskar Schell, the nine year old protagonist of Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is the central figure in an exploration of the stages of grief. After Oskar’s father Thomas is killed in the World Trade Centre attacks on September 11th, 2001, the boy goes on a transformative journey through New York City, searching for clues to a lock, as well as searching for a way to make a better world reborn out of horror. Certain parts of the novel’s plot, as well as certain characters, are representative of the five stages of grief, and we will see that Oskar makes the necessary and universal trip through the grieving process and comes out at the end a more understanding and healing person.
Universally feared, pain and suffering are typically detested and avoided at all costs. Raskolnikov is humanized in Crime and Punishment due to his fear of suffering and avoidance of it. However, due to the social and economic ruin of Russia during the setting of the novel, many characters seek out suffering. Inspired by Christianity and the self-sacrifice of the Savior, people turn to the religion as a security blanket, which adds meaning to their existence. These characters not only welcome suffering, but also search for it and throw themselves into adversity.
In the film, The Family Stone, many palliative concepts were addressed within the character’s interactions. The film is about a family’s Christmas gathering, where the entire family reunites and brings along their significant others. As the family arrives, they discuss their son/brother’s girlfriend, Meredith. As the family proceeds with their Christmas celebration, each family member has their own suspicion regarding their mother’s state of health. As the film unravels, the audience discovers that the matriarch of the family, Sybil, has fallen sick again. It is initially discussed between one son and his father. The son inquires about his mother’s health and asks how bad it is this time, implying that she has been sick before. His father reveals that it is worse this time. However, she had hoped to
Mama is a very quiet character in the beginning of the story. The book starts off when papa throws a missal at Jaja for not attending the Communion. The missal papa throws causes Mama’s favorite figurines to fall and break. Mama quietly observes the scene and she cleans it up. Out of respect for Eugene, she has nothing to say even though the figurines were something she favors and cares about. Adichie writes, “She stared at the figurin...
Eva’s lack of value for motherhood shaped the lives of her family as well as her own. Because of her negative feelings toward motherhood, many of the people surrounding her have similar values. Eva reflects her community’s negative perception of motherhood by being straightforward about it and passing it down through her family
The plays Tartuffe and Faust might not appear to have much in common at first glance. Tartuffe tells of the downfall of a hypocrite, leaving the main characters better off than they were at the start, while Faust is a tragedy that gets worse at every turn. Even so, these two plays share a common thread: the sexual desire of characters. This sexual desire is a driving force behind the plot of both of these plays. The characters of Tartuffe and Faust depict the lengths mankind will go to to attain the object of their desire, and how their actions result in their downfall.
In the 1950’s through the 1960’s women were not respected in there everyday lives, in the job field or in general. They did not have the rights they deserved, so during this time the “women’s movement” began. Women fought for their rights and fought for the self-respect that they thought they deserved. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the character Mama, expresses her feelings of pushing or extracting a new side for a woman. Her role explains that woman can be independent and can live for themselves. Through her behavior in this play she demonstrates that women can support and guide a family. Mama is in charge of the family, which is unusual, since men are traditionally the “head of a family”. Through Mama’s wisdom and dialect she expresses and portrays an image of pro-feminism. Mama’s experience in the play A Raisin in the Sun illustrates the expressions, the emotions, and the feeling with which Mama and women had to cope. She was able to characterize this through her passionate dreams, her control and her strong willed attitude.
... they then agree to be married. The concept of serious situations being negligible is also distinct in Miss Prism’s character. She is the cause of Jack’s abandonment and when this is discovered, rather than advancing to the consequences of her action, he embraces her. “Mother, I forgive you,” without even understanding the circumstances and the reason for Miss Prism’s behaviour, he treats the abandonment as insignificant. Due to their behaviour being classed as completely irrelevant therefore reinstates the lack of change in the characters morals. This is therefore key evidence of the play being a comedy of manners, although the characters ultimately commit an amoral act, it is effectively seen as unimportant and meaningless. Ultimately the play therefore favours the idea that the conventions of comedy used are employed to convey serious social messages in the play.
It’s always important to be touched. Writers know and understand this idea. Whether the audience feels good or bad about whom or what you present is not as important as the fact that they feel something. Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children is a perfect example of a work that doesn’t leave us in very high spirits but touches us in such a way that it becomes even more powerful than if it had.
"The term gender is commonly used to refer to the psychological, cultural, and social characteristics that distinguish the sexes" (Cook 1). From the idea of gender such notions as gender bias and stereotyping have developed. Stereotypes have lead society to believe that a male or female should appear, act, or in more philosophical terms, be a certain way. What these gender stereotypes are and, whether or not they really exist, will be discussed further so that they can be examined in reference to the plays Mother Courage and Her Children and M. Butterfly. In Mother Courage and Her Children "motherhood", and what it should be, is challenged as a result of the actions and qualities of the character Mother Courage. M. Butterfly gives us a great depiction of a stereotypical male, and uses the female stereotype against him. Both of these plays invert, modify, and even glorify the gender stereotypes.
God to help us get through these terrible times. We all have to try to