In the highly conservative town in Long Island, New York, there would always be those kinds of people. The freakish devil’s spawn that your mother warned you about. The queers! The kind of girls who slept around with other girls and wore slutty clothing, boys who enjoyed wearing eyeliner and had higher voices, and people who didn’t even have a gender.
These people were viewed as abnormal and ostracized for many years before one of them decided to put an end to it. Deanna Sage was pissed after being deducted two points for not reciting something verbatim. The previous day, another student had said something even further from the original statement and he was praised for having a brilliant memory. She was held at a higher standard than her peers. The teachers looked for any excuse to bring her down a notch. Deanna wouldn’t give them the satisfaction and worked to become the brightest person in her grade. To the untrained eye, the petite Asian woman appeared reserved and antipathetic. Those who knew her could say otherwise, somewhat, she was a misanthrope and sadistic and manipulative and void of many, many emotions... okay so maybe they were right. Conforming to stereotypes wasn’t really her thing; she essentially annihilated all of them. She could have easily been mistaken for a straight girl; long hair, large earrings and high heels didn’t give off a particularly big lesbian vibe.
There were others similar to her and she was quick to spot them. It was her sophomore year that she formed her group. There were only four of them; herself, Annika Lombard, Tessa Langston, and Blair Tomlyn. Deanna didn’t trust herself with absolute power so she appointed Annika as their leader but everyone knew Deanna had the final say. Annika was anot...
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...e, everyone gets their happy ending. The villains are vanquished and the hero gets the girl. But in the real world, heroes don’t exist and the villains almost always win. The so-called villains are even worse than their make-believe counterparts. The fairytale bad guys are simply misunderstood. We only know one side of the story and who’s to say the story wasn’t twisted in the telling? The real evil doers had the money and the power. They made sure to buy off the system to ensure their happily ever after. This is reality and reality is a dark and depressing place. This is the tale of the good and evil in the world. A story that for once isn’t slanted to the favor of the heroes and the villains are just ignorant. No one is wholly good or wholly evil and this is no exception. This is the telling of the lives of the oppressed and their fight for equality and a voice.
Their style and actions were deemed inappropriate because it did not adhere to the school standard of conduct. Thus, they were left on their own, without support or comprehension from the school staff. Because of this belief held by the school personnel, las chicas would be placed on a vocational tracking system. Once placed on this track, las chicas were essentially denied any chance of escaping their current socio-economic class. Las chicas and other hard-living girls were often told that college courses would be too difficult for them. Many of las chicas actually had high grades in their classes, but the grades didn’t matter because the courses they took wouldn’t qualify them for a four-year college. For many, the prospect of college dwindled, and with it, any hope for escaping their class in the future. They would head either to community college or straight to work in low-wage jobs. They were systematically excluded from any chance of improving their
She presents two contradictory images of society in most of her fiction: one in which the power and prevalence of evil seem so deeply embedded that only destruction may root it out, and another in which the community or even an aggregate of individuals, though radically flawed, may discover within itself the potential for regeneration. (34)
At the conclusion the reader is left with a vision of destruction of human life both literal and figurative that is absurd rather than tragic because the victims are not heroic figures reduced to misfortune, They are ordinary characters who meet a grotesque fate.
end. This essay will further show how both stories shared similar endings, while at the same time
Have you ever experienced a day where nothing goes right? The story “A&P” written by John Updike is one of a teenage boy named Sammy who quits his job in hope of impressing some girls --- only to find they neither cared nor listened. “Miss Brill” written by Katherine Mansfield is a story about an elderly woman named Miss Brill who goes to the park to observe people; her evening is ruined when some kids make fun of the way she 's dressed. Miss Brill and Sammy started their day motivated, as the stories went on their moods shifted because their actions were affected by other people 's opinions. But sad endings don 't always have to be sad, there 's a lot a reader can learn from them. Sad endings are more memorable than other endings because there is a feeling of uneasiness left for the reader. It is also more realistic that people don’t have a perfect day or the hero gets what they wanted. Updike and Mansfield use sad endings to further the theme of disappointment.
