Cane Essay
Throughout his short story, Karintha, Jean Toomer explores the theme of fragmentation.
Throughout Karintha, Toomer fragments time to convey Karintha’s fast maturation. Toomer abruptly moves from one time period to another, listing only Karintha’s age for reference. He starts with Karintha as a child. He writes that men wished to “ripen a growing thing too soon”, or they wanted her to grow up fast so they could sleep with her. Instantly, Toomer cuts to “Karintha at twelve”. This seems too fast, perhaps reminiscent of Karintha’s childhood. In this section, we see how Karintha has matured. We see that like a fruit that ripened too soon, she is rotten. She beats animals and fights with other children, but she is beautiful, so nobody minds. She has also lost much of her innocence as it is implied that she is having sex. At the same time, she has almost reached the age where it becomes acceptable for men to pursue her, and men are counting down the years until it is acceptable to do so. Again, Toomer cuts off here, and we jump
…show more content…
This disconnect clearly be seen in the local preacher’s perception of her, “Even the preacher, who caught her at mischief, told himself that she was as innocently lovely as a November cotton flower”. He catches her fighting and beating animals, but convinces himself that because she is pretty, nothing is wrong. This shows clear fragmentation between how Karintha acts and how people perceive her. This can also be seen with men who are attracted to Karintha. Many of them believe that because they played with her as a child, she will sleep with them once she is old enough. The distance between this idea and Karintha’s reality are rather different. Karintha may sleep with some of these men but, “She has contempt for them”. Like with her internal fragmentation, Karintha’s looks corrupt how others perceive her, fracturing perception from
Human; relating to or having characteristics of a person(Merriam-Webster). A human is truly just a soul combined with characteristics of other people, and this is proven by Jenna Fox; the main character in The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson. After finding out what her body is made up of, Jenna along with other characters think she is not human. Despite this Jenna Fox has always had the key elements it takes to be a human been. Jenna for one has a past and memories that make up her life even after the accident. More importantly it is unfair to call her a “monster” when she shows characteristics similar to that of other humans. Needless to say, Jenna just as any other human isn’t perfect, and she later learns that in order to be one hundred percent human she must have the same chances of succeeding in life as any other human would. Jenna Fox is human because she has a soul regardless of her differences.
Alyss has changed and transformed throughout this novel. Alyss was introduced as a mischievous little girl playing pranks. Throughout the novel she learns how to become a strong proper young lady. Alyss went through many obstacles to prepare her for battle. In The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor uses conflict to transform a naive, mischievous, and endearing little girl into a confident, leading, and boss so she can save the queendom from Redd’s rule.
In Miriam Toews novel A Complicated Kindness there are many references to pop culture. There are references to music, books and films. These all lead to the development of key ideas in the novel. East Village is supposed to be a town free form the influence of most media. The children are allowed to watch certain films but only the ones the church deems fit. Yet somehow the un-holy films find their way into the procession of kids in the town like Nomi. The films are used to develop key ideas by showing that not everybody is happy with a strong importance on religion, where Nomi gets some of her influence for wanting to move to New York and how the church uses the ban on films to remain in control. The church isn’t successful on banning media so the kids grow up knowing names like The Rolling Stones and James Taylor. These musicians, the books they read and the movies they watch all add to the mystery of the outside world and what life would be like outside of East Village.
April Raintree is the main protagonist in the book, In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier. Throughout her childhood she was embarrassed to be Metis, and because of her taking after her mother’s Irish pale skin, being able to blend into white society she would hide her native ancestry.
The Hero Sojourner in A Worn Path by Eudora Welty In A Worn Path by: Eudora Welty, the main character emulates the necessary nuts and bolts of the archetypal journey as it's hero; answers a call to an adventure, has to go through trials of fear, and ending with the retrieval of two prizes. Eudora Welty's short story "A Worn Path" takes place on a "bright, frozen day" in December. Representing a struggle, but most of all represents determination. Her name is Phoenix Jackson.
