“Give, but give until it hurts.” –Mother Teresa. I believe this quote applies to Iris Chase because she gives the impression of being a giving person no matter what the situation. She cares about what is left of her family even though it is hard for her to admit. Iris Chase is the narrator and protagonist of the novel “The Blind Assassin”. She grows up in a small town in Southern Ontario with her younger sister, Laura, her father and her house maid, Reenie. She discusses events, relationships, and thoughts throughout her life in the book. For the duration of the book, Iris’s character is portrayed as self-centered but obedient to her father and maid. The passage above illustrates the point in time when Iris’ father requests her to marry a man for the sake of her sister and for his company. The man, Richard Griffen, is thirty-five years old whilst Iris is only nineteen. Her reaction towards this proposal is awfully vague. She answers with “oh.” to nearly every question or statement. She doesn’t show any interest in her soon-to-be husband. She also doesn’t appear to be a great listener since she constantly just nods in response or gives very …show more content…
Even though Iris has an exceptional side of her personality such as being determined and giving, she also has poor qualities. She demonstrates an exceptional personality due to the fact that she is giving and is willing to legitimately sell herself for her father. But, Iris also demonstrates poor qualities such as being blunt, when she carelessly says things about her sister. In many passages, she writes that she is tired of caring for her sister before and after her mother’s death. “I was tired of keeping an eye on Laura, who didn’t appreciate it. I was tired of being held accountable for her lapses, her failures to comply.” This statement proves that she is self –centered and tired of carrying her sister on her
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
Iris Murdoch, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, was known as one of the most important novelist in English during the twentieth century. In her 26 novels, she explores interesting aspects of psychology and philosophy. In her piece Morality and Religion, she states, “the most evident bridge between morality and religion is the idea of virtue” (Murdoch 363). To some, virtue is still considered a positive idea to pursue, while to others virtue has faded, has lost its positive meaning, and it is now considered “priggishness” or “rigidity”. Murdoch is saying that “the idea” of virtue may be out dated, that it instead is now something that is self-indulging. “An idea (concept) of virtue which not be formally reflective or clarified bears some resemblance to religion, so that one might say either that it is a shadow of religion, or religion is a shadow of it” (Murdoch 363). Virtue and morality are not necessarily interchangeable, but religion and virtue both have duty in common.
In most fairytales, there is a character that stands out as a visionary; the one who defends happiness, and leads the way allowing others to find their destiny. This person usually has the will power to influence not only them self, but also has the ability to influence the person who seems to be the least likely to accept another’s view of the world, especially if they’re living in a world that is detached from everyone else's. In Gregory Maguire’s book, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, the visionary to see beyond her own sanity and look into the depths of another person’s chaos is Iris. It is with no question that without Iris’s willingness to explore the world, not just through her eyes, but the eyes of everyone around her, Cinderella may have never been released from her shackles that bound her to live the life of a changeling, and invalidate what inkling she had of creating the idea in the first place; the idea of a new journey to escape the fears brought on by childhood, and escape to a life of reason; the life where adults make decisions based on reason, not fear. Even though there are others who surround Clara’s transformation into womanhood, Iris is undeniably the big sister that Clara so desperately needed.
A breathtaking saga of a young girl’s tragic memories of her childhood. As with Ellen, Gibbons’ parents both died before she was twelve-years-old, forming the family. basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are reflected in the thoughts and actions of Ellen. The simplistic and humble attitude that both Gibbons and Ellen epitomizes in the novel is portrayed through diction and dialogue.
Theresa states that her nephew, Tiny, was shoot by the police and that it was not an accident. She states how police were after gang members for trying to make peace within their community. Allison witnessed police trying to take her son so they could beat him and she stood up for him and the cops let him go. At the end of her chapter she says that they knew they would her son and the cops did kill him after she decided to move away from that community. Theresa shows why kids in her community grew up to dislike the
...her and son is what ultimately makes the story so gripping with audiences and readers alike because of the subsequent evolution in the nature of their relationship as the story progresses. With each telling and retelling of Edward Bloom’s stories, the reader and William both gain a little more insight in the enigma who is Edward Bloom. Despite the resentment and anger that dominates William’s feelings for his father, his ability to strive to make peace and make sense of his mystifying father, who has always eluded his own comprehension, is significant to anyone who has ever felt disconnect with a dying family member.
