Eng Comparison Essay
Innocence, happiness, success, and optimism, are all characteristics of human kind. A cure for cancer is superior to the elimination of physical abuse and suicidal death’s. A result to have all people treated equally appreciated and loved. Is it a possible gesture? It may not happen in our lifetime, but if powerful and caring individuals join forces, it is possible to draw conclusions. To live the dreams and allusions each identity performs and has a reality to people and society. Within the three novels, Ellen Foster, A Virtuous Woman, and A Cure for Dreams, all written by the author Kaye Gibbons, each character from different novels struggles to face reality and find the correct path that will lead them to the right direction in life. While coping with the endless pain, Ellen, Jack, and Betty have only hope to lead them into the direction they encounter to approach. A fate in their lives can change forever. In addition, keep their “depressing days” only a memory so that they will become successful. All characters are determined to overcome their obstacles and misery through hope, courage, and inspiration.
Throughout Kaye Gibbon’s novels, each unified character portrays a resemblance to overcome their obstacles through hope. In Gibbon’s first novel, Ellen Foster the main character, Ellen a young child struggles to survive and live a normal childhood. Making matters worse, Ellen’s father was a drunken alcoholic who physically abuses her mother and sexually harasses his own daughter. As a result, Ellen’s mother commits suicide and her father dies from over dosage. As her, own parents abandon their precious child; Ellen was alone in search of a new home and family. As hope motivates Ellen to seek forward and find her new home she begins to believe what an ideal family would be like, “I had not figured out how to go about getting one for the most part, but I had a feeling it could be got”. Similar in Ellen’s case, in Gibbon’s second novel A Virtuous Woman, Jack is in search to regain himself after a heartbreak loss to his wife Ruby who died several months prior from lung cancer. Jack is an old farmer and relied heavily towards Ruby. He is now left on his own, he acknowledges that only hope may lead him back on his tracks and leave all the crucial memories behind.
“I looked anxiously. I didn’t see anybody… I’d keep my head up and my eyes open-`You got a smoke to spare?’” (Walters 3) In Shattered, Eric Walters hauls the reader through the life of Ian, the protagonist who experiences the joy of helping others. Throughout the white pine award novel, Ian is continually helping people around him realize that their life isn’t perfect and they ought to alter it somewhat. Furthermore, the author carefully compares the significance of family and how importance they are to everyone’s life. Right through the book, Eric Walters demonstrates the theme of compassion through the use of Ian helping Jack overcome his drinking problems, showing Berta the value of patriot and always there for the less fortunate.
An analysis of Mycerinus and Kha-merer-nebty II and Augustus of Primaporta, reveals that there are many similarities, but also many differences between these two pieces of sculpture. These similarities and differences are found in the subject, style, and function of both works of art.
At the age of ten, most children are dependent on their parents for everything in their lives needing a great deal of attention and care. However, Ellen, the main character and protagonist of the novel Ellen Foster, exemplifies a substantial amount of independence and mature, rational thought as a ten-year-old girl. The recent death of her mother sends her on a quest for the ideal family, or anywhere her father, who had shown apathy to both she and her fragile mother, was not. Kaye Gibbons’ use of simple diction, unmarked dialogue, and a unique story structure in her first novel, Ellen Foster, allows the reader to explore the emotions and thoughts of this heroic, ten-year-old girl modeled after Gibbons’ own experiences as a young girl.
Ellen Foster’s use of escapism reverberates as the theme of Kaye Gibbons’ novel. Her imagination, determination, tenacity and innocence allow her to escape, to break away from all of the unfathomable cruelty surrounding her. Without her unique and clever use of escapism, the heroine of Ellen Foster would have been easily overwhelmed.
Some people think that if they could only change one aspect of their lives, it would be perfect. They do not realize that anything that is changed could come with unintended consequences. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken both illustrate this theme. They demonstrate this by granting the main character three wishes, but with each wish that is granted, brings undesirable consequences. The main idea of this essay is to compare and contrast “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish.” Although the “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” are both fantasies and have similar themes, they have different main characters, wishes, and resolutions.
The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible both provide similarities about the characters within the Puritan community. Both books reveal similarities between Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter and John Proctor in The Crucible. Hester Prynne and John Proctor are not physically similar, but they are alike in some ways because their beliefs and emotions towards the Puritan law affect their reputation and determine the outcome of their future. Hester Prynne and John Proctor are not physically similar but both characters feel guilty for committing adultery, show integrity, they are courageous, and their deaths have left behind a legacy.
