In the short story, “Thank You, Ma’am” (by Langston Hughes), Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones is a large woman, but throughout the story she tends to be very nice and caring. In “Thank You, Ma’am” there are two character’s, Roger and Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. Roger is a young, immature fourteen year old boy that tries to steal Mrs. Luella’s purse from her side. Roger falls to the ground, and then Mrs. Luella picks him up and ask him why he is so dirty. After she tells Roger to pick up her pocket book, she drags him down the street and takes him into her house where she lets him wash his face and cooks him a meal. Mrs. Luella ask Roger why he tried to steal her pocket book and he replies back and say that he wanted a pair of blue …show more content…
Luella seems to be a helpful character towards Roger. In the story Mrs. Luella’s actions seem to make her a helpful person. In the story Mrs. Luella says, “Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do you make the mistake of latching onto my pocketbook nor nobody else’s” (Hughes 3). By Mrs. Luella saying this to Roger, she is trying to help him by giving him money to buy the blue suede shoes that he had been wanting. As a reader, I can see where Mrs. Luella is coming from when she gives him money and when she is trying to help Roger, teaching him right from wrong. Mrs. Luella also is trying to help him because she is trying to keep him from doing wrong again, and getting into trouble. Roger is lucky that he spotted Mrs. Luella instead of another woman because usually any other woman would turn him into the law instead of helping him. Mrs. Luella’s actions make her seem to be an helpful character in “Thank You, …show more content…
Luella seems to be an trusting character in the story. Mrs. Luella’s actions are portrayed in the story when she trust Roger after he had already tried to mess with her. The story says, “Mrs. Jones got up and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the daybed” (Hughes 3). We as readers, can make an inference that Mrs. Luella is an trusting character in the story because Roger has already tried to steal her purse, and she still lets him sit him the room by himself. Mrs. Luella has to have to the guts to trust him when she knows that he could easily get her purse again when she is not looking, or he could have just ran out of the house. If I was put into Mrs. Luella’s position, I do not think that I would be able to leave Roger in a room with my purse after he had already tried to steal it from me. Mrs. Luella must realize that Roger is immature, and that all kids sin so she feels as if she needs to trust him and know that he will not do her wrong again. By Mrs. Luella leaving him by himself without her watching, she seems to trust Roger, and it takes a lot to trust someone that has already tried to steal from
After Liesel learns how to read and write, she receives the task of , “completing a letter for homework” (Zusak 95). Eventually she arrives at the conclusion to write to her biological mother. Liesel then continues to write more letters, but lacks the money to purchase stamps in order to send them. On her birthday, she would give “a present from herself. She would gather all the accrued letters to her mother, stuff them into one envelope, and use just a tiny portion of the washing and ironing money to mail it” (Zusak 98). Consequently, Liesel’s foster mother, Rosa soon discovers the gap in her laundry payments. When enraged, Rosa makes Liesel break just by asking her about the missing money. It was Liesel’s guilt that made her feel the need to confess so easily to the crime.
The story also focuses in on Ruth Younger the wife of Walter Lee, it shows the place she holds in the house and the position she holds to her husband. Walter looks at Ruth as though he is her superior; he only goes to her for help when he wants to sweet talk his mama into giving him the money. Mama on the other hand holds power over her son and doesn’t allow him to treat her or any women like the way he tries to with Ruth. Women in this story show progress in women equality, but when reading you can tell there isn’t much hope and support in their fight. For example Beneatha is going to college to become a doctor and she is often doubted in succeeding all due to the fact that she is black African American woman, her going to college in general was odd in most people’s eyes at the time “a waste of money” they would say, at least that’s what her brother would say. Another example where Beneatha is degraded is when she’s with her boyfriend George Murchison whom merely just looks at her as arm
In Charles Chestnutt’s “The Wife of His Youth,” Liza Jane is a woman who is determined to find her long lost husband, Sam Taylor. When he ran away from slavery and escaped up north, he left his wife behind. He changed his name to Mr. Ryder, to forget his past with slavery. Soon he became involved with a group called the Blue Veins, which were a group of people who believed in the preservation of light skinned blacks. In this group he was known as the dean. The Blue Vein society thought that dark skinned blacks were dirt and ignorant. Many years went by and Liza still felt that Sam was in love with her and that they would be back together.
