Carmilla Reading Response
Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu is a tale about two young women from different walks of life. One of the two young ladies named Laura, plays the role of the narrator and the victim. She begins her story by describing her life and why she was so easily influenced by the antagonist, Carmilla. Laura lives with her father an English widower, retired from the Austrian Service. Laura also makes mention of the other residents in her home, her gouvernantes, who took care of her after the death of her mother. “My gouvernantes had just so much control over me as you might conjecture such sage persons would have in the case of a rather spoiled girl, whose only parent allowed her pretty nearly her own way in everything” (1). With this description of Laura, we learn that she may be easily influenced and taken advantage of by someone who has seen the world. Similar to when a sheltered child gains some form of freedom from home and gets tangled with the “wrong crowd”. The outcomes are usually detrimental to one’s character in the end.
As the story goes, Laura introduces another character General Spielsdorf, who is a close friend of Laura’s father. The General sends a letter apologizing for not being able to visit with Laura and her father due to the mysterious death of his niece, Bertha Rheinfeldt. Bertha was supposed to be a companion for the lonely Laura for some time. “I have lost my darling daughter… she died in the peace of innocence, and in the glorious hope of blessed futurity” (8). The General gives a description of a beautiful monster, which he believed to have been the cause behind Bertha’s death, before abruptly ending the letter. In the letter, the general wrote, “The fiend who betrayed our infatuated ...
... middle of paper ...
...odman’s hatchet, and started forward. On seeing him a brutalized change came over her features” (72). With her response, we can only guess that Carmilla recognized the General.
Carmilla was not seen again after that ordeal. The way that she attacked her victims is similar to the way she gains their trust. She slowly lures them into a relationship that they are often in denial of, before she starts to slowly suck their lives away, literally. Carmilla is the ultimate seducer and killer. Her unearthly beauty and engaging personality would have anyone at ease, causing them to not suspect anything dealing with cruelty or terror from her. She also fools people by pretending to be the victim herself. Carmilla has no regards for the lives she has destroyed or the relationships she forms with these young girls. Her only concern is keeping herself looking and feeling good.
For my reading assignment I read “Car Trouble” by Jeanne Duprau. The story takes place in many cities in the United States. Some are real places like Richmond, Virginia, St. Louis, Missouri, and Los Angeles, California. The book also has some fictional towns like Sunville, New Mexico, a town built completely off of solar power and other natural resources. There are many more real and fake cities throughout the story, but the ones mentioned are the most written about and most important to the story.
Duong Thu Huong’s novel, ‘Paradise of the Blind’ creates a reflective, often bittersweet atmosphere through the narrator Hang’s expressive descriptions of the landscapes she remembers through her life. Huong’s protagonist emphasises the emotional effects these landscapes have on her, acknowledging, “many landscapes have left their mark on me.”
Caucasia is a coming of age novel that is told through the lens of Birdie Lee, a biracial girl who sees herself when she looks at her sister Cole Lee, even though physical difference of both Birdie and Cole were continuingly addressed through out the novel but their affection for one another exist beyond the bounds of physical differences. Birdie and Cole Lee are daughters of a White woman with blonde hair hand blue blooded (Sandy) and an African American political activist father (Deck). The closeness of these two sisters takes many hits and turn because one has the ability to disappear into the black society while the other one can disappear into the black society. Birdie inherits her physical looks mostly from her mother and is welcomed on the first day of school by a boy throwing spitball at her “What are you doin’ in this school? You White?” Of the bat Birdie is seen as white and categorized as white by anybody due to her physical appearance, which her identity is formed and categorized into whiteness.
Michael MacDonald’S All Souls is a heart wrenching insider account of growing up in Old Country housing projects located in the south of Boston, also known as Southie to the locals. The memoir takes the reader deep inside the world of Southie through the eyes of MacDonald. MacDonald was one of 11 children to grow up and deal with the many tribulations of Southie, Boston. Southie is characterized by high levels of crime, racism, and violence; all things that fall under the category of social problem. Social problems can be defined as “societal induced conditions that harms any segment of the population. Social problems are also related to acts and conditions that violate the norms and values found in society” (Long). The social problems that are present in Southie are the very reasons why the living conditions are so bad as well as why Southie is considered one of the poorest towns in Boston. Macdonald’s along with his family have to overcome the presence of crime, racism, and violence in order to survive in the town they consider the best place in the world.
Character analysis Annemarie is a normal young girl, ten years old, she has normal difficulties and duties like any other girl. but these difficulties aren’t normal ones, she’s faced with the difficulties of war. This war has made Annemarie into a very smart girl, she spends most of her time thinking about how to be safe at all times “Annemarie admitted to herself,snuggling there in the quiet dark, that she was glad to be an ordinary person who would never be called upon for courage.” (4.60) even though shes going through a lot she still controls it very well.
