Fantasies can bring us closer to or farther from someone we love. Sometimes, these fantasies can be joyful daydreams, but other times they can be delusions keeping us from a harsh truth. In Ken Liu’s "Paper Menagerie", a young boy named Jack creates imaginary friends from origami that his mother folds for him. In Bobbie Mason’s "Shiloh" we see a less literal fantasy that symbolizes something quite real. Leroy, a husband in a failing marriage, ignores the truth of their failing marriage by constantly imagining building a house and by ignoring any signs that there may be a fissure growing between him and his wife. In "Paper Menagerie", Jack’s make-belief world of paper animals brings him closer to his mother, who cannot speak to him due to a …show more content…
In both short stories, two people who originally love each other end up with one person distancing themselves the other. In one we see a fantasy holding a relationship together and in the other we see it mediating a relationship falling apart. Thus it can be seen that in both cases, fantasies and illusions are not the surest way to hold together a bond between two people. While a fantasy is sometimes something supernatural and impossible, meant to bring someone joy, it can also be less literal of a fantasy and more symbolic. In the case of "Paper Menagerie" Jack’s fantasy of paper animals is quite literal. When his mom creates an origami tiger for him, he imagines “Its tail [twitching], and it [pouncing] playfully at [Jack’s] finger” (Liu, 65). Since his mother cannot speak the same language …show more content…
In "Shiloh", Leroy even realizes that “It was clumsy of [him] to think Norma Jean would want a log house. It was a crazy idea.” (Mason, 16). He understands that their marriage is falling apart because of their fantasy. Jack comes to a completely different realization: that the fantasies he had were keeping him and his mother together. At the end of the book he is read a note from his mother that shows him how much she loved him and how much him not talking to her hurt her. His mother says why she taught him Chinese: “I would teach you my language, and we could together remake a small piece of everything that I loved and lost” (Liu, 76). The mom does not learn English and her son ends up being the only person she has. The only way she can even talk to her son is by teaching him small bits and pieces of chinese and by making him paper animals. When Jack wants to fit in, as all humans do, he abandons the animals and tries his hardest to act like a true white American. Without the Origami he essentially stops being able to love his mom entirely. She can no longer share any of her culture with him because he is revolted by it. Whether it was her fault or not, his mother was not able to learn English or integrate into the society that Jack had to become a part of. When Jack stopped playing with his paper animals, he stopped talking to his mother, since they could not understand each other. She could
Bobbie Ann Mason explores a relationship conflict in the short story “Shiloh.” Manson uses a metaphor of craft building as a way to tell the story of Leroy and Norma’s relationship. Craft show how easily an object is build and how a mistake can deform the outcome. In the story “Shiloh, craft building is used to display what takes place between Leroy and Norma. The craft building metaphor symbolizes Leroy wanting to restart his life and Leroy wanting to rebuild his life and Leroy wanting to rebuild his relationship with Norma. The craft building for Leroy to build a Log Cabin also foreshadows the outcome of the relationship.
Plot structure in ‘Shiloh’ shows how a small change in a marriage can ultimately make it fall apart. In the exposition, we find that Leroy used to be a truck driver until he got in an accident and injured his leg. His occupation caused him to be away from home often, and Norma Jean became used to being alone. This became a normalcy to Norma Jean, and Leroy being home all the time was something they both had to adjust to. Thus, their problems began. As the weeks go by and Leroy is still not back to work, Norma Jean must become the provider of the house. In the ...
To begin with, I will begin with a brief summary of both stories in order to better
Thus, both novels, full of tragedy and sorrow, began with the promise of new land, new beginnings and a better life, but all three were impossible to find within the pages of these novels. In the end, it was broken relationships, broken families, broken communities, but most importantly, broken dreams and broken hopes that were left on the final pages of both woeful, yet celebrated, stories.
both stories shared similar ending and moral which is receiving enlightenment in first hand. "The
The central characters in both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and A Doll’s House are fully aware of their niche in society. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator’s husband believes her illness to be a slight depression, and although she states "personally, I disagree with their ideas,” she knows she must acquiesce their requests anyway (Gilman 1). She says, “What is one to do?” (Gilman 1) The narrator continues to follow her husband’s ideals, although she knows them to be incorrect. She feels trapped in her relationship with her husband, as she has no free will and must stay in the nursery all day. She projects these feelings of entrapment onto the yellow wallpaper. She sees a complex and frustrating pattern, and hidden in the pattern are herself and othe...
