Friendships are not often without imperfection, and intentionally or unintentionally, they can often be tainted with dark secrecy. This holds especially true between two lifelong “friends” after they discover each other’s actual feelings in an unfortunate evening on a balcony in Rome in Edith Wharton’s short story, “Roman Fever.” Grace Ansley and Alida Slade are two upper-class women that consistently lather up their comments with social niceties, so as to mask their true feelings towards each other. Once these niceties are stripped away, it is clear to them that their views of each other are distant and ideological. Wharton emphasizes the importance of “social” with respect to “self” in this story by showing the assumptions that these two …show more content…
Since Alida’s life as a “Mrs.” was centered around her husband, she has had a hard time discovering her newfound identity as a “Ms.” “In living up to a husband all her faculties had been engaged; now she only had a daughter to live up to” (515). Yet, Alida sees her daughter as a disappointment because she is without the “vividness” of her mother (515). Alida’s jealousy of Grace’s daughter Barbara lays the foundation for the ironic ending that is to come in the final scene of the story. Alida wonders “how two such exemplary characters as [Grace] and Horace had managed to produce anything quite so dynamic,” (517) and admits that “I always wanted a brilliant daughter... and never quite understood why I got an angel instead” (517). Alida’s deep-rooted envy of Grace ultimately drives her to resort to disclosing an old secret in attempt to finally declare social victory over her supposed …show more content…
While Alida is appalled to find out that Grace replied to her letter and Delphin did in fact meet her that night, Grace is just as shocked to discover that Alida had written the letter that she dearly treasured. Yet Alida is determined to win, and so smugly notes "After all I had everything; I had him for twenty-five years, and you had nothing but that one letter that he didn 't write” (521). Grace retaliates and rattles the audience with the subtle, yet fatal line “I had Barbara,” finally divulging the tension’s root (521). Alida’s arrogance and pride push the social competition so far that she is left only with the unsettling knowledge that Barbara is Delphin 's firstborn daughter. While Alida has a memory of her two and a half decades with Delphin, Grace has a daughter by which to remember him—the very daughter that Alida was envious of at the beginning of the story. The telescopes, albeit backwards, are metaphorically shattered before the women as they experience the unraveling of long-kept secrets that force them to see each other different than they ever had
The lives we lead and the type of character we possess are said to be individual decisions. Yet from early stages in our life, our character is shaped by the values, customs and mindsets of those who surround us. The characteristics of this environment affect the way we think and behave ultimately shaping us into a product of the environment we are raised in. Lily Bart, the protagonist in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, is an exceedingly beautiful bachelorette who grows up accustomed to living a life of luxury amongst New York City’s upper-class in the 20th century. When her family goes bankrupt, Lily is left searching for security and stability, both of which, she is taught can be only be attained through a wealthy marriage. Although, Lily is ashamed of her society’s tendencies, she is afraid that the values taught in her upbringing shaped her into “an organism so helpless outside of its narrow range” (Wharton 423). For Lily, it comes down to a choice between two antagonistic forces: the life she desires with a happiness, freedom and love and the life she was cut out to live with wealth, prestige and power. Although, Lily’s upbringing conditioned her to desire wealth and prestige, Lily’s more significant desires happiness, freedom and love ultimately allow her to break free.
The daughter alludes to an idea that her mother was also judged harshly and made to feel ashamed. By the daughters ability to see through her mothers flaws and recognize that she was as wounded as the child was, there is sense of freedom for both when the daughter find her true self. Line such as “your nightmare of weakness,” and I learned from you to define myself through your denials,” present the idea that the mother was never able to defeat those that held her captive or she denied her chance to break free. The daughter moments of personal epiphany is a victory with the mother because it breaks a chain of self-loathing or hatred. There is pride and love for the women they truly were and is to be celebrated for mother and daughter.
With reference to the two women in “Roman Nights” Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley literally battle each other in the most feminine of ways, through words. Mrs. Slade admits to her friend that Delphin did not write the letter, she did. This emotionally crushes Mrs. Ansley. Now that the topic is finally out in the open the two women prepare for a game of wits.
The novel shadows the life of Janie Crawford pursuing the steps of becoming the women that her grandmother encouraged her to become. By the means of doing so, she undergoes a journey of discovering her authentic self and real love. Despise the roller-coaster obstacles, Janie Crawford’s strong-will refuses to get comfortable with remorse, hostility, fright, and insanity.