Louis L’Amour was born Louis Dearborn LaMoore on March 22, 1908 as the last of seven children. His father and mother are Dr. Louis Charles LaMoore and Emily Dearborn LaMoore, for the first fifteen years of his life Louis lived in Jamestown, North Dakota; a medium sized farming community in the valley where Pipestem Creek flows into the James River. His grandfather, Abraham Truman Dearborn, told Louis stories of battles in history and his own personal experiences as a soldier. As a child Louis spent a great deal of time in a nearby library where his eldest sister, Edna, was a librarian, he was interested in the study of History and always went beyond the scope that was taught in the schools. In addition to the study of History and Natural Sciences, Louis was interested in the fiction writings of Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, Edgar Rice Burroughs and others. The members of the L’Amour family were intelligent and had a part in Louis’ education. Emmy Lou, his sister, taught him how to read, his father taught him about animals, taught him the benefit hard work and the fact that “a man could always find a way to solve a problem”. The basics of learning he got from his mother who had once trained to be a schoolteacher, and from Edna he got insights into libraries and research. His elder brother Parker provided examples of a reporter’s speed and simplicity of prose and the public relations savvy of a veteran political aid. Yale, his second brother, showed Louis a love of life and a gift of improvisation. Louis’ adopted brother John was an example of a natural survivor, quick of wit and sharp of tongue. Hard times uprooted the family from their everyday lives and the family, the father, mother, Louis and john, had to take their fort...
Julia Child created the most influential cookbook in the history of America. In her book, My Life in France, one message she sends about the nature of goodness is that hard work, persistence, and integrity pays off. Julia displays this before, during, and after the process of creating her cookbook. Before, in her cooking classes, Julia did not back down from any challenge, even when no one believed in her. During, Julia worked harder than she had ever worked. And after, Julia and her co- authors Simone and Louisette, never gave up, even when their cookbook was rejected by their publisher. She was the definition of an underdog, but she prevailed, and came out on top. Without her persistence, she never would have had one of the best selling cookbooks of all time.
“From Lieutenant Nun,” a memoir written by doña Catalina de Erauso, tells an intriguing story of a young Spanish female and her advantageous journey through Spain and the New World. Her family intends for her to become a nun but, that is not the life she seeks for herself. Therefore, she breaks away from the convent in hopes of finding somewhere to make her fortune by passing as a male. Catalina’s story is noteworthy because it gives readers another perspective of exploration focusing on self-discovery during the seventeenth century emphasizing how passing as a male is the only thing that secured her ability to explore. In the memoir, Catalina repeatedly reminisces about clothing and, whether she consciously or unconsciously does so, she allows the reader to see that this is an important aspect of her exploration. Throughout Catalina’s journey, clothing plays an increasingly important role not only in her travels but, also her personal life because it symbolized ones status, role, gender and privileges.
The painting Light of Hope is a realistic painting of a light house on the coast of an American shore done by contemporary artist Thomas Kinkade. Thomas Kinkade started his career with his first lithograph, and after some time he realized he was inspired to paint not for the money but from his heart. His main goal became glorifying God and spreading His light. Kinkade grew up in Placerville, California and growing up to be a big family man. Often in his paintings he leaves little symbols representing his wife and children. Over the years he has donated his earned money to different charities and is al crediting God for his ability to paint. His purpose as a painter has been and will continue to share of the light of God (Thomaskinkade).
Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice, a heartbreaking book about a 50-year-old woman's sudden diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy, Support Network International and Dementia USA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. Genova's work with Alzheimer's patients has given her an understanding of the disorder and its affect not only on the patient, but on their friends and family as well (Simon and Schuster, n.d.).
This story is about the friendship of too girls from very different families. Carlotta is a darker skinned girl whose family is "new money". She wants to go to Scared Heart Academy for her high school education. Scared Heart does not let in girls of her skin tone. The school has been financially struggling and Carlotta's father donates money to the school, which in turn get her accepted in to the school. Since she is new money she was not "locked up" in her home her whole life. She knows the town and tells her friend Merceditas all about the way things are there. The other girl, Merceditas come from a very wealthy family who has been this way for gene...
Love has many definitions and can be interpreted in many different ways. William Maxwell demonstrates this in his story “Love”. Maxwell opens up his story with a positive outlook on “Love” by saying, “Miss Vera Brown, she wrote on the blackboard, letter by letter in flawlessly oval palmer method. Our teacher for fifth grade. The name might as well have been graven in stone” (1). By the end of the story, the students “love” for their teachers no longer has a positive meaning, because of a turn in events that leads to a tragic ending. One could claim that throughout the story, Maxwell uses short descriptive sentences with added details that foreshadow the tragic ending.
As a teen, Rayona is in a confusing period of life. The gradual breakdown of her family life places an addition burden on her conscience. Without others for support, Rayona must find a way to handle her hardships. At first, she attempts to avoid these obstacles in her life, by lying, and by not voicing her opinions. Though when confronting them, she learns to feel better about herself and to understand others.
In the poem pride, Dahlia Ravikovitch uses many poetic devices. She uses an analogy for the poem as a whole, and a few metaphors inside it, such as, “the rock has an open wound.” Ravikovitch also uses personification multiple times, for example: “Years pass over them as they wait.” and, “the seaweed whips around, the sea bursts forth and rolls back--” Ravikovitch also uses inclusive language such as when she says: “I’m telling you,” and “I told you.” She uses these phrases to make the reader feel apart of the poem, and to draw the reader in. She also uses repetition, for example, repetition of the word years.
Consequences come from choices individuals make, such as waking up in the morning at a specific time in order to avoid traffic. However, even if the decisions are not made by the individual, they still have to suffer the consequences of those decisions made by others. Take, for instance, the choice that someone makes to drink and drive while under the influence. If that person kills someone, then his decision impacts the lives of everyone involved and not just himself. A theme in Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger, is that people must accept the consequences of their actions because it influences the direction they go in life. This theme is developed through the character of Jeremiah, the conflict between Davy and the law, and the symbolism in the title of the novel.