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Sylvia Plath's use of language in her poems
The central theme of Sylvia Plath's Words
The central theme of Sylvia Plath's Words
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In the short story, ‘Superman and Paula Brown’s new snowsuit’ author Sylvia Plath presents a character that realises that the war is coming closer to home, and that Superman will not stop the horrors that the war will inevitably cause. Whilst coming to terms with what the war actually entails, the storyteller also has to cope with the stresses of growing up and being blamed for something that she didn’t do. The narrator dreams of flying with Superman (her idol) and watching planes fly in the sky and night. From describing the narrator playing war games with David in the playground, there comes a point where Paula Brown’s snowsuit becomes completely wrecked. The story is a memoir being retold thirteen years on from the perspective of the anonymous narrator. Whilst being a memoir, the story follows a linear, first person narrative and this allows the reader to empathise with what the storyteller is feeling. We are able to see the transformation from the narrator’s fantasy world (including Superman), to realising that Superman cannot stop her nightmares and that she has entered the cruel, real world.
The protagonists in the novel are: the narrator, Paula Brown, Sheldon Fein and Uncle Frank. Paula Brown was ‘bossy and stuck-up with pale skin and long red pigtails and watery blue eyes.’ Sylvia Plath has described Paula Brown with the stereotype of a sour individual so that the reader can try and imagine why the narrator resents Paula Brown. Sheldon Fein is an outsider in the story but he is described in quite a lot of detail due to what he symbolises. He is a ‘mummy’s boy’ and ‘used to pull the wings off grasshoppers, and keep the broken insects captive in a jar hidden under his bed where he could take them out in secret and watch the...
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...h to understand that the narrator and David are using him just for their Superman games, and this is proved when he does not stick up for the narrator when Paula makes the accusation that it was the narrator who pushed her into the oil.
There is a very heart-warming meaning underneath the simple narrative in ‘Superman and Paula Brown’s new snowsuit.’ Although many themes are presented in the story, there is a significance of Uncle Frank’s ‘footsteps growing fainter as he walked off down the hall.’ This symbolises the end of the Superman fantasy for the narrator and that Uncle Frank is going to war which is quite an emotional moment for the narrator, but also as a reader we can empathise with the sombre mood that the narrator is in. The objective of Sylvia Plath’s short story is to take us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, and she did that to perfection!
Throughout the play Bennett reviles Doris’ character by showing her affection to the past, she talks to old photographs of her dead husband, Wilfred, and talks aloud to him. This indicates Doris’ apparent loneliness and how she feels “left behind” by the rest of her generation. When talking about the people she new in the past like Wilfred, she takes on there voice, this shows how she...
This book is a study of the personal tales of many single mothers, with intentions to understand why single mothers from poor urban neighborhoods are increasingly having children out of wedlock at a young age and without promise of marrying their fathers. The authors chose to research their study in Philadelphia’s eight most devastated neighborhoods, where oppression and danger are high and substantial job opportunities are rare. They provide an excellent education against the myth that poor young urban women are having children due to a lack of education on birth control or because they intend to work the welfare system. Instead, having children is their best and perhaps only means of obtaining the purpose, validation and companionship that is otherwise difficult to find in the areas in which they live. For many of them, their child is the biggest promise they have to a better future. They also believe that though their life may not have been what they want, they want their child to have more and better opportunities and make it their life’s work to provide that.
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
During the process of this research paper this semester sources we have been using different sources to create a strong argument and support my point of view regarding Mexican businessmen in El Paso. Among the sources we are using, primary and secondary, historian Mario T Garcia’s book, Dessert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso, 1880-1920, is one of them, and most likely, the most important. The book was published on September 10, 1982. The book is an exceptional work dealing with details, statistics, and historical events related to the Mexican journey to the United States. In his book, Garcia spent an entire chapter talking about obreros y comerciantes (labors and merchants) and what their economic activities were in order to support their dream of getting enough money in the United States and come back to Mexico afterwards.
The theme that has been attached to this story is directly relevant to it as depicted by the anonymous letters which the main character is busy writing secretly based on gossip and distributing them to the different houses. Considering that people have an impression of her being a good woman who is quiet and peaceful, it becomes completely unbecoming that she instead engages in very abnormal behavior. What makes it even more terrible is the fact that she uses gossip as the premise for her to propagate her hate messages not only in a single household but across the many different households in the estate where she stays.
Within Tennessee Williams's story about love and abuse within marriage and challenging familial ties, there lie three very different characters that all see the world in vastly different ways. These members of a family that operate completely outside of our generation’s norms, are constantly unsure of themselves and their station within the binary not only of their familial unit, but within the gender binary that is established for them to follow. Throughout the story of the strange family, each character goes through a different arch that changes them irrevocably whether it is able to be perceived or not by those around them. The only male, Stanley is initially the macho force in the home who controls everything without question. He has no consequences for his actions against his wife and is never held accountable for treating the people around him poorly; this lasts until Blanche arrives. Blanche is an outwardly demure, but spirited young woman who after experiencing untold misfortune breaks mentally and decides to no longer care what others may think of her. She lives her life lavishly and foolishly by having dalliances with younger or richer men who shower her with gifts and attention to get sex from her all too willing form. Her effect on Stanley is one of temptation and challenge; she continually tries to convince her sister that she is too good for the man and in turn fosters a resentment for her in him. Stella acts as the antithesis of Stanley and Blanche’s extreme personalities. She is innocence and purity where they are the darkness that threatens to overtake her life. Throughout, Stella is a pawn that they both try to use against the other to no real avail as she is determined to make the best choice for herself. In th...
