“The Ugly Duckling” is a fairytale that almost every child in the world grows up with and almost knows by heart. A story of a unique duckling that is banished by his family because he looks different and they no longer want him. The duckling goes on a journey of realization of trying to figure out where he truly belongs and who he is. Through this banishment and exile from his family, he discovers himself and his community of beautiful swans. Never the less, the duckling gains an unexpected strength from his alienation and trauma. According to Edward Said, a professor and author, defines exile as, “… the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home” (Said 137). What Said explains in his work, “Reflections on Exile”, is how traumatic banishment can be in ones’ life. However, you discover yourself in the process of leaving your home behind even though that feeling of being …show more content…
Est`es’ analysis communicates that, “The duckling… when pressed into circumstances of little nurture, instinctively strives to continue no matter what” (Est`es 183). The duckling was tormented by his family and neglected by his mother, this trauma inspires him to hold on and push through no matter what. Through this exile journey, the duckling gains the strength to survive under pressure and keep moving, “… it leads eventually to a profound magnitude and clarity of psyche” (Est`es 199). Although the duckling starts his life feeling lost, his exile is in reality, is a gift, “ It removes whininess, enables acute insight, heightens intuition, grants the power of keen observation and perspective that the ‘insider’ can never achieve” (Est`es 199). Moreover, the duckling comes to terms with his traumatic experience of neglect during his journey of self- discovery and actually benefits from the
The setting of the novel, the killing fields of Cambodia, thoroughly exhibits the protagonist’s awareness to suffering. Exposed to sorrow at the tender age of 11, Arn Chorn Pond is highly cognisant of his surroundings. When remembering his displaced family, Arn often repeats an analogy
Peripheral 1st person influences the characterization in The Eggs of the World because when the author talks of Sessue Matoi, he uses personal experience to explain the beh...
The children have not been exposed to the outside world where in such places, death was not taken lightly because it was not accepted as a norm. Also in the larger more connected city centers, there were places to go and people to speak to about how they were feeling. The children soon realize that the teacher which has been sent to them cares about their wellbeing and grief process, where the three previous may not have put so much regard into the topic. As the children and the teacher reach Yolandes grave, the teacher feels the isolation in a literal sense, “We came to a wooden cabin standing in isolation among the little trees.” the teacher saw how many of the children lived and realized how detached the children really are. The children however, know that this is where Yolande lived and have accepted it because it is how most of them live. The children evidently grieve and accept death much differently because of the isolation. The teacher observes the child “The child had a delicate little face, very wasted, with the serious expression I had seen on the faces of most of the children here, as if the cares of the adults had crushed them all too early.” The teacher immediately connects with the child and decides to ask the children to pick roses in order to
...en-year-old girl”. She has now changed mentally into “someone much older”. The loss of her beloved brother means “nothing [will] ever be the same again, for her, for her family, for her brother”. She is losing her “happy” character, and now has a “viole[nt]” personality, that “[is] new to her”. A child losing its family causes a loss of innocence.
In the two books that we have read this year there has been one common theme, exile. In The Book Thief and in A Handmaid’s Tale, important characters were exiled. For example in The Book Thief, Max was exiled from his country, and in A Handmaid’s Tale, Offred was exiled from the government. The character’s experiences with exile were both alienating and enriching, because they were both of them went through times when they felt out of place and times when they were enhancing their life. The character’s experiences were both similar in the way that they were both exiled by a larger power, such as the government of the country that they live in. But they were also very different because in Max’s situation it was life or death, and in Offred’s situation she had a required place to be, she was going to live. Also the experiences of Max and Offred shed a light on their books, because it gave a different meaning behind them something deeper that was not shown on the surface of the pages. Lastly, from the beginning of the books to the end, Max and Offred’s home place changed, and the home in the beginning became an other place to them.
Within this poem there is underlying imagery, which further defines the dilemma of the play and the grievance of the Wife. The mandarin duck and the fish, or t...
The narrator continues with describing his resentment towards his home life, 'Coming home was not easy anymore. It was never a cinch, but it had become a torture (2).'; This excerpt provides the reader with an understanding of the sorrow that the protagonist feels at the beginning of the novel and throughout the first half. Further narration includes the protagonists feelings of distance from the land and blame that he places upon himself, 'But the distance I felt came not from country or people; it came from within me (2).'; Thus, as the reader, we understand that the narrator has removed himself from the land and his culture.