The theme of power being abused is carried out in both I Only Came to Use the Phone and Lord of the Flies. The reasoning as to why we would see this theme as the base for both stories is because it is such a common theme; it is known that everyone craves power because of the self-satisfaction they gain from it. The authors of these stories realizing that, used the theme of abuse of power to create chaos within the story and create interest, and they did this by having their characters go after something that makes themselves feel powerful. In Lord of the Flies it was the powerful feeling of hunting for the boys, and in I Only Came to Use the Phone it was the power that the Matron had over Maria by sexually harassing her. Although those two examples seem as though it is people who abuse power it goes beyond that; as if the evil within everyone is awaken by power and that evil is what succumbs them to abuse the power.
Relativism can be hard to understand. It’s in our nature as human beings to base thing off of the knowledge we already know. Relativism is the idea that, when faced with another culture, we must try to comprehend it instead of judging it based on our own culture’s values and morals. Human rights advocates opposing the tradition of female genital modification (FGM) is an example of relativism (page 30). Female genital modification can include the removal of the clitoris or a process in which the female anatomy is modified in such a way that constricts the vaginal opening. Both procedures reduce female sexual pleasure and, it is believed to prevent the likelihood of adultery. Although a tradition in societies in Africa and the Middle East, human
The central character in the book is Grace Marks, who migrated to Canada from Ireland when she was 13 years old. On the way to Canada, Grace lost her mother because of a tumour that the latter had developed due to the unhygienic conditions on the voyage. After that, the only person whom Grace was close to was Mary Whitney, a co-servant in the Parkinson household. Mary Whitney’s death, due to pre-marital pregnancy and lame efforts to abort the foetus, weighs heavily on Grace who claims to have hea...
However, O’Connor has her last book name “Greenleaf” this clarifies her way of writing about imagery, detail and her formal language by expressing her personality which is darkness. The novel emphasizes the lack of grace and faith. There are characters who are involved who wish life to be equal and not have consequences. For example, it is at a farm that Mrs. May owns and her employer name “Scofield” who both work at the barn. O’Connor writing this novel gives the imagery of the Mrs.May begging to be blessed by Jesus because her barn will be handed to her mother-in-law and sees that her effort will be damage. Otherwise, it will care for her sons who don't care. As, pity as Mrs. May she is being brought by her religion to send prayers to her
“When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this or that way and run it down through my head until it got easy… All I did was wish him dead real hard every now and then. All I can say for a fact that I am better off now than when he was alive” (Gibbons 1). Kaye Gibbons novel Ellen Foster starts out with the excerpt above which introduces us to the main character and protagonist Ellen Foster, an eleven year old girl who has been abused, orphaned, and sent to live with unwelcoming relatives until she finally finds a place that welcomes her. Kaye Gibbon based some of the story of her life as child. She said “Ellen Foster is emotionally autobiographical.” With her growing up in rural Nash County, her mother committing suicide when she was ten, and her father being a drunk and drinking himself to death (Summer). “Some critics have viewed Ellen Foster as a story of Ellen's search for
...of writing impressive and elegant without being over the top. He takes you on a roller coaster of emotions throughout the novel, leading you from happiness to depression in the blink of an eye. This book taught me something I had already vaguely known, that the world can be a very cruel place. The problem was I had never truly imagined it this cruel and abusive. It broke my heart and completely re-enforced my plans as to what I’m doing after I finish university. I plan on working for th UN in underdeveloped countries, focussing on social interactions and medical services. The way Mistry wrote this book affected me deeply. I think the theme of this book was about the power of human perseverance and the ability of the downtrodden to always look for ward to the next day with optimism. The four characters in this novel face tremendous ordeals and yet they still manage to maintain a small amount of control over their lives. Mistry writes in such a way that you can see their vulnerability, but you can also see how mentally and physically strong they are. They find comfort in the small things we take for granted, and as such they truly show their faith in a society that is failing them.
Books written in the Gilded Age are most usually an accurate representation of the lives led by those characters represented in them. They give us an in depth and up close and more personal look at the difficult and fast-changing times back then. Although Maggie and O Pioneers! differ in geographical terms, they both make me feel like I actually understand what it was like to live back then. When you compare them side by side you can see that both sides of life affect the personalities and characterizations of people depicted.
Atwood’s “Happy Endings” retells the same characters stories several times over, never deviating from clichéd gender roles while detailing the pursuit of love and life and a happy ending in the middle class. The predictability of each story and the actions each character carries out in response to specific events is an outline for how most of us carry on with our lives. We’re all looking for the house, the dog, the kids, the white picket fence, and we’d all like to die happy.
In the short story “Eveline “ by James Joyce, Eveline, the protagonist is given the opportunity to escape from her hard unendurable life at home and live a life of true happiness at Buenos Ayres with Frank, her lover. Throughout the story, Eveline is faced with a few good memories of her past from her childhood and her mother, but she also faces the horrible flashbacks of her mother’s illness and her father’s violence. In the end, she does not leave with Frank, Eveline’s indecisiveness and the burden of her family’s duties makes her stay.