Mrs. Loisel and the grandmother are very similar due to the fact that they both had the same motivation prior to their accident. It was a selfish motivation that cost them their lives. Mrs. Loisel's character was selfish in "The Necklace" because instead of wearing flowers like her husband suggested, she chose to borrow her friend's jewelry. "You can wear some natural flowers. At this season they look very chic. For ten francs you can have two or three magnificent roses. 'No, she replied, there is nothing more humiliating than to have a shabby air in the midst of rich women.'" (67) This is truly an act of selfishness on Mrs. Loisel's part. If she wouldn't have been so arrogant, she could have just worn the flowers to the party and it would have saved her a lot of trouble.
A great deal of symbolism can be found by simply examining the name Ms. Moore. Marital status does not define her - notice the Ms. Quite frankly, the reader is not even informed if she is married or even if she has children of her own. She is a very independent woman. Not only does the prefix of Ms. Moore represent that she is independent, but her last name also shows the she wants more for the children, because, according to her, they deserve more. Her purpose is to help the children realize that there is a world outside of Harlem that they can aspire to. Although F.A.O. Schwartz is just a small part of that world, the trip here with Ms. Moore shows the children a great deal about what the outside world is like and how anyone can have that piece of the pie. Even though the children could never afford the toys, Ms. Moore brings them to the store to show them they have just as much right to be there and just as much right to live the rich life as anyone else. Sylvia, the narrator, is upset by the inequality. She is jealous of the life she can't have and is angry that Ms. Moore would expose her to these facts. Although, Sylvia would never let her know this.
...t the beginning she dislike the man and towards the end she actually feels sorry for the man and tries to help out. Mae changes differently in the story like when the chef was mixing the potato salad said to give it to him and she looked at the truck drives as to tell them what she needed to do next. Another example is when the man asked her for penny candy which might have been more expensive than that she offered to give them 2 for a penny because she didn’t want the man to disappoint his two sons who were eager to taste candy. With this type of humility the man is able to accomplish to get food for his family and not rip-off someone in the process. What I believe about humility is that you need self-esteem and that humility is from a deep confidence in who you are, and what you are capable of and it also requires the courage to stand back when you could stand out.
The narrator of the story is a young, black girl name Sylvia and the story is also told from her perspective. The setting is not clear. Perhaps it started in Harlem and then to downtown Manhattan on Fifth Avenue and the time of the story took place is also unclear. Bambara uses a great deal of characterization to describe the characters in the story. For example, Bambara describes Miss Moore as “black as hell” (Bambara 330), “cept her feet, which were fish-white and spooky” (Bambara 330), and “looked like she was going to church” (Bambara 330). She later tells us that she’s been to college and her state of mind is she believes it’s her responsibility for the children’s education. The plot started when Miss Moore rounded up all of the children by the mailbox. Then she gets the kids in a cab and took them to Fifth Avenue to a big toy store where the rich people would shop. The story then continues with the children and Miss Moore in the toy store and the kids looking around and noticing they can’t afford anything. Which will soon end the plot with a lesson that society is not fair, “that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to purse happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?”(Bambara 330). Hence, the lesson Miss Moore is trying to teach these
Just like many teenagers with wounded souls, the first sign of validation make them jump at it. When Jane noticed Ricky, who abused and sells drugs, was interested in her, she fell in love with him almost immediately. Jane had found someone who told her she was beautiful, and made her feel important by constantly filming her. She spent more time with the guy and soon she started abusing drugs like the boy. Innocent Jane agreed to go with Ricky to New York to start life together, even when her friend Angela tried to talk her out of it. Who knows what Jane’s life would turn into with a drug dealer? This a good example of what could happen to a person from a broken home or someone who has a low self-esteem. If Jane felt loved from her home, she would not have been seeking love desperately from others and she would not have agreed to follow a drug abuser to a faraway city without her parents
Telling the truth will always prevent future conflicts. Author Guy De Maupassant who lived from 1850 to 1893 proves in the story of “The Necklace,” that no matter how bad a situation is, speaking with the truth is always best. Now, this author does not prove this theme directly. Instead, throughout various situations in the story the main characters are faced with a long-term conflict because decisions were not made with honesty. Mathilde and Loisel who is her husband, who works as a clerk at the Ministry of Public Instructions, were both faced with a conflict that could have been prevented. For instance, Mathilde asked her friend Mme. Forestier if she could borrow a beautiful piece of jewelry for a ball event her husband Loisel had been invited to. Unfortunately, Mathilde loses the borrowed necklace and suggest that since it belongs to her rich friend it was worth more than what they could ever afford. Mathilde and Loisel decide to not tell Mme. Forestier about the lost necklace and instead they buy her a similar one. However, the one they buy is worth a lot more than what the lost necklace was worth. They both end up working multiple jobs for 10 years in order to pay off the necklace. The moral of this story is that everyone should always speak with the truth, because Mathilde and Loisel could have avoided this conflict if only they had told Mme. Forestier about the lost necklace. Many factors such as lying, desiring other’s valuables, and being so attentive to what people might think, is a good way that a situation like Mathilde’s could have been avoided.