Ann Petry’s The Street is more than a story of racism and poverty in America. This novel is about how the intersectionality of identities limit African-Americans from achieving equality in the dominant race’s society. The protagonist, Lutie Johnson has three barriers dragging her down. She is not only a woman, but a black woman that is also a lower class single mother. In the novel Lutie faces the realities of the American Dream, which for African- Americans is literally just a dream. Lutie also experiences the harsh effects of poverty and how it shapes one’s life.
Throughout the novel the characters are put in these situations which force them to obtain information about the people they thought they knew. The center of finding out who everyone is was brought into play through the death of Marie. The story is told by David, only twelve years old, who sees his family an community in a different light for who they truly are under there cover. By doing his own little investigations, often times eavesdropping, David saw through the lies, secures and betrayals to find the truth.
Amanda is also well characterized by the glass menagerie. The glass sits in a case, open for display and inspection for all. Amanda try’s to portray herself as a loving mother, doing everything she can for her children, and caring nothing for herself, when in fact, she is quite selfish and demanding. Amanda claims that she devotes her life to her children, and that she would do anything for them, but is very suspicious of Tom’s activities, and continually pressures Tom, trying to force him in finding a gentleman caller for Laura, believing that Laura is lonely and needs a companion, perhaps to get married. Like the glass, her schemes are very transparent, and people can see straight through them to the other side, where ...
At an early age of five, Amory was already his mother’s companion; they set off to see the country in his father’s car up to he reached the age of ten. The life Beatrice and Amory were living, was not quite conventional, they are separate from most people, but unique and quite distinct from the other wealthy people around them. Beatrice was a sophisticated and well educated woman and who ensured Amory grew up the same. These are things which set him apart from his peers.
Despite living in a depressing world, the young boy seems unaware of the oppressive darkness because he focuses his attention on Mangan’s older sister, unable and unwilling to think about anything else. He obsesses over her, watching and following her to school every morning, unable to think of anything else, eventually making a promise he is incapable of keeping. At the end of the story the young naïve boy has a great, life changing epiphany when he failed in his quest to purchase Mangan’s older sister, the target in his crosshairs of love a gift from the bazaar she was unable to attend; he is not as great as he has foolishly envisioned himself to
One character that has been plagued by betrayal, throughout her entire existence, is Blanche. Blanche’s husband, Allen, first betrays her. She catches him with another man and then shortly after he commits suicide. Being one of the influences behind his death, Blanche began to carry the guilt around with her. Their young love blinds them and hides all the obstacles they had to face. After catching him, she felt like she had lost part of herself, and after he shot himself, she felt like she
“The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson: A True Story of Love and Murder” is studied as a historical non-fiction novel, in which Lois Simmie shows the reader the actions of a man who sets his life up in a series of lies and betrayal. Her purpose is clear, to intrigue the audience with a true story of the murder of Polly Wilson, which had not yet been heard. Though not a lot of people had ever heard of John Wilson, the first ever Saskatchewan RNWMP officer who was found guilty of a crime, being that he killed his wife, and hung to his death. She writes her novel that is not only entertaining to her audience but also serves the purpose of educating fellow Canadians about the true life events that followed John Wilson and his fellow RNWMP officers.
Viramontes sets a disconcerting tone by introducing that it is night time and Sonya, the young girl, has lost her key and cannot let her younger brother, Macky, and herself into their apartment. The first few paragraphs succeed in showing that Sonya is responsible and protective of her brother despite her age as she chases after him to keep him out of the street.
In the novel Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a character named Beatrice also known as Mama, has many dynamic traits. Mama is a religious woman who respects and highly prioritizes her family. Mama’s husband Eugene becomes more abusive toward her children and herself which causes her to lose her unborn baby. In Mama’s mind and heart, she knows she has to protect her children so she makes the decision to poison Eugene. Mama’s character changes throughout the book, as she first starts as a very quiet and caring character but as Eugene’s abusiveness increases, it develops her into becoming a perpetrator that caused her to be very depressed.