The theme of this book is that the human capacity to adapt to and find happiness in the most difficult circumstances. Each character in the novel shows this in their way. For instance, their family is randomly taken from their home and forced to work but they still remain a close nit family. In addition, they even manage to stick together after being separated for one of their own. These show how even in the darkest time they still manage to find a glimmer of hope and they pursued on.
A devoted mother, Anne Bradstreet is concerned with her children as she watches them grow up. “Or lest by Lime-twigs they be foil'd, or by some greedy hawks be spoil'd” Anne Bradstreet uses to describe her fear for her children. Not wanting to see her children suffer, Anne Bradstreet turns to God to help her children. Bradstreet imagines her bird’s being stuck on a branch and a hawk eating them, a grim image of all of her sacrifice being lost in a single moment. “No cost nor labour did I spare” describes how much Anne loves her children.
He was able to think for himself instead of allowing the brotherhood or Bledsoe to do it for him. The narrator was able to live and understand the mistakes he made and allow it to enrich his knowledge of society. Exile in the narrator’s case was a positive influence on his life due to the narrators gain in self-knowledge. The narrator uses his experiences and put them together so that he is able to enrich the next persons mind with knowledge and experience. Being able to encounter the knowledge without experiencing the pain is a great way to understand the struggle another man had to go
The image of a tortoise conveys the boy’s endeavours to live and maintain hope of homecoming. Early in the family’s internment, the boy traps a tortoise in a box. Additionally, he inscribes his family’s identification number on its shell. As the boy sleeps, he fixates on the turtle’s claws against the side of the box, which indicate the boy’s intentions to leave the camp. “...in his dreams, he could hear its claws scrabbling against the side of the box” (60). It is apparent through the tortoise’s entrapment and identification number that it is a symbol of the boy’s captivity. Much like the boy’s hope to abscond from the camp and continue his life, the tortoise strives to escape the box. Despite being displaced by his own government, the boy maintains a desire to live his life, and one day, return to his home. Later
Throughout “The Birds,” the suspense in the story is used to portray the tendency for people to lose all reason in situations that are extremely complex. "[Du Maurier] forces Nat and the reader to remain in a claustrophobic house where all they can do is sit, listen, and wait for the inevitable terror that’s certain to return" (Kattelman 13). Not only is the point of view restrained to Nat, but it follows all of his actions, thoughts and inner monologue about survival. As a second-hand witness, the reader experiences all of the anxiety and anticipation he experiences. As soon as Nat checks for survivors, he witnesses that "[t]he line was dead. He climbed onto a bank and looked over the countryside, but there was no sign of life at all, nothing in the fields but the waiting, watching birds" (Du Maurier 97). After the attack of the birds, the surrounding area is completely wiped out. The suspense of being alone creeps into Nat 's head as he takes off to work on his house. The isolation drives him crazy because he does not know how to deal with it. Just like Nat, humans make decisions based off of what is real to them. Psychologically speaking, when reality becomes questionable, all familiarity and comfort with the situation go away due to people 's loss of power in knowledge (Kattelman 12). When the characters of "The Birds" are forced to confront
Throughout Alice Munro’s short story, “Wild Swans”, bird imagery reflects Rose’s metamorphosis from an innocent, insecure child into a desirable young woman, like a guarded young chick taking flight for the first time, becoming a beautiful wild swan. In this story Rose is a sheltered young girl who desires independence, beauty, and excitement. Through repetitive bird imagery, Munro shows Rose’s personal growth and the struggle between her innocence and wild, animal desires. Bird imagery was used in the beginning of the story by the worried Aunt Flow to warn Rose of the dangers of the world. Intense moral upbringing was ingrained in Rose’s head by Flow, who is portrayed as an over protective mother bird.
It states that through exile, you learn something new and gain experience as you go on through the journey. In the novel King Lear, William Shakespeare highlights exile in the protagonist, Lear. Though Lear’s exile proved detrimental at first, it ultimately gave him enriching experiences that led to moral maturity. Lear’s exile in the novel proved to be detrimental at first.
Edward Said has asserted that exile is both an “unhealable rift” and an “enriching experience.” While these two statements do contradict each other, Said is correct in his assumption that the two often go together. In both Heart of Darkness and Thing Fall Apart, Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe both illustrate this heart wrenching experience through their novel’s protagonists, Marlow and Okonkwo. Marlow and Okonkwo were both alienated from their homeland, Marlow by choice and Okonkwo by force. Nevertheless, both Marlow and Okonkwo suffered equal pain during their alienation, however Marlow was able to have an “enriching experience” during his alienation as suppose to Okonkwo.