The short story, An Ounce of Cure written by Alice Munro, is about a girl who thinks she has fallen in love, and for the first time, but doesn’t understand the consequences of her innocence. While she might have felt like she was indeed in love, the infatuation she had over Martin played a big role within her innocence and her outlook of the love she felt. She felt like it was the first boy to ever have an interest in her; but she was clueless about relationships, boys, and how you should be treated by them.
Her infatuation with Martin was a catastrophe and resulted in her own romantic silliness by acting immature and impractical about her relationship with the boy, by saying how she kept the kiss for later, “…and I know that I did not wash my face that night or the next morning, in order to keep the imprint of those
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She had a big catastrophe being “in love” with Martin so quickly and falling for him so fast, before even getting to know him. She does not actually understand what love is; she just knows that Martin seems to take interest in her, so she should admire him as well. Lack of good sense resulted in her having a “broken heart,” and hating herself and wanting to end her life; “One night I had the impulse to swallow all the aspirins in the bathroom cabinet, but stopped after I had taken six” (78). Simple ignorance by her outcomes from the past couple months affects her being upset and getting drunk. She didn’t have a good conscience to help her make better decisions. But, what good sense that she had was when she called Joyce to come help her while she was getting sick. Also, to stop taking more aspirin after taking 6 already. Many girls her age are completely clueless on how a man should treat her, how
As well as how Martin suffers from his own dilemma and fears that his wife might cause to his social life and children due to her life consuming addiction.
...er appreciate the world in this way because her mental and physical state was always impaired. When she wasn’t she could not make these same associations because bonding with alcohol repetitively was the only constant joy she had in her life.
With her longing for something more than what she gets on an everyday basis, her growing fondness of Lenny right up to her first drink and drug use, and the symbolism of the blue and green, it is evident that she will not be able to overcome her temptations and be drawn back into the world of drugs and alcohol, only more intense this time. She has already started doing drugs, drinking, and smoking again. She has seen the sober life for way too long and she isn't happy with it. Her cigarette smoking and drinking, although not illegal, will still conform do her downfall. "When the glass was finished she would pour another. When the bottle was empty, she would buy another"(107).
To conclude, if there’s one thing “Ethan Frome” has taught us is that love is powerful, blind, and stupid. It has the power to change fate, but the stupidity to make other’s irrational. Love blinded Ethan into marrying his cynical “beloved”, Zeena. And later it blinded Mattie, rendering her unable to think of a better way to express her love than by hitting an Elm tree. Love takes us all by surprise; but when it does, we should plan for it. Ethan and Mattie are perfect examples of the destructive power of love. However, most misfortunes can be avoided if rationality is used and steer away from quick decisions.
... Meredith’s family there were cases of alcoholism, moreover, previously she used to cope with her problems by means of alcohol. Meredith displays all the symptoms of co-occurring disorder, as her symptoms, according to her and her friends’ words, cover at least two personal disorders.
To read the Civil War diary of Alice Williamson, a 16 year old girl, is to meander through the personal, cultural and political experience of both the author and one's self. Her writing feels like a bullet ricocheted through war, time, death, literary form, femininity, youth, state, freedom and obligation. This investigation attempts to do the same; to touch on the many issues that arise in the mind of the reader when becoming part of the text through the act of reading. This paper will lay no definitive claims to the absolute meaning of the diary, for it has many possible interpretations, for the journey is the ultimate answer. I seek to acknowledge the fluidity of thought when reading, a fluidity which incorporates personal experience with the content of Williamson's journal. I read the journal personally- as a woman, a peer in age to Alice Williamson, a surrogate experiencialist, a writer, an academic and most of all, a modern reader unaccustomed to the personal experience of war. I read the text within a context- as a researcher versed on the period, genre, aesthetics, and to some degree the writer herself. The molding of the personal and contextual create a rich personalized textual meaning .
Another way these characters avoid living their life is by drinking continuously, in a way to make the time pass by faster and forget. ?Haven?t you had enough? She loses count after 10 cocktails,? (pg.11) proving to the audience her own self denial, and how she wastes every day. Unfortunately, there are many, who in society today, do the same thing to get out of a situation they?re trying to hide or a difficult time they?re going through. This relates back to their affair which they?re obviously hiding and trying to get through this time in their life.
