Lily’s actions are completely driven by her desire to fit into the upper class part of society and her need to have money to successfully do this. The actions she partakes in to achieve these goals are sometimes harshly judged by other characters, but The House of Mirth seems to almost draw sympathy for Lily from the fact that she is stuck in this role she cannot remove herself from. Even through showing other life paths like Gerty Farish’s, Lily’s options for an independent life where she can live the way she desires are limited. What she was taught as a child, the choices she makes because of her childhood, how being poor is viewed by society, and the unjust view of Lily’s actions are what ultimately both destroys Lily and results in her being shown sympathy. From her early …show more content…
Bart called ‘decently dressed’” (Wharton 23), and Mrs. Bart’s aptitude is described as being able to “live as though one were much richer than one’s bankbook denoted” (Wharton 23). Because of this, Lily was raised in a setting where seeming of a higher class was important regardless of how much money one had. After her father’s passing, Lily and her mother experienced a loss of money. During this time, Mrs. Bart tells Lily “But you’ll get it all back – you’ll get it all back, with your face” (Wharton 28) with “it” being their past wealth, and Lily using her face as in using her beauty to find a wealthy man to marry. Soon after, Mrs. Bart dies, and Lily is send to live with the rich family members “whom she had been
In the beginning of the novel, as the reader is first introduced to Lily’s character, she comes across as an extremely negative young girl. While thinking about
From the beginning, Lili proves to be a strong woman who only cares about the well-being for her family. She is always doing her best to provide and make sure there is food on the table. She cares for her husband and does what she can to keep him out of his depths of despair. Throughout the story, we can see that Lili proves to be the voice of reason within the family. We also discover that Lili does not find comfort in dreams, and would rather stick to reality. For example, in the story, guy asks Lili “Don’t you ever want to be something new?” Her response was “I don’t like it” (236). This shows that Lili is insecure when letting go of reality. She is afraid to dre...
Within Steinbeck's story, "Chrysanthemums," the main character, Elisa Allen, is confronted with many instances of conflict. Steinbeck uses chrysanthemums to symbolize this conflict and Elisa's self-worth. By examining these points of conflict and the symbolism presented by the chrysanthemums, the meaning of the story can be better determined.
The characters in Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones are faced with the difficult task of overcoming the loss of Susie, their daughter and sister. Jack, Abigail, Buckley, and Lindsey each deal with the loss differently. However, it is Susie who has the most difficulty accepting the loss of her own life. Several psychologists separate the grieving process into two main categories: intuitive and instrumental grievers. Intuitive grievers communicate their emotional distress and “experience, express, and adapt to grief on a very affective level” (Doka, par. 27). Instrumental grievers focus their attention towards an activity, whether it is into work or into a hobby, usually relating to the loss (Doka par. 28). Although each character deals with their grief differently, there is one common denominator: the reaction of one affects all.
In the novel The House of Mirth, Lily Bart is introduced to us as a rich, single lady in the 1900's. She is brought up into an upper class society, where the society is based on people that have "old money". In her society, people who want to climb the social scale, must have money, and must have power. If ever Lily were to talk to David from Call it Sleep, her views on climbing the social scale would completely be different than David's. Since Lily is in a totally different environment than that of David, and since she is an adult, her views are about how to survive in her upper class world. In order to survive in Lily's world one must have money, not simply be rich but one must have a certain kind of money. They have to have inherited money, called "old money", this is the first step to survive in Lily's community. In the book, we see that although Mr. Rosedale is a very wealthy man, he is outside the social circle because he does not have old money. He has new money, which shows that he is not part of a great, rich family. The second step to climb up in the social scale is to use other people for one's benefit. For a woman to climb up in this society, Lily says one must marry not for love but for money. If one marries into a wealthy family, than her status is automatically heightened to that level. A lady should marry a wealthy man, and a man must marry a beautiful lady to survive in the society.
In this story, Mrs. Hopewell constantly criticizes the way her daughter looks and acts. Even to her, Joy is not beautiful. For example, O'Connor states that, "Mrs. Hopewell said that people who looked on the bright side of things would be beautiful even if they were not" (133). Mrs. Hopewell says this in reference to her daughter's poor attitude. She believes that even though her daughter is not pretty, Joy can compensate for her ugliness in the ways that she interacts with others. However, even Joy's mannerisms prove unsatisfactory to her mother. Mrs. Hopewell thinks that her daughter is rude. Consequently, she feels obligated to offset Joy's poor behavior by being extra hospitable and courteous to visitors. Also, Mrs. Hopewell refuses to take any pride in her daughter, even though Joy has become an extremely accomplished woman by going to college and earning a degree in psychology. As a result, the relationship between Joy and her mother beco...
middle of paper ... ... Mrs. Sommers wants to be rich forever and never wants to return to her real life style. Thus, leaving her with the great lesson that a person should not forget his/her real value. Poor people want to be a part of the upper class and people do not want to go through suffering times.
