Two Works Cited In the short story, "Taking Care", by Joy Williams, a preacher deals learns to deal with his wife being in the hospital with a rare blood disease as well as taking care of his granddaughter while his daughter is away. His daughter, playing only a small role in the story, is still a rather round character. The author, Williams, depicts the characteristics of Jones's daughter very carefully through her actions. Although Jones's daughter is not a main character in this story, she does add various ideas for the reader to think about while reading the short story. Her characteristics and mannerisms are that of superficiality, selfishness, irresponsibility, and capriciousness. These characteristics are displayed continuously throughout the story.
Jones's daughter exhibits superficiality through actions. The text reads, "Jones's daughter has fallen in with the stars and is using the heavens, as Jones would be the first to admit, more than he ever has. It has however, brought her only grief and confusion"(93). These two sentences imply that she is superficial. They are saying that she uses the stars to determine what her future is rather than thinking realistically and creating her own future. Even when this dependency of hers fails her, in her mind, she still relies on astrology for her future. Her leaving unopened records of prestigious composers with Jones as she left shows her superficiality once more (95).
In addition to being superficial, Jones's daughter is also a very selfish person. She left her husband, left her 6-month-old daughter, and her dog with her father and took off for Mexico (93). This is a selfish act because she has a total disregard for her father's lifestyle and for the hardship he is going through with his wife in the hospital. She does not consider that this would be an inconvenience for her father. Her selfishness is again shown by the fact that she has a total disrespect for the differences of life styles between she and her father. This is shown in the text readings, "His daughter speaks about the men she has been involved with but no longer cares about," and the previous sentence, " Naturally this pains Jones," speaking of the fact that his daughter was having an affair with an older man (95). She is also selfish in the fact that while her mother is in the hospital almost dying, she is, "walking along the beach in Mexico with two men", and even when her mother comes home from the hospital, she is, " in Mexico wandering disinterestedly through a jewelry shop" (96,98).
Towards the climax of the passage, the young girl shares her perspective on her dad’s desire to help her achieve her academic goals. “Nothing’s more important than his books and vocabulary words. He might say I matter, but when he goes on a scavenger hunt for a book, I realize that I really don’t” (Lopez 26). This cite illustrates just how sightless the teenage narrator is because she fails to see that her father only left the dinner table to assist her and to do something generous, but from her perspective she takes it as her father abandoning her. I can infer that the child’s anger and feeling of not mattering, which led to her storming off to her room, could have easily been solved if she asked her father what his true intentions were in pushing Watership Down so hard during a nice family dinner. On the other hand, the dad in “Confetti Girl” simply doesn’t pay attention to his daughter’s feelings often enough, and that sets off a bomb of conflict in their relationship as well. At the end of the excerpt, the father stoops to find a book, but is so engrossed in his task that he practically treats his daughter as non-existent; she narrates the following emotion-filled line. “He doesn’t hear my angry, stomping footsteps” (Lopez 27). This cite portrays that the father is
Judith Ortiz Cofer’s use of diction had effectively implemented the dismissiveness behind an individual’s transition from childhood into adulthood, which had been the central meaning of the poem. Cofer’s uses a rather negative choice of wording in the first line of the poem that being, “My dolls have been put away like dead children”. As the poet decides to use the words “dead children” it brings a sense of gloominess upon the passage. Once the reader continues reading it appears that a connection can be made between the gloominess in the act of putting away the young girl’s dolls like “dead children” to her Quinceanera. Further Along the poem, the pessimism towards the act of maturing is found once again as the poet uses defeatist words such as “poison” when describing the fluids of her body that being blood. It seems that the young girl’s blood symbolizes her menstrual cycle, which effectively marks her entrance into womanhood. When describing the fluids of her body by using the word “poison” it creates a somber image of adulthood as she views her rite of passage as being toxicant. Ultimately, it seems that the poet’s use of diction provides the poem with a solemn tone which ultimately supplies the p...
A conflict that arises in the beginning of the story is the controlling of her husband Richard towards her. Ines feels trapped and imprisoned in the providing for the specific needs for Richard. She lives in his world where rules and regulations are to be expected of her. In the beginning of the story Garcia introduces the thoughts of Ines towards her husband stating “When her husband returns home he'll expect her trussed up in a silk dress and pearls and wearing make-up and high heels.” Ines is in a conf...