Alice Munro subtle use of contrasting word combinations in “Miles City, Montana” foreshadows the narrator’s realization that human hypocrisy is natural and consistently present in her life. The word combinations Munro uses are atypical, often using words that subtly disconnect (almost oxymoronic). These word combinations allow Munro to saturate the story with what could be called “hypocritical phrases”. These phrases are not aggressive, and by virtue of this trait, they can be uses to form an idea of hypocrisy’s role in nature and daily life without being colored by the usually negative connotations of the word .In “Miles City, Montana”, Alice Munro uses atypical, contrasting or hypocritical word combinations to permeate the theme of hypocrisy
Dreams and Letters are often seen in Alice Munro's stories as a way to further enhance the plot. Dreams are seen in "Runaway", while letters are seen in "Hateship, Friendship", as well as "Runaway". Dreams and letters in Alice Munro's stories add a sense of suspense and allows the audience to seem closer with the characters since most oppressed people would be able to write freely about how they feel. Alice Munro uses this to learn more about the characters and to be able to go through the characters' inner feelings. However, other people are able to mask their current situation through the letters they send to others. While dreams allow the plot to seem more mysterious
From the individual perspective, the client was a victim of child abuse, which led to feelings of fear and sadness and a desire to avoid these emotions. Socially, she came from a family of alcoholics giving her easy availability. There was also the pressure of keeping up appearances due to her mother’s status in society. The initial individual consequences of the client’s alcohol use were reinforcing. She felt invincible, warm, and it helped her avoid the thoughts in her head. Everything was right with the world as long as she was intoxicated.
Martin becomes frustrated knowing that he is not able to trust his own wife with any responsibilities around the house because of her intoxication, "If you could only realize how sick I am - how bad it is for all of us." He pleads with Emily and tries to calm her often, but underneath his calm and passive mask Martin’s fear and worry for his children causes him to despise Emily’s behavior. "His youth was being frittered away by a drunkard’s waste, his very manhood subtly undermined." Two events that worried Martin the most were when Emily was making cinnamon toast for the children, she accidentally used cayenne instead of cinnamon. Their son, Andy, took a bite of the toast and cried because it burned his mouth. The other mistake that Emily made was while bathing her baby, she dropped Marianne and cut the child’s fragile head on a table.
Moving is an emotional event that everyone experiences at one time or another in their life. Nevertheless, visualize yourself moving to a new place to live with people you are not familiar with. How frightened are you at this moment? To intensify it all, you are hesitant of how things will work out and soon come to terms that it's not enjoyable task. In Elsa's case in the short story "Hired Girl" by Alice Munro she was not treated like a human being, given any respect, or compassion what so ever. Since Elsa was treated that way, it left her with many barriers to over come such as feeling like she was only a maid, not being able to eat with other people and socialize, and unable to express her intelligence without being put down.
To try to trace Alice Munro’s narrative techniques to any particular development in the short story The Albanian Virgin would be difficult. This could be because it is simply written from careful observations as are many of her other short stories. In her short stories, it is as though she tries to transform a common, ordinary world into something that is unsettling and mysterious as was seen in Vandals. Most of her stories found in Open Secrets, are set or focused on Munro’s native Canada, Huron County, and particularly in the small fictional Ontario town of Carstairs, although the setting in The Albanian Virgin is in British Columbia. The story, The Albanian Virgin, found in Open Secrets, exemplifies Munro’s characteristic approach to short story writing as it explores central character’s lives that are revealed from a combination of first person narrative and third person narrative. By using both narratives, Munro adds realism, some autobiographical information about her own life in the short stories, as the stories are also based on fiction as can it be found in earlier written short stories.
Rachel is an alcoholic and there is no doubt about it although she is in all types of denial about it. “When I drink I hardly sleep at all. I pass out cold for an hour or two, then I wake, sick with fear, sick with myself. If I have a day when I don’t drink, that night I fall into the heaviest of slumbers, a deep unconsciousness and in the morning I cannot wake properly, I cannot shake sleep, it stays with me for hours, sometimes all day long. (Hawkins, 28)” Everyone in Rachel’s life is aware of her problem and suffering but not many people say much about it in fear of hurting her. Including her friend Cathy, Rachel moved in with Cathy after the divorce so she could land on her feet. Unfortunately Cathy finally had, had enough and asked Rachel to find a new place to stay within the next four weeks. Cathy sees that Rachel is in jeopardy and recommends therapy but Rachel refuses.
Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning and also the basis of education. Curiosity had killed the cat indeed, however the cat died nobly. Lives of Girls and Women is a novel written by Nobel Prize Literature winner, Alice Munro. This novel is about a young girl, Del Jordan, who lives on Flats Road, Ontario. The novel is divided into eight chapters; and each chapter refers to a new, unique event in Del's life. As an overall analysis of the book reveals that Del Jordan's intriguing curiosity has helped her throughout her life, and enabled her to gain further knowledge The character is often seen in scenarios where her attention is captivated, and through the process of learning she acquires information in order to her answers her questions about particular subjects. There are many examples in the book that discuss Del’s life, and how she managed to gain information, as well as learn different methods of learning along the way.