Lafayette uses signs, which are motives, throughout her novel La Princesse de Clèves. She uses the dialogue between the husband and the Princess Mme. de Clèves to show the motive of passion. She also uses Mme. de Clèves to show her way of expressing toward the situation that the Princess has. Fabricated letter is also used in her novel to represent the signs of taking over the Princess’s feelings. In her novel, she utilizes characters For this essay, I would like to explore the structure of her novel through signs, as shown in Dalia Judovitz’s article The Aesthetics of Implausibility: La Princesse de Cléves.
Tomas and Tereza’s marriage was fragile and based on Tomas’s sympathy for his wife’s irrevocable urge to fully complete him, mentally and physically. In this Tomas did only what he could do; go from woman to woman while carrying the scent of female genitalia with him. Tereza carried her grief and regret in solitude yet she remained undaunted by an unexplainable force. Their dog Karenin seemed to be the only connection the couple shared. This animal gave them earnest trust and in return they committed their love. “It is a completely selfless love,” Kundera writes, “ Tereza did not want anything of Karenin; she did not ever ask him to lov...
. her narrow silk suit with hamburgers and french fries printed on it will glisten in the brilliant air . . .” (13-15). The majestic image of the girl illustrates the mother’s pride in her daughter’s confidence during the predominantly male party. As a result of the girl’s poised demeanor, the mother is likely to be pleased with her daughter’s ability to uphold the expectations of an adult. Rather than feeling apprehensive and uneasy about a party favoring one gender, the girl overlooks this distinction and carries herself admiringly. In addition to developing an adult-like composure, the girl also experiences an awakening of her sexuality. Her seductive feelings and allurement toward the boys is becoming more conscious in her thoughts. Emerging from the pool, the water from the girl’s body is described to “sparkle and fall to the power of a thousand . . .” (22). The girl is beginning to understand sexual attraction and her appeal to the opposite sex. The mental image of prestige that is suggested by her newfound “power” heavily contradicts the representation of innocence and naivety of what was once the girl. The girl is no longer oblivious to sexual desires and hesitant of change. Instead, she carries around her femininity and allurement as a badge of
By using the older sister’s point of view to narrate the story, the author is able recount the injustices done to Sister as well as angle for sympathy from the audience. From the beginning of the story, Sister builds a case by blaming the discomfort and anguish of her home on Stella-Rondo. Sister states “Of course I went with Mr. Whitaker first…and Stella-Rondo broke us up”, to depict how the strained relationship with her younger sister started. Although there are many unexpected conflicts within the family, this action of Stella-Rondo stealing her older sister’s boyfriend is the core, driving force of all of the conflicts within the household. To relentlessly reiterate this point, the author uses the narrator’s anger to constantly bring up the separation of the spoiled Stella Rondo and Mr. Whitaker.
Stella-Rondo brings out jealousy in Sister that causes tension between them. Sister hates that Stella-Rondo married Mr. Whitaker since Sister supposedly had him first. She feels like Stella-Rondo broke them up by lying. Most likely, Sister is upset because she was not the one to end up with the guy she liked, but she displays her feelings childishly. Sister’s snide comments towards her sister are the real reason that Stella-Rondo turns their family against her. Stella-Rondo’s lies about her daughter, Shirley T., increase Sister’s jealous feelings. Stella-Rondo claims that Shirley-T. is adopted, but Sister does not believe her. Sister wants her family to see through Stella-Rondo’s lies and realize that this two-year old child is not adopted. She points out that Shirley-T. is the “spitting image of Papa-Daddy” (359). Sister cannot stand that Stella-Rondo left Mr. Whitaker after only staying married to him for two years. The fact that “the first thing she did was separate! From Mr. Whitaker!” when Stella-Rondo got married and moved away infuriates Sister (359). Consequently, Sister makes sure her family knows that she had him first. In the heat of the moment at the end of the story, Sister starts saying that Mr. Whitaker left Stella-Rondo, not vice versa, which only builds up more tension.