After a decade of not seeing his mother and brother, Howard returns to his hometown in Mississippi. It is evident how thrilled he is. As the train approaches town, he begins “to feel curious little movements of the heart, like a lover as he nears his sweetheart” (par. 3). He expects this visit to be a marvelous and welcoming homecoming. His career and travel have kept his schedule extremely full, causing him to previously postpone this trip to visit his family. Although he does not immediately recognize his behavior in the past ten years as neglectful, there are many factors that make him aware of it. For instance, Mrs. McLane, Howard’s mother, has aged tremendously since he last saw her. She has “grown unable to write” (par. 72). Her declining health condition is an indicator of Howard’s inattentiveness to his family; he has not been present to see her become ill. His neglect strikes him harder when he sees “a gray –haired woman” that showed “sorrow, resignation, and a sort of dumb despair in her attitude” (par. 91). Clearly, she is growing old, and Howard feels guilty for not attending her needs for such a long time period: “his throat [aches] with remorse and pity” (par. 439). He has been too occupied with his “excited and pleasurable life” that he has “neglected her” (par. 92). Another indication of Howard’s neglect is the fact that his family no longer owns the farm and house where he grew up. They now reside in a poorly conditioned home:
Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, Poland on May 18, 1920, shortly after Marshal Jozef Pilsudski defeated the Soviet Red Army to gain Polish independence. Like most young boys, Karol enjoyed an active childhood, playing soccer and swimming often, although he was most known for his remarkable intelligence and respect at a very young age. When he was eight years old, his mother, Emilia, died of an infection of the heart, and shortly afterward, his only brother, a physician, contracted scarlet fever from a patient and passed away. When learning of the deaths of his mother and brother, witnesses recalled young Karol’s response to the news to be a simple remark: “Such was God’s will.” By the time he was 21, Hitler had already occupied his homeland, ending Poland’s only period of independence between 1772 and 1989. Shortly after the Nazi invasion, Karol’s father, Karol Senior, also passed away after a prolonged illness, leaving 20 year old Karol without family. (Vatican Online)
At the beginning of the short story Maggie's family is introduced, from her scrappy little brother Jimmie, to her short lived brother Tommie, her alcoholic mentally-abusive mother Mary, and her brutish father. Jimmie's friend Pete is introduced and becomes a mirror image of Jimmie later on in the book. They both are portrayed as Don Juans, the seducers of young women who treat women as objects rather than people. Maggie's father is as short-lived as her brother Tommie. However, he becomes a negative social factor in Maggie's life. Maggie’s mother was an essential symbol of hypocrisy and pessimism throughout the book, from her drinking to her last comment in the book “I'll Forgive Her” (Crane).
In chapter three, the author uses a great example of immorality through Gatsby's party. The author goes in depth about Gatsby's party so he can help the reader understand Gatsby's character and the purpose of his assembly. At Gatsby's party, most of the guests that are present have not been formally invited to the party but have been brought by others or just to drop in. The uninvited guests drink Gatsby's liquor and eat his food without even attempting to meet Gatsby's or give their appreciation, this shows their unethical manners. The women purposely dress in silvers and gold's to show their wealth and only pretend to have fun. The only reason the uninvited guests come to the party to show off their riches with their clothes or appearance. The guests do not realize that they are only pretending to be happy. At these parti...
Methamphetamine causes several physiological effects and can be administered in methods like smoking, snorting, and intravenously with a hypodermic needle. Some short term effects of methamphetamine include increase...
According to Frederick Asals, the first half of the story serves a significant purpose as it informs the audience that the family’s journey to Florida is only a “mere empty movement through space” (42). Prior to the car accident, the family acts out of vanity and disobedience despite believing they are devote Christians. Through their actions and behaviors, O’Connor reveals that they are heading down a path of destruction. T.W. Hendricks examines the structure of the family and their relationships with each other, he comments that “the structure of the family is in disarray” (203). The patriarch of the family, Bailey, despises his mother and prefers to overlook her presence by participating in self-absorption. In comparison, his wife does not pay attention to her external surroundings, but simply puts sole focus on her infant child. Furthermore, she and her husbands are parents t...
