In Thomas Hardy’s poem “Her Dilemma,'; it relates to book one of the novel Return of the Native in the concept of marriage and distrust of feelings. In both the poem and the novel, the woman’s feelings and emotions cause conflict in her marriage. It is interesting that both these literary works has a marriage transpire with one person doubtful, especially during a time when divorce was unconceivable. The question arises, should a lifetime decision be made solely upon the basis of one’s personal desires?
In “Her Dilemma'; the title gives the reader a clue that a choice must be made between equally undesirable alternatives. Hardy uses iambic pentameter as the rhyme scheme to make the poem flow smoothly. The first stanza uses detail to describe an ancient church where the couple is soon to be married. Once this stanza ends Hardy’s attitude changes to one of sorrow. “For he was soon to die, --he softly said, ‘Tell me you love me!’—Holding hard her hand.'; It is pathetic that this is the last wish of a dying man. Hardy’s use of consonance allows the reader to understand the man’s feelings. Next stanza the tone changes again, to one of pity for the woman who sells her soul “to be a moment kind.'; Regardless of whether the woman decides to marry, the man will die. Eventually, her sympathy for the man overwhelms her consciou...
In the fourth stanza, line one to three the female has an upper hand in this relationship. In line four to seven the male feels uplifted by the deeds of the female and chooses to change himself for the
The angry tone of Wollstonecraft’s “Vindication of the Rights of Women” significantly contrasts with the cautionary tone of Austen’s “On Making an Agreeable Marriage,” seeking to reform society rather than guide people to live in that society. When Austen describes the drawbacks of loveless marriage, she writes that “Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection” (Austen 72-73). Austen uses “preferred” and “endured” to warn her niece against marrying too quickly, creating a cautionary tone. Moreover, “anything” emphasizes the miserableness of a marriage without affection, beseeching Austen’s niece to verify her love before diving headfirst into a marriage. In contrast, when demonizing the education system, Wollstonecraft
In the end, readers are unsure whether to laugh or cry at the union of Carol and Howard, two people most undoubtedly not in love. Detailed character developments of the confused young adults combined with the brisk, businesslike tone used to describe this disastrous marriage effectively highlight the gap between marrying for love and marrying for ?reason.? As a piece written in the 1950s, when women still belonged to their husbands? households and marriages remained arranged for class and money?s sake, Gallant?s short story excerpt successfully utilizes fictional characters to point out a bigger picture: no human being ought to repress his or her own desires for love in exchange for just an adequate home and a tolerable spouse. May everyone find their own wild passions instead of merely settling for the security and banality of that ?Other Paris.?
The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration, written by Mary Rowlandson describes the events that she was taken captive alongside a number of people by Native Indians. The story is written in first person; therefore, it has details on the happenings during and after the captives. Mary narrates her experiences and highlights her views of her captors and the Native Indian community at large. The narratives indicate Mary Rowlandson's position as a female in her society during her time.
Along with these feelings of rejection, the spouse who wanted to stay married also often feels betrayed. Their partner vowed to love and honor them forever, and to stand by them in sickness and in health, and to devote their lives to them. With divorce, all of that is taken away. Those promises of love, fidelity, and companionship are broken, by the choice of the spouse pursuing the divorce. In contrast, when d...
July 11th 1990, marked the beginning date of the Oka Crisis in Quebec Canada. It lasted until September 26th 1990 resulting in one fatality of a local police officer. The violent clash was triggered by something as simple as a golf course extension and as complicated as native burial traditions. It had drawn world attention, catapulting native land rights into the mix. The Oka Crisis is just one of many conflicts between the Aboriginals and the Canadian government. A major issue that has been of much debate in the 20th century has been Native sovereignty. The demand sounds simple, allow Aboriginals of Canada to govern themselves; however, coexisting with the Canadian government makes this idea extremely complicated. Roger Townshend states that there is a difference in perception between Non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people about jurisdiction over Canadian territory and that is one reason Aboriginals should be governing themselves. Opposing this view, Thomas Flanagan argues against Native sovereignty for it is not a workable mechanism in Canadian politics. Native sovereignty can never coexist with Canadian sovereignty because of the complexity of having a third level of government, a resolution cannot be breached since each tribe’s traditions are different, and the idea of having a functioning conglomerate of native groups is very improbable.
Throughout history, people faced many difficult decisions that impacted their life greatly, such as who to marry and love. Most of the time, the decision of marriage was made for an individual and based on their status in society. In the case of Abelard and Heloise, Heloise took control of her life and made her own decision regarding who she wanted to be with. The main choices Heloise faced were when she chose to engage in a relationship with Abelard, going against her family’s wishes, and whether or not to marry Abelard when the time came, which she chose to do in the end no matter the consequences because she could not go against his wishes. Her decisions greatly showed her character and courage in life as a woman with great strength.
Gregory Corso’s poem “Marriage” is a beautiful, comic poem. The author is the main character and he is thinking about his future and the possibility of him getting married. He is trying to deeply think about all the possible scenarios he might face, he tries to think about the right decision to take in regard of him getting married or not getting married. So he takes a scientific approach to the dilemma, he first lays out all the possible options he has, and then he simulates every decision in his mind and tries to realize its consequences.
The first stanza describes the depth of despair that the speaker is feeling, without further explanation on its causes. The short length of the lines add a sense of incompleteness and hesitance the speaker feels towards his/ her emotions. This is successful in sparking the interest of the readers, as it makes the readers wonder about the events that lead to these emotions. The second and third stanza describe the agony the speaker is in, and the long lines work to add a sense of longing and the outpouring emotion the speaker is struggling with. The last stanza, again structured with short lines, finally reveals the speaker 's innermost desire to "make love" to the person the speaker is in love
People being prejudice and racist have been a major issue in society. This causes people to commit crimes in order to receive justice. In Native Son by Richard Wright there is a lot of prejudice against the black community. In Book Two: Flight; we get a closer look at Bigger Thomas’s actions and thoughts after murdering Mary. With the amount of racism and stereotypes made against the black community it has forced Bigger to feel that the people around him are blind, making him feel powerful and him murdering Mary is justified.
Brockmeier’s short story represents a damaged marriage between a husband and a wife simply due to a different set of values and interests. Brockmeier reveals that there is a limit to love; husbands and wives will only go so far to continually show love for each other. Furthermore, he reveals that love can change as everything in this ever changing world does. More importantly, Brockmeier exposes the harshness and truth behind marriage and the detrimental effects on the people in the family that are involved. In the end, loving people forever seems too good to be true as affairs and divorces continually occur in the lives of numerous couples in society. However, Brockmeier encourages couples to face problems head on and to keep moving forward in a relationship. In the end, marriage is not a necessity needed to live life fully.
Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the disposition of the parties are ever so well known to each, or ever so similar before hand it does not advance their felicity in the least (Austen 23).
In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen shows examples of how most marriages were not always for love but more as a formal agreement arranged by the two families. Marriage was seen a holy matrimony for two people but living happil...
married. However, “for pragmatic reasons, the author’s conclusions favor marriage as the ultimate solution, but her pairings predict happiness” (“Austen, Jane”). Als...
Mrs. Linde shows her loyalty to her family when she did not think that she “had the right” to refuse her husband’s marriage proposal. After taking into consideration her sick mother, her brothers, and Krogstad having money. She married for the welfare of her family.