I felt sorry for Karintha in this story. She was a person that was judged her entire life - even in childhood - by her appearance and what that could mean to various men. The choices that she made as an adult are not really surprising when you consider the way that she was treated in her childhood and adolescence, almost as someone who could be sold to the highest bidder (which essentially became her life as an adult). Nowhere in this story is there a mention of Karintha's admirable intelligence or ability of some sort (unless you count stoning cows). Because all that is discussed is Karintha's beauty, I saw her as a very one-dimensional character. The men in this story were in a constant pursuit of Karintha's body- and unfortunately for her, in the end they won.
She does not pay any special attention to him. One thing here should arguably be noted that when a penitent comes before a holy figure, he is supposed to prostrate himself, and this is precisely what the protagonist does only to see her in the morning. However, even though he does never speak to the girl except casually, her name is like a summons to all his ‘foolish blood’9 and ‘foolish blood’ refers to an ardent desire to possess the woman sexually. Moreover, the boy is so infatuated with the girl that her image accompanies him wherever he goes, “even in places the most hostile to romance"10. Her image haunts him in the crowds and noises of the streets of Dublin as well. In the bustle of the weekly grocery shopping too, he carries with him a feeling about her. But, “being adolescent, and educated by Christian Brothers, the boy's feelings of attraction are confusing, bedeviling and painful.”11 So, he always tosses between passions and religious indoctrination. “In glorifying Mangan’s sister, in comparing her to a chalice, in praying to her, and worshipping her being, the boy is breaking the first of the Ten Commandments.”12 Due to the religious indoctrination, he struggles with guilt on account of feelings of natural sexual arousal for her. The ‘confused adoration’ and the guilt that it generates are both products of the religiosity inflicted upon the boy by his
The poets integrated ?metaphysical conceits? as focal parts of these poems. Along with these, they used effective language as a basis for their convincing arguments, they included subjects of periodical importance (e.g. ?courtship? and ?religion?), and use very clever structures that are manipulated in order to make the poem read in the desired way. The very clear indication of the theme in question was strongly aided by the way in which the personas portrayed the emotions they felt and the way they showed their attitudes towards the subject. Considering all these factors, the poets made critical arguments to the mistresses in order to alter their views, thus changing their minds, on denying the poets the sex that they desired so strongly.
In Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder teaches philosophy and it explains basic philosophical ideas better than any other reading book or textbook that I have ever read. The many philosophical lessons of the diversified thinkers of their own time were dexterously understood. The author has a wonderful knack for finding the heart of a concept and placing it on display. For example, he metamorphoses Democritus' atoms into Lego bricks and in a stroke makes the classical conception of the atom dexterously attainable. He relates all the abstract concepts about the world and what is real with straightforward everyday things that everyone can relate to which makes this whole philosophy course manageable. ''The best way of approaching philosophy is to ask a few philosophical questions: How was the world created? Is there any will or meaning behind what happens? Is there a life after death? How can we answer these questions? And most important, how ought we to live?'' (Gaarder, Jostein 15).
Like the characters in the film, women in the 19th century didn’t have many choices in life. They were expected to get married and be supported by a husband. For those few who didn’t sometimes became prostitutes or if they were lucky, courtesans. Any woman who slept with a man before marriage was thought to be “ruined” (unfit to wed), and should be shunned as a social outcast. For many such women prostitution was a means of survival. Violetta represents the extent of female independence in the 19th century. She uses men to ‘survive’ by accepting gifts and money, but she is not trapped in the legal repression of marriage. Violetta’s life is filled with parties and wealthy male companions provide her with far more excitement in life than would the traditional role of marriage. However, Violetta’s choice is misleading, for she knows that a woman in this time can’t go against tradition without facing severe repercussions.