The film the Assassination of Jesse James - by the coward Robert Ford is a historical western drama based on a novel about a real American outlaw who lived during the 19th century . The novel, with the same title as the movie, is written by the author Ron Hansen and first published in 1983. The film is directed by Andrew Domnik and produced in 2007 by, among others, Brad Pitt, who even plays the main character Jesse James. Other characters are performed by Sam Shepard (Frank James), Casey Affleck (Robert ”Bob” Ford), Sam Rockwell (Charley Ford), Paul Schneider (James ”Dick” Liddil), Jeremy Renner (Wood Hite), Garret Dillahunt (Ed Miller) and Mary-Louise Parker (Zerelda ”Zee” James).
Throughout A Loss for Words, Lou Ann discusses the impact of having deaf parents played in her and her sister’s childhood. Some examples include, being an interpreter and a guide for her parents while she was growing up, causing her to more of an adult rather than being a child (Walker, 1986, p. 2). Lou Ann never minded though she loved to feel important and to help her parents, along with her two sisters, with their business affairs. It was not always easy though Lou Ann says that, “in a few instances I was an unfaithful go-between,” for instance, “the garage mechanic who refused to serve them because [her parents] were deaf” (Walker, 1986, p. 21). As children of deaf parents, Lou Ann and her sister were apart of the deaf culture, but they were also the connection to the hearing world as well. Her parents would often look to her for clues in different situations such as a thunderstorm, someone walking into a room, etc., but they never tried to place any pressure on her it simply came naturally to Lou Ann to help her parents because they relied on her. If I were Lou Ann I probably would have done the same thing, no one should feel helpless and have no one that can help them accomplish tasks that need to be done.
Sylvia Plath’s jarring poem ‘Daddy’, is not only the exploration of her bitter and tumultuous relationship with her father, husband and perhaps the male species in general but is also a strong expression of resentment against the oppression of women by men and the violence and tyranny men can and have been held accountable for. Within the piece, the speaker creates a figurative image of her father by using metaphors to describe her relationship with him: “Not God but a Swastika” , he is a “… brute” , even likening him to leader of the Nazi Party; Adolf Hitler: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look .” Overall, the text is a telling recount of her hatred towards her father and her husband of “Seven years” and the tolling affect it has had on
Blanche DuBois, the protagonist of the play, is introduced to the readers in the first scene, where she makes a surprise visit to her sister and her sister’s husband, Stella and Stanley. She is introduced as a fragile woman who the readers begin to feel sympathy for her. She had been asked to leave her job, and she lost the family estate. The readers ...
The beginning of the novel introduces the reader to Esther O'Malley Robertson as the last of a family of extreme women. She is sitting in her home, remembering a story that her grandmother told her a long time ago. Esther is the first character that the reader is introduced to, but we do not really understand who she is until the end of the story. Esther's main struggle is dealing with her home on Loughbreeze Beach being torn down, and trying to figure out the mysteries of her family's past.
The first principle character in this play is Blanche DuBois. She is a neurotic nymphomaniac that is on her way to meet her younger sister Stella in the Elysian Fields. Blanche takes two 2 streetcars, one named Desire, the other Cemeteries to get to her little sisters dwelling. Blanche, Stella and Stanley all desire something in this drama. Blanche desired a world without pain, without suffering, in order to stop the mental distress that she had already obtained. She desires a fairy tale story about a rich man coming and sweeping her off her feet and they ride away on a beautiful oceanic voyage. The most interesting part of Blanche is that through her unstable thinking she has come to believe the things she imagines. Her flashy sense of style and imagination hide the truly tragic story about her past. Blanche lost Belle Reve but, moreover, she lost the ones she loved in the battle. The horror lied not only in the many funerals but also in the silence and the constant mourning after. One cant imagine how it must feel to lose the ones they love and hold dear but to stay afterwards and mourn the loss of the many is unbearable. Blanche has had a streak of horrible luck. Her husband killing himself after she exposed her knowledge about his homosexuality, her advances on young men that led to her exile and finally her alcoholism that drew her life to pieces contemplated this sorrow that we could not help but feel for Blanche throughout the drama. Blanche’s desire to escape from this situation is fulfilled when she is taken away to the insane asylum. There she will have peace when in the real world she only faced pain.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a non-fiction book written by Robert Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki takes us into his life to describe to us the difference between two separate households and how they manage money. When you first open up the book, you are immediately shown the confliction Robert has between choosing whose advice to follow. His biological father is known as his poor dad who is highly educated but doesn’t make the right choices when it comes to money. His rich dad isn’t his father but is a childhood friend’s father who is also trying to teach Robert how to manage money. Rich dad has very little education background but the way he deals with money is what made him successful. Robert’s poor dad views education as the main principle to success. As long as you do well in school, you will have a good steady job thought poor dad. Poor dad always stated “I’m not interested in money”, and “money doesn’t matter.” Rich dad on the other hand knew how to make money work for him not the other way around. He felt that in order to succeed and make a lot of money, you need to work for yourself and not others. Robert learned many lessons from both dads and he feels he is very fortunate to have had two father figures to teach him and give him examples on how to become rich and successful.
The movie that I have chosen to review is called the League of their own, which was based on a true story took place in during World War 2. The main focus of this film is fore the view to see that although baseball was a sport that was designed for man, women would be able to be just as good at it, if not better than man. Although it was the women who were going to be playing a man's sport, they would still have to act and be a lady and fallow certain rules.
The novel explores gender roles through the characters of Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsay, and Lily. Each of these characters embodies different views in regards to gender roles. The readers are taken into their minds and thoughts and are allowed to see what each character views is the role of his/her gender.