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Portrayal of women in american literature
Portrayal of women in american literature
Portrayal of women in american literature
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Isaiah Martin
Mr. Nielson
English 1D
April 11, 2014
Soul of Silk
"Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness" (Stevie Wonder). This undeniably describes what a mother ought to be. However, in David’s case, his mother does not show any of these characteristics towards him. In fact, she has absolutely no relationship with him. David begins to realize his mother, Emily, is not very “mother-like”. Three other characters in the novel who are mother figures to David are Mrs. Wender, Uncle Axle, and Rosalind. These characters fulfilled his mother’s role in a number of ways.
First, Mrs. Wender is an outstanding mother figure to David because she is able to show affection for him that he does not get from his mother. When David was at the Wenders’ house before they left, Mrs. Wenders had given David a hug. By David’s antiphon, he was evidently not used to such expression of feeling from his mother. I find this to be extremely outrageous because a hug from a mother is the confirmation to the person receiving the hug that he or she has someone that that per...
One of the characters who was a major influence in Ricky’s life is his mother. She is a very strong willed and opinionated person. As Rivera points out at the beginning of the novel “I am still amazed that I really don’t know who this woman is. None of us do. My brothers and sisters have conflicting fictions of where Chero is from, but we agree that if we could just pinpoint an exact geographical moment of being, we could start to figure out mother out.” (3) The author reflects on his respect for his mother when he writes about her determination, her purpose, her willingness to confront bosses, teachers, neighbors and husbands even as he states “to this day I still wonder who this woman is.” (10 )
1. In the book, the father tries to help the son in the beginning but then throughout the book he stops trying to help and listens to the mother. If I had been in this same situation, I would have helped get the child away from his mother because nobody should have to live like that. The father was tired of having to watch his son get abused so eventually he just left and didn’t do anything. David thought that his father would help him but he did not.
Emily’s mother is just a teenager when she had Emily. She did not have the money or resources to take care of her, so she had to let Emily live with her grandparents for a couple of years before she could get Emily back. When Emily was two, her mother finally got her custody of her, but Emily is not the little girl she remembered. When the mother first had Emily, she described her as a beautiful baby (302), but it changed when Emily became sickly and got scars from chicken pox. The mother said, “When she finally came, I hardly knew her, walking quick and nervous like her father, looking like her father, thin, and dressed in a shoddy red that yellowed her skin and glared at the pockmarks. All the baby loveliness gone. (302)” Nevertheless, the mother is never there for Emily as she grew up. Emily tried to show her mother in different ways that she needed her, but she never seemed to catch the hint. For example, when Emily was two her mother sent her to a nursery school. The teacher of the nursery school was mistreating the children, and instead of telling her mother directly like the other kids told their parents, she told her in different ways. She always had a reason why we should stay home. Momma, you look sick. Momma, I feel sick. Momma, the teachers aren’t there today, they’re sick. Momma, we can’t go, there was a fire there last night. Momma, it’s a holiday
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
Progress is seen on the front of Claudia and Carolyn’s relationship. David attempts to reorganizes his relationship with Claudia in an effort to remove the pressure placed on her. However, the battle between Carolyn and Claudia continues to ebb and rise as the family narrows in on the dynamics of David and Carolyn’s relationship. Napier states to Claudia that, “...the family unconsciously agreed to go back to your and Carolyn’s war to rescue your mom and dad from the hot seat” (p. 137). When the family finally breaks free from this structure the exploration of David and Carolyn’s own relationship becomes the most critical aspect in therapy.
Contrastingly, Mrs. Darling, his wife, is portrayed as a romantic, maternal character. She is a “lovely lady”, who had many suitors yet was “won” by Mr. Darling, who got to her first. However, she is a multifaceted character because her mind is described “like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East”, suggesting that she is, to some extent, an enigma to the other characters, especially Mr. Darling. As well as this, she exemplifies the characteristics of a “perfect mother”. She puts everything in order, including her children’s minds, which is a metaphor for the morals and ethics that she instils in them. Although ...