August was correct when she said that Lily must be her own mother. Lily will not always have someone to care for her. If this happens she must learn to care for herself. Lily was also relying too much on the statue of Mary. When the statue of Mary was chained up Lily could not go to her for help.
This essay of literary criticism is going to be on the Chrysanthemums written by John Steinbeck. This short story is considered to be one of the greatest short stories of all time. The author uses characterization to describe Elisa, she is a dynamic character. He shows us that she is a very lonely strong woman in the begging who wants to be loved. Who later changes because of this mysterious man. In this paper, I will prove that the author wanted to show Elisa as a dynamic character and how she changes through the story, from being strong and lonely in the begging, in the middle she because friendly talking to this man, and finally she gets all nice and dressed to go out
There are many examples of social conflicts throughout the book, and the clans or groups in school are social constructs. The main character, Melinda, struggled to fit into these categories causing her to be the Outcast to society. Nobody seems to want to truly befriend Melinda, causing her to be alone. Although Melinda is ostracized by her society for not fitting in, Ivy becomes a crucially important friend by still helping Melinda as she struggles with her social and emotional conflicts. Even though Melinda’s society rejected her, Ivy became an important friend to Melinda.
...from one another and as a result, grew up with different values and senses for what was truly important in life and what was truly necessary to survive. Jane emerged from a strict, abusive upbringing, into a well-rounded, strong-minded, responsible, and dedicated adult who triumphed in the end. Lily suffered a fate that she almost seemed destined for. Lily shares her name with a common flower. This fact may contain an aspect of symbolism in that like a dying flower, Lily’s character gradually begins to “wilt” as
This is most obvious when she kills her own child. While the death of her son makes her appear like a careless mother to Hannah, Eva views it as an act of love. She notices the poor lifestyle that Plum is living and wanted to help him by ending it. She tells Hannah, “I had to keep him out so I just thought of a way he could die like a man not all scrunched up inside my womb, but like a man” (72). Eva wanted him to die with whatever dignity he had left. Hannah did not share the same view as her mother. She thought that her mother had no love in her. She once asks Eva if she ever loved her and Eva tells her, “What you talkin’ ‘bout did I love you girl I stayed alive for you can’t you get that through your thick head” (69). Hannah saw that Eva did not see an importance in motherhood and she took similar values. As a mother, Hannah is more focused on men than her daughter. She, “refused to live without the attentions of a man, and after Rekus’ death had a steady sequence of lovers, mostly the husbands of her friends and neighbors” (42). Hannah lacks the respect for other people including her own daughter because she only thinks about
In the poem “Cell”, Margaret Atwood contrasts the cancer cell against the popular, negative image. The author uses literary devices such as imagery, figurative language, structure, and perspective to create the contrast. The result makes the reader consider the cancer cell in a new light. There is beauty in a cancer cell and we are not as different from cancer cells as we think.
How does one compare the life of women to men in late nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century America? In this time the rights of women were progressing in the United States and there were two important authors, Kate Chopin and John Steinbeck. These authors may have shown the readers a glimpse of the inner sentiments of women in that time. They both wrote a fictitious story about women’s restraints by a masculine driven society that may have some realism to what women’s inequities may have been. The trials of the protagonists in both narratives are distinctive in many ways, only similar when it totals the macho goaded culture of that time. Even so, In Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing we hold two unlike fictional characters in two very different short stories similar to Elisa Allen in the “Chrysanthemums” and Mrs. Louise Mallard in “The Story of an Hour”, that have unusual struggles that came from the same sort of antagonist.
During the novel The Secret Life of Bees, Lily’s perspective on her parents continuously changes as she learns many more things about them from August. In the beginning of the story Lily sees T.Ray as a horrible father. He doesn’t care for her very much and is strict to a certain point. In a way Lily hates her father who is abusive, pays hardly any attention to her and stops her from doing things she loves like reading for example. The relationship between T.Ray and Lily is not very strong as she looks to Rosaleen as more of a parent than she does with him. Lily, unlike she does with her father loves her mother very much despite the fact she is no longer physically with her. Lily continues to look up to her and likes to think that she is looking over her like a guardian