Long ago in Russia, a little girl named Vasilisa was born. When she was small, her mother gave her a wooden doll and told her if she fed it, it would help her in times of need. Her mother gave her a blessing and died. Her father, a merchant, married a wicked woman and her daughters. Her stepfamily became jealous of her beauty to the point of murder, and told Vasilisa to get fire from Baba Yaga. She went into the forest and came across three horsemen on her journey, one red, one white, and one black. Finally, she arrived at Baba Yaga’s house, standing on giant chicken feet. When she stepped inside and asked for the fire, Baba Yaga gave her three tasks to do perfectly, or she would eat her. Vasilisa gave her doll some food while Baba Yaga and …show more content…
In this version,Vasilisa is sent to Baba Yaga to get a needle and thread. (The doll and horsemen are absent in this tale.) Her stepmother gives her ham and butter to eat. She ties her ribbon to a tree branch so it does not stab her in the eye. She keeps walking, finds Baba Yaga’s gate and sees that it has squeaky hinges. She rubs her butter on the gate’s hinges so it will not squeak when she enters, and she opens the door. When in the yard, she comes across a thin black cat (sometimes it is a dog), so she gives it her ham. Baba Yaga tells Vasilisa to take a bath so she is clean enough for Yaga to eat her. Vasilisa cries in the bathtub, but the cat gives her a towel and a comb, thanks her for the ham, and tells her to throw them behind her when she needs it. When Baba Yaga tries to put her in the cooking pot, Vasilisa runs. The cat does not scratch her, gate opens for her, and the tree branches do not poke her in the eye. Baba Yaga is furious at the cat, tree, and gate because they did not try to stop Vasilisa. However they all say something to the effect of “She gave me ___, but you never gave me …show more content…
There is no skull with burning eyes, or tiny wooden doll. Vasilisa still escapes with the help of others, but she readily sacrifices her food and ribbon without expecting anything in return. According to, Baba Yaga seems to represent fate. Depending on what one does, they will either survive because of their kind or clever actions, or they will be eaten and added to her cranial collection. Baba Yaga is usually written as a cruel old witch, but she can be seen as a neutral character or even kind, occasionally. For whatever reason, she is able to control the day and night, so some believe her to be a goddess. Her hut, interestingly enough, is based from multiple potential Slavic practices. The Sami people of northern Scandinavia would build nili houses, wooden storage huts that would sit on upright tree trunks. This would give it the appearance of chicken legs, and was done to protect the hut from rotting, or food from being eaten by animals (cite). Another theory is that Baba Yaga is the middleman between the Mortal Realm and the Underworld. Ancient Slavs would put their dead on “chicken-legged” huts to house their dead
She begins to tear strips of the wallpaper and continues to do so all night until morning yards of the paper are stripped off. Her sister-in-law Jennie offers to help, but at this point the narrator is territorially protective of the wallpaper. She locks herself in the room and is determined to strip the wall bare. As she is tearing the wallpaper apart she sees strangled heads in the pattern shrieking as the wallpaper is being torn off. At this point, she is furious and even contemplates jumping out the window, yet even in her euphoric state, she realizes this gesture could be misinterpreted.
Book three of the novel “Bread Givers,” written by Anzia Yezierska, is set in New York. The story revolves around Sara Smolinsky, her family, and the struggles they face in their daily lives. The main conflict in book three is Sara’s guilt for leaving her family and pursuing her career without seeing them for six years. For example, when she comes back to see her family, she realizes she is too late. Her mother is dying of a stroke.
we are told that this story is about a girl or a woman and perhaps her
In the begging of this novel Sara Smolinsky, her Parents, and sisters Mashah, Bessie, and Fania, all live together in a small cluttered apartment. Her father, a Hassidic Jew, does not work to provide for his family, but instead preaches his family with strict spiritual guidance by studying the Torah as he pleases. Her father justifies his life style as his belief in ...
Sarah and her mother are sought out by the French Police after an order goes out to arrest all French Jews. When Sarah’s little brother starts to feel the pressures of social injustice, he turns to his sister for guidance. Michel did not want to go with the French Police, so he asks Sarah to help him hide in their secret cupboard. Sarah does this because she loves Michel and does not want him to be discriminated against. Sarah, her mother, and her father get arrested for being Jewish and are taken to a concentration camp just outside their hometown. Sarah thinks Michel, her beloved brother, will be safe. She says, “Yes, he’d be safe there. She was sure of it. The girl murmured his name and laid her palm flat on the wooden panel. I’ll come back for you later. I promise” (Rosnay 9). During this time of inequality, where the French were removing Sarah and her mother just because they were Jewish, Sarah’s brother asked her for help. Sarah promised her brother she would be back for him and helped him escape his impending arrest. Sarah’s brother believed her because he looks up to her and loves her. As the story continues, when Sarah falls ill and is in pain, she also turns to her father for comfort, “at one point she had been sick, bringing up bile, moaning in pain. She had felt her father’s hand upon her, comforting her” (Rosnay 55).