Hughes, Langston. The Negro mother, and other dramatic recitations. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1971. Print.
Although Madame Loisel isn’t wealthy or part of the social class that is considered high, she tried to do everything to make herself appear as if she is. She believes that her beauty can bring her as far as becoming wealthy or being able to socialize with the wealthy. The ball is important to her because for once her appearance is equivalent with the fantasy of rising above middle class she has dreamt up in her head and “[she] was a success. She was the loveliest of all; elegant, graceful, smiling, and radiant with joy. All the other men looked at her, asked who she was, and wanted to be introduced to her… [t]he triumph of her beauty and the glory of her success enveloped her in a sort of cloud of happiness made up of all the compliments” (175). The reality is beneath her appearance because she is not wealthy, nor is she actually happy with the life she lives on a daily basis. She easily deceives everyone with her appearance to make it seem as if she does have money. Uncontrolled self-absorption can distort lives to those who worry about their appearance too much. Another example of how appearances can be misleading is the necklace that Madame Loisel borrowed. It appears as if it is made of real diamonds but instead it is fake jewelry. The fact
This lie continues when Helmer asks his wife if she went to the candy store. Nora lied by telling her husband that she had not, even though the reader saw that she was snacking on macaroons earlier. This is just a small act of deceit from Nora, who had been keeping a huge secret from her husband. Part of the huge secret is revealed to Mrs. Linde, an old friend of Nora’s and a widower, when Nora confides in her. After lying about the source of the money for a trip that was taken to help her husband heal from an illness, Nora admits that her father did not give her the money. This confuses Mrs. Linde because just a few lines before, Nora tells her the money for the trip came from her father. In truth, the money came from a loan. This confuses Mrs. Linde even further, since at th...
Her theft followed by self-justification continues for multiple years, before she visits a former carer for one of her children, who now works as a pawnbroker. Initially Moll visits the pawnbroker to pay her for looking after her child but eventually stays to work there. At first she works as sewing worker, seemingly turning away from her criminal past. However, she falls into old habits, as she steals a tankard in an alehouse. Moll feels guilty about her theft and tells her governess about it later that evening. Contrary to Moll’s expectations, the governess is not disappointed at her or tells her to return the tankard. She orders Moll to steal for her on a regular basis, so the goods could be sold in the pawnshop. Although this seems reasonable to Moll, the reader now sees the pawnbroker as a villain instead of Moll Flanders, who does not know any better. The pawnbroker introduces Moll to a group of thieves who teach her to shoplift and “[…] taking off gold watches from the ladies’ sides; […]” (p. 14). At the end of the extract Moll earns her money in the company of thieves but she knows that her work is not morally
She borrows a beautiful necklace from a friend.The necklace is lost after the party. Poor Monsieur Loisel goes out alone and searches all night and day for the jewels but has no luck. Loisel comes up with a plan to buy another necklace and return it to Mathilde's friend.This is quite a man. He takes his inheritance from his father; then, he borrows the rest of the money. They return the necklace. But that is just the beginning. For the next ten years, the Loisels work together to pay for the replacement necklace. Monsieur Loisel works a second job at night. They even give up their apartment. Both of them age tremendously over the years. Mathilde is no longer beautiful. She has hardened:She came to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts and dish-cloths, and hung them out to dry on a string; every morning she carried up the water.The author never lets the reader know if Mathilde appreciated her husband for taking care of her. They did accomplish something together, and she did rise to the occasion and do the hard work of the home. In reality, the hero of the story is Monsieur Loisel who worked alongside his wife to pay back the money for
Throughout “The Necklace” it is clearly obvious that Madame Loisel is not satisfied with the