In every walk of life, people seek refuge from the judgmental perception of their contemporaries. Thus, many people live in secrecy. For them, secrecy is an absolute necessity in dodging undesired scrutiny and maintaining normalcy in public. When it comes to gender and the expression of it, lines are often blurred. While some hide, others brazenly parade their sexuality in public and their alternative perspectives on gender roles. In “The Bowery as Haven and Spectacle” from Gay New York, by George Chauncey, explores the emergence of the Bowery “fairy” bars, and how they became a sanctuary for the queer and working-class of New York City. He discusses in great length the tension that arises between the middle-class and working-class, the bars as a spectacle and a place to be entertained, the solicitation of sex work, and the makings of gay culture in the bar scene. The lines of gender were blurred when men took up cross dressing and the mannerisms normally associated with women. On the other hand, Merril Mushroom, writer of "How to Engage in Courting Rituals 1950's Butch-Style in the Bar", complies a laundry list of rules for butch lesbians on methods of attracting other women. Here, females cross gender boundaries and take on masculine personas. With this said, both pieces show the development of alternative gender identities. However, this switch in gender roles seldom occur outside the bar scene. Despite the semi-public gender blurring, those who identify with this lifestyle still feel the need to express themselves in an environment most accommodating to their blatant disregard of gender norms. The aforementioned pieces answer questions in regards to why one must live in secrecy, and how this secrecy gives way to the developme...
Love caused his logic and sensibility to fail him, and provoked him to commit monstrous acts that destroyed many lives. Through analysis of “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood, it can be concluded that one of her many intended lessons was to show the value and the powerful effects of love. Atwood successfully proved this lesson by using powerful examples of both successful and disastrous relationships to illustrate the positive and negative effects of love. Atwood truly demonstrated what it is like to follow your heart.
Why did so many people, young, old, sick, wealthy and even convicted felonies had to experience firsthand of the worst evil man could ever pursue to one another. What was the point? Surely there have been many explanations, but those did not answer mine. I understood why the prisoners questioned their faith in God, I probably would have to. On the contrary, not even prayers to God could stop such evil. It criticizes the acceptance of human rights. This story puts a strain on trusting others. The individuals in this novel had a redundant encounter. It maddens me to the core. The hardships of what they had to go through, just for survival gives me grief. The story overall makes me feel distressed from every angle of the
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.
... constant struggle of oppression that human beings have faced throughout history and continue to face. These books are a testimony to the strength of those caught in the struggle and how good change and growth can evolve out of the bad. Struggle is a part of life and through it people can become stronger and learn more about themselves and the world. Power struggles offer opportunity for the oppressors to escape societies hold on them and to become truly aware of the suffering of those who they oppress, it offers the oppressed the opportunity to rise up and it offers society a chance to reform itself and its people. Events of oppression and the inevitable uprising of the underdog offer the perfect opportunity for important change to occur for the greater good of all.
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
Virtually everyone has started a fight but has ended up being the victim or have whatever was fought for ruined. The story “Why?” by Nikolai Popov is a wordless picture book that allows the reader to understand the story in several different ways. Different readers would read this book differently based on the diverse experiences they have had. Better connections to a book or story allow better comprehension. Making these connections however, require acknowledging themes of a story so better connections are made to help comprehend them.
Throughout the novel the reader finds out that one cannot stew over a negative situation, but instead, find the positive in a negative situation and move on to better things. In addition, people should always be themselves because we all matter, no matter what our differences.
Neil Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples” is far from the modern day fairy tale. It is a dark and twisted version of the classic tale, Snow White. His retelling is intriguing and unexpected, coming from the point of view of the stepmother rather than Snow White. By doing this, Gaiman changes the entire meaning of the story by switching perspectives and motivations of the characters. This sinister tale has more purpose than to frighten its readers, but to convey a deeper, hidden message. His message in “Snow, Glass, Apples” is that villains may not always be villains, but rather victims.