In Steinbeck’s short story The Chrysanthemums Elisa, the main character, undergoes several stages of transformation. She begins the story as, what appears to be, a hard women that has been tempered by her years of work and toil on the ranch that she shares with her husband. Still with all of the outward appearance of strength, Elisa has a softness at her core that is symbolized by her prized chrysanthemums. Each stage of her transformation brings us closer to her true form.
she was pretty and that was everything” (225). This captivation with herself along with the constant looking in the mirrors and thinking her mother was only pestering her all the time because her mother’s own good looks were long gone by now (225) shows a sign of immaturity because she believes everything revolves around whether or not someo...
The narrator does not hesitate to show how much Honoria and Charlie care for each other. Though Honoria was just a little girl, growing up without a father is still harsh. Still her love for Charlie is unconditional, and questions about the past are not brought up. Their strong relationship is alm...
...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.
Imagine yourself, dear reader, transported to Shakespearian Verona, a bustling, peaceful city (aside from the occasional death or two), with its obligatory social classes going about agreeably (aside from the occasional brawl or two), and all people happy and successful (aside from the occasional poor wretch or two). The Verona in which Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet takes place in is made sinister by the deadly consequences than ensue from its strict, unbending society. Romeo and Juliet paints a tale about two young lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, whose attempts to be together are cruelly thwarted by society. Society’s fixation on honor and disgrace, poverty-creating laws, and austere social roles all have crucial functions in causing the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Her family life is depicted with contradictions of order and chaos, love and animosity, conventionality and avant-garde. Although the underlying story of her father’s dark secret was troubling, it lends itself to a better understanding of the family dynamics and what was normal for her family. The author doesn’t seem to suggest that her father’s behavior was acceptable or even tolerable. However, the ending of this excerpt leaves the reader with an undeniable sense that the author felt a connection to her father even if it wasn’t one that was desirable. This is best understood with her reaction to his suicide when she states, “But his absence resonated retroactively, echoing back through all the time I knew him. Maybe it was the converse of the way amputees feel pain in a missing limb.” (pg. 399)
Through the use of literary devices, Pride and Prejudice reveals Jane Austen’s attitude towards the novel’s theme of true love through the actions of the suitors; the process of courtship in the 1800s articulates characterization, foreshadowing, and irony. The novel opens with the line, “it is a truth acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of wife,” (Austen 1) which foreshadows the conflict of finding a significant other . During the Victorian age, men and women courted others of the same education, wealth, and social status; it was considered uncommon for someone to marry beneath them or to marry for love. Jane Austen uses Elizabeth Bennett’s encounters with different characters of varying social statuses to criticize the traditional class system; she illustrates a revolutionary idea that marriage should be based on love. In the resolution of the plot, Austen demonstrates the perfect qualities in a marriage; she incorporates Aristotle's philosophy of friendship to prove the validity of the having an affectionate relationship.
The short story Girl written by Jamaica Kincaid is a mother’s compilation of advice, skills, and life experience to her daughter. The mother believes that her offer of practical and helpful guidance will assist her daughter in becoming a proper woman, and gaining a fulfilling life and respectable status in the community. Posed against the mother’s sincere concern for her daughter’s future is Sir Walter’s superficial affection to his daughters in the novel Persuasion written by Jane Austen. Due to his detailed attention for appearance and social rank, Sir Walter has been negligent to his daughters’ interests and fails to fulfill his responsibility as a father. Throughout both literary works, the use of language and tone towards persuasive endeavors reveals the difference in family dynamics and the success of persuasion on the character’s transformation.
The Second Mrs. Tanqueray is an effective, well-made play because of its structure and the way it impacts the audience in the end. As the elements of the well-made play entail, we are introduced to all of the characters and have an understanding of their history and the troubles that their history can cause. More precisely, this is a story of a very non-conventional woman of this audience's time and by going through the play I will identify its key representations of the well-made play. 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).
When women are kept in their classical role of mother and caretaker, all is well and their lives are simple. Children relate positively to their mothers in this typical setting; while Dantés was in prison, during a time of distress, he remembered something his mother had done for him. For example, Dumas writes, “He remembered the prayers his mother had taught him and found meanings in them which he had formerly been unaware.” (41). Mothers teach their children to the best of their ability, evidenced in Dantés, as well as when Caderousse says Mercédès is instructing her son, Albert. It is in these moments that a mother’s love, compassion, and necessity are revealed. Lives are calm and enriched as long as women are in their niche. This includes non-maternal nurturing roles, for example, Mercédès attentiveness to Dantés father and Valentine’s special ability to care for Nortier. This loyalty is valued and shown as essential for the stability of life. Though The Count of Monte Cristo depicted women as best suited to the home, they intermittently stepped further out of that r...
In order to analyze Austen’s treatment of class system in Persuasion, the novel can be split into two somewhat contradictory halves. Austen spends much of the first half of the novel attempting to convince the audience of the importance of a system of manners, upon...