In Nancy Coleman’s short story “Fall”, a single mom of two is trying to make ends meet after her divorce. She explains the scene as, “The sky is gray, the air brisk, the leaves long gone from apple trees and woods.” (Coleman, 42). She explains her family tradition of making pumpkin chowder with her children and how she is “Borrowing strength from both.” (Coleman, 42). Indicating that she stays strong because of her kids’ enthusiasm. The mother appears to have a challenging time staying enthusiastic and often seems depressed due to her previous divorce. Annie, her daughter, explains how Alex fell down a well and in a quick turn of events, the mother risks her life to save her son. She continues and explains how, “Alex does not swim. Water has been a problem for him since the beginning =, when he slipped out of my womb with a lung full of fluid that left no room for air.” (Coleman, 43). Miraculously, Alex is saved and rushed into the house. The mother calls her ex-husband who meets them and is at the door in minutes. She explains how the memories of when they were together come back in an instant and how “My stomach twists with the memory of his eyes when they loved me the most.” (Coleman, 43). The mother imagines her family as whole again, seeing her …show more content…
She illustrates how they are cozy, warm and comfortable in the house but there is a sense of something missing. On the surface, the situation seems comfortable, happy and good but underlying is the feeling of loneliness, depression and coldness. The mother’s feeling contrasts very well with the outside environment being cold, dead and quiet. As the ex-husband comes back, the mood changes entirely. The mother describes the house as a “Warm kitchen on a cloudless night.” (Coleman 43). Coleman used the same environment to produce two entirely different views on the
The author illustrates the “dim, rundown apartment complex,” she walks in, hand and hand with her girlfriend. Using the terms “dim,” and “rundown” portrays the apartment complex as an unsafe, unclean environment; such an environment augments the violence the author anticipates. Continuing to develop a perilous backdrop for the narrative, the author describes the night sky “as the perfect glow that surrounded [them] moments before faded into dark blues and blacks, silently watching.” Descriptions of the dark, watching sky expand upon the eerie setting of the apartment complex by using personification to give the sky a looming, ominous quality. Such a foreboding sky, as well as the dingy apartment complex portrayed by the author, amplify the narrator’s fear of violence due to her sexuality and drive her terror throughout the climax of the
As he slouches in bed, a description of the bare trees and an old woman gathering coal are given to convey to the reader an idea of the times and the author's situation. "All groves are bare," and "unmarried women (are) sorting slate from arthracite." This image operates to tell the reader that it is a time of poverty, or a "yellow-bearded winter of depression." No one in the town has much to live for during this time. "Cold trees" along with deadness, through the image of "graves," help illustrate the author's impression of winter. Wright seems to be hibernating from this hard time of winter, "dreaming of green butterflies searching for diamonds in coal seams." This conveys a more colorful and happy image showing what he wishes was happening; however he knows that diamonds are not in coal seams and is brought back to the reality of winter. He talks of "hills of fresh graves" while dreaming, relating back to the reality of what is "beyond the streaked trees of (his) window," a dreary, povern-strucken, and cold winter.
Under the orders of her husband, the narrator is moved to a house far from society in the country, where she is locked into an upstairs room. This environment serves not as an inspiration for mental health, but as an element of repression. The locked door and barred windows serve to physically restrain her: “the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.” The narrator is affected not only by the physical restraints but also by being exposed to the room’s yellow wallpaper which is dreadful and fosters only negative creativity. “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide – plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions.”
... separate from her home, a situation Relph called “existential outsideness,” as she goes through therapy at the inpatient rehab facility. As the intervention plan is developed, and tailored to Martha’s environmental demands, goals, and routines, she will begin to regain her sense of existential insideness. This will fully be restored when she returns home. The value of place to Martha, physically, socially and autobiographically, requires an Occupational Therapist to understand her home environment, keep her meaningful occupations in mind, and remember her roles as an occupational being.
A misconception that we often have about family is that every member is treated equally. This fallacy is substantially portrayed in Alistair Macleod’s short story, “In The Fall”. Typically speaking, in a family, the Mother is the backbone for kindness and provides love and support with no unfair judgements. However, when we relate to the portrait of the Mother in Macleod’s short story, we perceive the portrait as a self-centered woman whose affection is only shown upon what interests her. The Mother’s unsympathetic persona is apparent throughout the story as she criticizes all that holds sentimental value to her husband and children.
When this tale is looked at from a deeper perspective, it is learned that the mothers wish is to be loved and not have to worry about her child that has come in the way of her and her
I walked into the room on New Year’s Day and felt a sudden twinge of fear. My eyes already hurt from the tears I had shed and those tears would not stop even then the last viewing before we had to leave. She lay quietly on the bed with her face as void of emotion as a sheet of paper without the writing. Slowly, I approached the cold lifeless form that was once my mother and gave her a goodbye kiss.
She then shifts to discussing TV shows that bring family members together such as Sally Jesse Raphael or Oprah. As the mother imagines what it will be like when her daughter comes home, she brings out the imagery of tears and wrapped arms, and since we have all seen these shows, the reader can see the stage set up with four chairs and the daughter waiting for the parents to come out on stage. We can see the look of surprise on the daughter's face as they come out onto the stage. She has not seen her daughter, Dee, for a while and imagines b...