Gaitskill’s “Tiny, Smiling Daddy” focuses on the father and his downward spiral of feeling further disconnected with his family, especially his lesbian daughter, whose article on father-daughter relationships stands as the catalyst for the father’s realization that he’d wronged his daughter and destroyed their relationship. Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” focuses on Mel and his attempt to define, compare, and contrast romantic love, while leaving him drunk and confused as he was before. While both of my stories explore how afflicted love traumatizes the psyche and seem to agree that love poses the greatest dilemma in life, and at the same time that it’s the most valued prospect of life, the two stories differ in that frustrated familial love causes Gaitskill's protagonist to become understandable and consequently evokes sympathy from the reader, but on the other hand frustrated romantic love does nothing for Carver's Protagonist, except keep him disconnected from his wife and leaving him unchanged, remaining static as a character and overall unlikable. In comparing “Tiny, Smiling Daddy” and “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, together they suggest that familial love is more important than romantic love, which we relentlessly strive to achieve often forgetting that we’ll forever feel alone without familial love, arguably the origin of love itself.
Both stories show feminism of the woman trying to become free of the male dominance. Unfortunately, the woman are not successful at becoming free. In the end, the two women’s lives are drastically
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
The struggle to battle with the persistent grief of self-blame and lack of identity is a constant reminder to the barriers in relationships. Leroy grieves over the fact that he has lost his identity as a father and husband. Although he often thinks of Randy, the memories of him have faded. As a result, he latches on to Norma Jean but she doesn’t respond back. This causes him to feel like a failure of a husband. Norma Jean is grieving over the emptiness in her life. It was not the life she thought she would have. Her deceased son symbolizes her emptiness because of his death. She also feels emptiness towards her husband. For example, she feels very uncomfortable around him and always tries to find something for him to do. When Leroy arrives back home from his accident Mason implies, “he thinks she’s seems a little disappointed” (Mason 220), displaying Norma Jean frustrated with his lying around doing nothing but watching television and smoking pot. In addition, Norma Jean feels emptiness towards her mother, which is presented in the way her mother criticizes her. When tragedies occur in a family and self-confidence fades it can take over your life a...
.... Though each story has different characters, plot, and overall conclusion, they contain many of the same aspects. Both of these short stories are written from first-point of view to help the reader understand the background of the story. The stories contain heavy drinking that clearly distorts who the characters first seemed to be. The alcohol aided the confusion of love which made it impossible to come to a conclusion about it in each story. Unlike “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, “Cathedral,” accomplished a more set conclusion, yet it was up for the reader to interpret.
While true love is treasured when achieved, its rarity can be attributed to the multitude of obstacles lovers must face. Couples often have trouble expressing their love for one another or may face challenges within the marriages. Whether it be disagreements, affection of surroundings, friendships lost, or jealousy, the quest for true love has its consequences. This concept is expressed several times in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, in the cases of many of the lovers. However, it can be argued that although complications ensue, true love is worth a life of trouble.
a struggle between love and family tradition and ways. In the two stories a young girl
At the end of the story, Jack realizes that blending in with society is not ideal. He regrets the past decade that was full of loss and regret when it could've been full of trust and love. People may be tempted to make unwise decisions to blend in with society. But think about it: the world is like a crowded marketplace. If you don’t stand out, you are invisible. Unique qualities define your identity. Without them, you are not yourself. At least on Qingming, the mother’s poor spirit can rest easy, knowing her son is with her in heart, but that can never make up for the years of hurt and betrayal directed at
The struggles both characters face demonstrate character development and contribute to the themes of the stories. Both short stories prove to be literally effective in that they disclose the main themes at the outset of each story. Although the themes may alter over the course of the stories, they are clearly defined in their respective introductions.