Finally, I argue that “truth in mothering is a far better policy” (Thurer 334). As Eva observes during a prison visit, “it was following…pat scripts that had helped to land me in [this] room” (Shriver 44). In her letters, she is finally able to break free from the wife role and speak truths that the mask of motherhood had suppressed. Her authenticity with Kevin during the prison visits nets more progress in their relationship than all those years of pretending ever had. When she finally asks Kevin why he did it, he is honest about his uncertainty. Remorseful, he returns Celia’s eye to her and asks her to bury it. He then embraces her, showing vulnerability. As Eva and Kevin look upon each other in this moment unmasked, she finally realizes, “I love my son” (Shriver 400). Ruddick describes attentive love – a mother perceiving and supporting a child’s real experience – as a counter to the mask’s fantasy and inauthenticity (105). When Eva and Kevin finally unmask, she is able to attentively love him as he truly is. Eva’s love, in its unconventionality, is not the “continuous, unconditional” mother-love of myth; but in its authenticity, it is far more meaningful (Rich
Old’s metaphor of “the pressure of Mother’s muscles on her brain,” (5) compares the literal pressure of the mother’s muscles during childbirth to the mental strain that a child can endure from their parent’s expectations for their children. This is an effective metaphor in that both meanings can cause some form of strain, either physical of mental, on the daughter. Also, in both cases, this pain is caused by the speaker’s mother and inflicted on the eldest daughter. The third similarity between the two is that both are in some way lessening the effect on the younger sister. In the case of childbirth, the first birth is usually more difficult than each successive birth. In the sense of the Mother’s expectations for her daughters, the eldest child often receives the brunt of the parent’s vicarious aspirations, thus making it easier for the younger children to please them. Because these linked meanings share these characteristics, Olds’ metaphor is effective.
Mama, as a member of an older generation, represents the suffering that has always been a part of this world. She spent her life coexisting with the struggle in some approximation to harmony. Mama knew the futility of trying to escape the pain inherent in living, she knew about "the darkness outside," but she challenged herself to survive proudly despite it all (419). Mama took on the pain in her family in order to strengthen herself as a support for those who could not cope with their own grief. Allowing her husband to cry for his dead brother gave her a strength and purpose that would have been hard to attain outside her family sphere. She was a poor black woman in Harlem, yet she was able to give her husband permission for weakness, a gift that he feared to ask for in others. She gave him the right to a secret, personal bitterness toward the white man that he could not show to anyone else. She allowed him to survive. She marveled at his strength, and acknowledged her part in it, "But if he hadn't had...
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.
Throughout the emotional lyrics of Tupac Shakur’s song “Dear Mama”, he constantly reveals trial and tribulation. Shakur sympathetically expresses the obstacles he endures due to the undying support of his mother who displays sacrificial love. He explains the abnormal circumstances in which his family undergoes such as poverty, single parenting, and even feelings of hopelessness. Shakur characterizes his mother as a heroic figure, who outshines the negative aspects of his life by providing the essentials only a mother could both physically and morally instill in her child. The artist brilliantly captivates his audience by revealing personal information from his childhood in which many can relate to.
Her family life is depicted with contradictions of order and chaos, love and animosity, conventionality and avant-garde. Although the underlying story of her father’s dark secret was troubling, it lends itself to a better understanding of the family dynamics and what was normal for her family. The author doesn’t seem to suggest that her father’s behavior was acceptable or even tolerable. However, the ending of this excerpt leaves the reader with an undeniable sense that the author felt a connection to her father even if it wasn’t one that was desirable. This is best understood with her reaction to his suicide when she states, “But his absence resonated retroactively, echoing back through all the time I knew him. Maybe it was the converse of the way amputees feel pain in a missing limb.” (pg. 399)
... mother all along. Unluckily, both are unable to savour the moment. Overall, the mother and son relationship change throughout the play.
...oes not make mothers” ~ Anonymous (Quotations about mothers, 2011). Daisy seems to be more of a child than a mother, and Ma brings out the characteristics people would want in their ideal mothers. The mother they would want is the one that cares about them, is always there for them, and takes real responsibility for their job as a parent.
While it is clear from a psychoanalytic standpoint that Ben’s condition is a result of his parent’s lack of love and nurturing, it is also important to look at what caused Harriet and David to treat Ben this way. In trying to form a perfectly happy life, they failed to account for things that were out of their control. They initially blamed the close ages of their children and Ben’s disposition, but it seems that their resentment of Ben came from a deeper resentment of their own unfulfilled dreams of perfection. As their lives became less perfect, indeed, increasingly chaotic and tragic, they treated Ben with less love. Harried and David, and their four other children, may have had a better chance for happiness if Harriet and David had not made such an attempt to achieve, and even force, a happiness that was absolutely perfect.