Women throughout time have been forced to cope with the challenges of motherhood along with society’s expectations as to what a mother’s relationship should be with her child. Novelist, Agatha Christie said of the relationship between mother and child, “A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” In Beloved, Toni Morrison examines the same idea; ultimately showing that the mother’s willingness to protect her child at all costs often endangers the mother herself. Beloved is set in the late 1800’s but Sethe’s experiences as a mother ring true with the experiences of mothers throughout time because the act of being a mother is timeless. As a child Sethe was separated from her mother both physically and mentally because of slavery, so when she has her own children she is determined to keep her family together. In her attempt to free herself and her children from slavery Sethe finds herself separated from her daughter, Beloved as a result of Beloved’s death. When Beloved returns, Sethe’s guilt causes her to overcompensate for their lost time. Her attempts to make up for this lost time with Beloved lead her to become too dependent on her children’s happiness and to abandon any of her own pursuits in favor of ensuring that her children are content. She gives her children everything she has, but is eventually sucked dry with nothing left to give. This struggle is similar to the struggle of modern women who must leave their children while they work then try to make up for the lost time when they are home. From the time they are girls women are led to believe that more important than their happiness, is their respo...
It was a dark cold night in December. Opening the door to their house, the den sat quiet as usual, but something else was different. Walking to the living room, I did not hear a voice that always greeted me with joy. There was no room for joy, or laughter anymore. When I sat down, my Pa Pa’s bed sat across from me. I could see the bones through his skin, the bagginess of his white t-shirt, and the sadness that rest in his eyes. On his lips, a smile no longer lived. “Hi Pa Pa”, I say as I walked over to k...
In her short story “The Dilettante” in the wake of a falling out between former best friends, Thursdale and Mrs. Vervain, “the door closed . . . and she hid her eyes from the dreadful emptiness of the room” (“The Dilettante”). Despite all the wealth Vervain possesses or how good a life she should be living, at the end of the day when it comes to interaction with other people she is left in the dark feeling cold and alone with nobody to confide in. Edith Wharton endured the same personal life, even though she acted accordingly and did everything to please other people, at the end of the day she felt the same loneliness in her life it just took her some time to mold it into the correct choice of words to convey it to others. Choosing to mention the emptiness of the room and the masterful word choice in selecting “dreadful” to stand beside it amplifies the intensity of the moment. Not only is the sense of isolation acknowledged it is almost palpable. The meticulous word choice is again present in her short story The Reckoning when Julia and her ex husband, Arment, come face to face and suddenly “their eyes met in a sudden shock of comprehension: a veil seemed to be lifted between them” (“The Reckoning). This moment contrasts the one from before where they were isolated the characters were isolated and unable to see one another.
The Canadian Prairies are notorious for its winter’s harsh, unforgiving climate. They represent not only humankind’s perseverance for survival, but unrelenting isolation, and the despair that can follow. In “The Painted Door” by Sinclair Ross, a discontent housewife gives into temptation after being left alone by her husband. A person will attempt to defy isolation, because when left alone, they will give in to temptatious thoughts, affecting their view on their relationships. Physical solitude will dictate if an individual choose to give into temptation, and when they do, it will change their amorous affairs forever. An individual’s independent reflection after giving into temptation will reveal their true feelings,
When Mikage contemplates her experience with the kitchen, she says, “Perhaps because to me a kitchen represents some distant longing engraved on my soul…I seemed to be making a new start; something was coming back,” (56). Mikage understands the kitchen as a place of freedom and self-expression, where she can take refuge in her household activities as a way to assume confidence and control over her reality. She uses this confidence developed within the kitchen to recover from the grief of the deaths surrounding her and make “a new start”. Mikage’s hopeful tone when describing the future through the phrase “something was coming back”, displays the kitchen’s ability to let Mikage cope with grief and move past the troubling times, toward a more hopeful time. In a vulnerable state of crying and pain, Mikage observes a calming scene: “Looking up, I saw white steam rising, in the dark, out of a brightly lit window overhead. I listened. From inside came the sounds of happy voice at work, soup boiling, knives and pots and pans clanging. It was a kitchen,” (35). Mikage experiences true happiness in the presence of a kitchen, especially in the liveliness and bustle of this kitchen. The diction that is used to describe the inside of the kitchen, such as “happy” and “clanging”, evinces Mikage’s appreciation of the experience of being in a kitchen. She displays an
Similarly, the furniture in the house is as sullen as the house itself. What little furniture is in the house is beaten-up; this is a symbol of the dark setting. The oak bed is the most important p...
spent a lot of time thinking how to get rid of the house and the farm and to abandon his family. The mother also wants to be free from home and her marriage life. She plans to sell the house and escape to Europe where she thinks dreams can be attainable. Family and home are no longer a source of security, tranquility, and happiness for parents; they are rather a source of misery and meaninglessness for their lives. They are unable to realize the true meaning of their lives and the intimate and warm relationship that characterizes the relationship between a husband and a wife in the space of the house. The father escapes this reality by abandoning his family. He isolates himself and drinks heavily to find himself at the end drowned in debts