... King references Moby-Dick but instead uses the name Moby-Jane. I found it funny when Changing Women and Moby-Jane were “swimming and rolling and diving and sliding and spraying” (248). Although I thought this passage was funny I had a hard time connecting it to the book. I would like to discuss how this connects to the book. I wonder if it is biblical reference to something. Another thing I found to be funny was the Dead Dog café. I did not understand its connection to the book but I found it to be funny that tourists would go there. Even if the Dead Dog Café sold actual dog meat why would a tourist want to eat dog?
In the second half of the poem, a new facet of the speaker's attitude is displayed. In line 17, she wants to improve the ugliness of her "child" by giving him new clothes; however, she is too poor to do so, having "nought save homespun cloth" with which to dress her child. In the final stanza, the speaker reveals poverty as her motive for allowing her book to be sent to a publisher (sending her "child" out into the world) in the first place. This makes her attitude seem to contradict her actions.
As Winfield 's wife, Amanda is worthy of love and respect. Amanda is a southern lady, when she was young, she had an attractive appearance and graceful in manner, and her families were also quite rich. These favorable conditions made her the admiration of many men. Still, her final choice was a poor boy. She did not hesitate and bravely to choose her own love. Though her marriage was not as good as she had imagined the happiness of life, and the husband, Winfield meager income also drinking heavily, finally abandoned Amanda and two young children, but she still remembered and loved her husband. Her husband 's weakness did not make Amanda fall down; instead, she was brave enough to support the family, raising and educating of their two young children. Daughter Laura was a disability to close her fantasy world, and she was collection of a pile of glass small animals as partners. Amanda knew Laura sensitive, fragile, she was always in the care and encourages her daughter. Because of her shortcomings, Laura sometimes frustrated and Amanda immediately replied that "I 've told you never, never to use that word. Why, you 're not crippled, you just have a little defect". Amanda for the care of the children was more reflected a mother 's strong from the play that Amanda paid money to send Laura to typing school. She hoped daughter have a better future and married a good man to take care of the family, and encouraged her daughter, prompting her to go out of the glass menagerie to experience her real life, but Amanda placed more expectations for his son Tom because her husband left home, Tom is the only man and the mainstay of the family. She wanted Tom to realize that is a kind of family responsibility, also is a kind of essential social
The narrator shows that Julian is a scholar who is partially dependent on his mother and plans to be “a successful writer” (Winn 193). Showing Julian’s thoughts towards his mother, the narrator reveals this in the example: “Julian thought he could have stood his lot better if she had been selfish, if she had been an old hag who drank and screamed at him” (O’Connor 449). Julian is aware of his mother’s delusions of her ancestral home that she clings to and he tries to ignore it. According to Bryan Wyatt, the home represents the “lost for Julian’s sake, the whatever legacy there was to his mother from its sale went to augment the funds . . . to better her son’s welfare” (Wyatt 69). “The house, Julian habitually dreams about, serves as more than a symbol of economic collapse; it is a reminder of the family’s participation in plantation culture and the ownership of slaves” (Williamson 752). Accordingly, the narrator tells of Julian’s view of the African Americans on the bus and he decides to ask one of them for a match. This is to annoy his mother and “teach her a lesson” (O’Connor 453) that they were not living in the past. Despite the fact he still loves his mother, “he severed himself emotionally from his mother and does not return the “blinding” love she has for him” (Wyatt 70). Thus, causing Julian to reject his mother and make him feel that she is a
After Laura drops out of typing school Amanda says, “What is there left but dependency all our lives? I know so well what becomes of unmarried women who aren’t prepared to occupy a position. I’ve seen such pitiful cases in the South—barely tolerated spinsters living upon the grudging patronage of sister’s husband or brother’s wife!—stuck away in some little mousetrap of a room—encouraged by one in-law to visit another—little birdlike women without any nest—eating the crust of humility all their life!. Amanda had always wanted Laura to find a nice husband, but then the situation became desperate when the younger woman lost all prospects of a career. Laura could not survive without someone taking care of her.