Realization in Welty’s A Piece of News
Ruby’s death fantasy reflects the conflict between her wants, needs, and life in this Eudora Welty story. We first meet Ruby while she is coming in from a storm with a package of coffee wrapped in newspaper from a man from Tennessee. We find out later that she has a habit of hitchhiking and picking up men from Tennessee. Welty writes, “When Clyde would make her blue, she would go out onto the road, some car would slow down, and if it had a Tennessee license, the lucky kind, the chances were that she would spend the afternoon in the shed of the empty gin” (14).
When Ruby comes in out of the rain, both she and the package are soaking wet. After drying herself off a little by the fire, she spreads the wet newspaper on the floor and lies down. Soon, she looks at the newspaper and reads her name: “Mrs. Ruby Fisher had the misfortune to be shot in the leg by her husband this week” (13). Immediately, Ruby connects her husband, Clyde to the crime, and she shouts out to him in the storm. However, she slowly realizes that “it was unlike Clyde to take up a gun and shoot her” (14). Nonetheless, she fantasizes about her funeral in a daydream, and when Clyde finally arrives home, she shows him the excerpt from the newspaper. Clyde vehemently denies the charges but, for a moment, is taken by Ruby’s assertion. In the end, Clyde proves to Ruby that the story cannot be about them because the newspaper is from Tennessee, and the storm rolls “away to faintness like a wagon crossing a bridge” (16).
Throughout the narrative, Ruby’s comings and goings are intimately connected to the storm outside. Specifically, the storm mirrors Ruby’s innermost thoughts and implies the cyclical nature of Ruby’s experi...
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...s often a perfect mirror of the feminine persona’s place within society, an image of the enclosure and of its victims, and thus the transformed hero who has survived this layer of her unconscious is unlikely to be able to reintegrate herself fully into “normal” society. (142)
When Ruby mixes fantasy with reality she unlocks a way to understand her relationship with Clyde. But as a result of claiming that her fantasy is a reality, she is regarded as crazy by Clyde, the narrator, and perhaps, the reader. Hitchhiking, storm, green-world lover, confrontation with Clyde, and journey into the unconscious create a transformational journey, which brings Ruby to realization, resignation, and madness. Ruby’s inability to change her situation despite her psychological inroads into knowing precipitates her odd behavior and keeps her journey from being fully transformational.
After an introduction to the common puritan lifestyle, Hill wastes no time diving into the conflict: the “bewitched” young girls Betty Paris, Abigail Williams (cousins), and Ann Putnam (a neighbor of Betty Paris and Abigail Williams). The girls began acting strangely and far out of accordance with the puritan lifestyle. According to the book, Betty and Abigail “dabbled in fortunetelling to relieve the boredom of the parsonage.” Due to the fact that Betty and Abigail were living in the parsonage under the care of pastor Samuel Parris, many found it highly unlikely that these actions were performed under their own wills, ...
Transformation is a common these in all of these stories. In fact these stories act as reminders that human beings can change. In “The Courtship of Mr. Lyon” or “The Tiger’s Bride” the heroine struggles to experience herself as an individual instead of an ob...
'The Storm' begins on a stormy spring day, with the protagonist Calixta at her sewing machine. She is alone, her husband Bobinot and son Bibi have gone to the store. Calixta seems to be a bored woman, confined to her duties as a housewife and mother. As the distant storm approaches she is unaware of what the storm brings, her former lover Alcee. Calixta allows Alcee into her home and opens her whole world to him. There is a connection between the storm that is going on outside and the storm of emotions going on in Calixta and Alcee. The weather sends Calixta into Alcee?s arms, he wraps his arms around her, and they can no longer hide their feelings for one another. They gave into their raging emotions and made love. Outside the weather was subsiding and Calixta and Alcee?s bodies felt relaxed and calmed. ?The rain was over; and the sun was turning the glistening green world into a palace of gems.? (1614) His face beamed with light like the sun. The storm inside of her was satisfied and for a brief instant Calixta felt liberated from her ordinary dull life.
" An Overview of Stem Cell Research | The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity."
During the confrontation during the poker game, which immediately ends it, readers are exposed to the reality of Stella and Stanley’s
The President’s Council on Bioethics published “Monitoring Stem Cell Research” in 2004. This report was written in response to President Bush’s comments regarding research of human stem cells on August 9, 2001. President Bush announced that he was going to make federal funding available for research that involved existing lines of stem cells that came from embryos. He is the first president to provide any type of financial support for the research of human stem cells. A Council was created with people who are educated in the field of stem cells to help monitor the research and to recommend guidelines and consider the ethical consequences that this research could create. This report is an “update” given by the President’s Council in January of 2004 to make the public aware of the significant developments in the science and medical aspects of stem cell research. It also describes the ethical, legal and political implications that stem cell research may create. However, since the research is still in its beginning stages, this “update” does not describe a complete or definitive study of stem cells nor does it provide specific guidelines or regulations. This is a report that is suppose to help the President, Congress and general public make better-informed decisions as to the direction that we should go with stem cells.
...re fully-realized self. The strong, modern woman exists in the complexity of character that perseverance brings. Not for her is suffering worthless, but rather meaningful in the fullest sense of developed character and triumphant renewal.
Holland, Suzanne, Karen Lebaqz, Laurie Zoloth. "The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate." Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2001.
Monroe, Kristen, et al., eds. Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical and Political Issues. Los Angeles/Berkley: University of California Press, 2008. Print
In conclusion , I believe that as strong as the protagonist’s self image of herself was, one girl is no match for all of society, which has efficiently put her “in her place”. This manipulation of the girl’s self image is not only the end of her unique identity, but it is also a blow against freedom and individualism. Unfortunately for this horse, she could not roam free forever, and she has finally been caught.
In both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, we see that there are two types of women who arise from the demands of these expectations. The first is the obedient woman, the one who has buckled and succumbed to become an empty, emotionless shell. In men’s eyes, this type of woman was a sort of “angel” perfect in that she did and acted exactly as what was expected of her. The second type of woman is the “rebel”, the woman who is willing to fight in order to keep her creativity and passion. Patriarchal silencing inspires a bond between those women who are forced into submission and/or those who are too submissive to maintain their individuality, and those women who are able and willing to fight for the ability to be unique.
Baym, Nina, Arnold Krupat, Robert S. Levine, and Jeanne Campbell Reesman. "The Storm." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York, NY: Norton, 2012. 557-61. Print.
The storm is the main metaphor in this story; it is seen as the lust that stomps through their lives like the storm rages through a single d...
...way that the story is being interpreted and how the storm influences the story as a whole. Sometimes people need a wakeup call or a 'storm' to make them aware of how good they have things. In this short story Alcee and Calixta both come to realization of how good they have things with their spouses and how that they already found the ones that they love, which weren't each other. This made me aware of how we as people can take things for granted or believing we know what’s best for us. In reality we don't always know what’s best until something occurs and shows us that what we already have is the best.
Two weeks after her father’s funeral, our protagonist Annie sees his ghost in her bathroom. Knowing he is dead, they small talk about her boyfriend, their farm, their deceased family etc. until he suddenly vanishes. Her father makes occasional appearances after that. They keep talking about everyday life until one night at the Opera House, where she not only sees her father, but her brother and mother as well. Knowing where to find them, she takes her goodbye with her dead family.