Alyss meets an orphan named Quigly Gaffer, who is, in Alyss’s eye, “the nicest in the band of homeless orphans and runaways of which he was a part” (Beddor 101). He gave Alyss and t...
Sylvia , a young girl that lives in the woods with her grandmother , Is identified as a child throughout the beginning of the story but as the story progresses she begins to develop emotions of a young woman . As the story begins we are presented with descriptions of an inexperienced girl and her childish playmate . Although as a child she was never " inclined to wander further " (Jewett 93 ) , She sought amusement in a " cow 's prank as an intelligent attempt to play hide and seek " (Jewett 93 ) . Her playful companion who accompanies her through the trail back home symbolizes Sylvia 's youthfulness , with a desire to explore . On the wooded path back home they are " horror-stricken " (Jewett 94 ) by a " boy 's whistle , determined , and somewhat aggressive " (Jewett 95 ) and attempts to hide like how a young child would when frightened . The handsome hunter asks for friendship and a place to stay and although 'Sylvy ' , as her grandmother calls her , Is frightened she leads him to her home , where she soon becomes fascinated by him
The location of this story took place in a hotel in Paris, France. A young girl named Lèa has been staying with one of the Sisters at their church, since her mother and father were taken to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. After Lèa was finished with school, she and Sister-Saint Gabriel went to Hôtel Lutètia to see if her parents had returned. Lèa thought that her parents would stay here from returning from their “vacation” since she did not know what actually happened to them. They spoke with one of the ladies in the cubicle office setup to see if there was a way that she would be able to help find Lèa’s parents. The lady gave some papers to Sister Saint-Gabriel to place Lèa into an institution until she is old enough to be on her own, a family member comes along, or so that she receives her parents’ death certificates. The lady sent Lèa to go and wait while she and sister talked. As Lèa was waiting, she followed one of the staff that was bringing food to the people in the hotel. Lèa went into an empty room to eat her bread and chocolate. She sat on the bed ready to eat and suddenly someone’s fingers were touching her hands which appeared out of nowhere. She gave him the bread and chocolate and then he dumped her box of beads over her head. She told him why she was there and her name. Lèa asked him if he knew who her parents were. He did know who they were, he replied, “Gassed.
Marie had just traveled from her hometown of Ville Rose, where discarding your child made you wicked, to the city of Port-Au-Prince, where children are commonly left on the street. Marie finds a child that she thinks could not be more beautiful, “I thought she was a gift from Heaven when I saw her on the dusty curb, wrapped in a small pink blanket, a few inches away from a sewer as open as a hungry child’s yawn” (79). Marie has suffered many miscarriages, so she takes this child as if it were her own, “I swayed her in my arms like she was and had always been mine” (82). Marie’s hope for a child has paid off, or so it seems. Later, it is revealed that the child is, in fact, dead, and Marie fabricated a story to sanction her hopes and distract her from the harsh reality of her life, “I knew I had to act with her because she was attracting flies and I was keeping her spirit from moving on…
Chamberlain,A., Pearson,M. (2001) 'Bog Bodies', in Chamberlain,A., Pearson,M. (ed.) Earthly Remains: the history and science of preserved human bodies. London: British Museum, pp. 44-82.
threatening to her and her family. She runs into the house filled with fear but then finds herself not
Matthew, who is terrified of women, arrives at the train station and finds a girl orphan instead of a boy; the orphanage sent the e...
Before dropping the bones into the pit they waited the signal of the master of the ritual. After the signal has been giving they can finally place the bones of their loved ones in the pit and have a sense of peace for their loved
She comes from a good family that works for what they have. She marries a good hard workingman. But, Mathilde is not happy the way she is living and she daydreams about having the glamorous life. From having fancy tapestries, grand banquets to tall footmen. One day her husband, M. Loisel, comes homes extremely excited to show his wife an invitation that he has received to go to a fancy ball. She is not happy because she has nothing to wear and she doesn’t want to show up looking ugly with house full of rich people. She got the dress she wanted but then was not happy because she needed jewelry to go with this dress. Mathilde went to her rich friend to borrow jewels from. Of course she went with the most extravagant piece of jewelry, a diamond necklace. Showing up to the fancy ball with everybody adoring what a beauty she is, Mathilde was finally satisfied. When she got home after the fancy ball, she noticed that the necklace she borrowed was missing. Looking franticly for weeks, Mathilde then decided she had to replace the necklace. Replacing the necklace took everything they had and more. Mr. and Mrs. Loisel then became extremely poor with no money to there name. They then had to sell everything had and both now had to work. This went on for about ten years. Mathilde had no beauty to her anymore, she had to work, and do the house keeping. The
In the beginning of the short story the Madonna doll cries the girl in the play thinks that the doll crying means that her mother has died in the prison. Even though she is almost sure that her mother has died she takes the madonna doll and goes towards the prison to visit her mother. On the way to the prison she stops and gets some pork from a dealer to give to her mother. When she arrives at the prison she sees her bone thin Manman, her head freshly shaven by the guards and in a dress she made with the cloth that was given to her at last week's visit. Manman asked for the Madonna doll, when she got it she rubbed the space under the eye and tasted it.