In Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, there is a central theme of past choices determining future sorrow and loss created through the use of symbolism which appears multiple times in both Sarah and Julia’s individual journeys. Although Julia listens to the pleas of Bertrand pushing for the abortion of the fetus as a baby would ‘kill him,’and be the end of their marriage, Julia chooses to reject his request. She had the baby prematurely but nevertheless was happy.“This child meant so much to me. I had fought for her. I had not given in. She was my victory.” Her happiness came at a price however as shortly after the birth Bertrand summoned up the courage to tell Julia that he loved Améle and that there would have to be a divorce. The baby symbolizes
Submission is a set of dominant behaviors involving the obedience of one person to another, which can be considered nowadays as an immoral intolerance. Submissiveness, generally directed towards women, has always existed throughout history. Even Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette’s short story “The Hand” brings out this oppressive notion at her times. Through the use of literary devices such as symbolism and characterization (which might also involve imagery), the author portrays this idea of women’s submissiveness to their husband’s dominance in a marriage.
Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "The mother" tells us about a mother who had many abortions. The speaker is addressing her children in explain to them why child could not have them. The internal conflict reveals that she regret killing her children or "small pups with a little or with no hair." The speaker tells what she will never do with her children that she killed. She will "never neglect", "beat", "silence", "buy with sweet", " scuffle off ghosts that come", "controlling your luscious sigh/ return for a snack", never hear them "giggled", "planned", and "cried." She also wishes she could see their "marriage", "aches", "stilted", play "games", and "deaths." She regrets even not giving them a "name" and "breaths." The mother knows that her decision will not let her forget by using the phrase "Abortions will not let you forget." The external conflict lets us know that she did not acted alone in her decision making. She mentions "believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate" and "whine that the crime was other than mine." The speaker is saying that her decision to have an abortion was not final yet but someone forced her into having it anyway. The external conflict is that she cannot forget the pain on the day of having the abortions. She mentions the "contracted" and "eased" that she felt having abortions.
“The Birth-mark” and “Ligeia” both reveal the destructive effects of obsession with perfection on the principal male and female characters. “The Birth-mark” is a story about a young woman, Georgiana, whose husband convinces her that the removal of her birthmark will make her perfect and pure. “Ligeia” is a story about another young woman, Rowena, who is driven to sickness and death because of her husband’s obsession with his former “perfect” wife and her inability to measure up. These separate husbands inadvertently kill their wives through their obsessions.
"How Tatiana De Rosnay Turned French History Into ‘Sarah’s Key’." Speakeasy RSS. N.p., 14 July 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
After reading Anne Bradstreet’s poems I liked “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” the most. In this poem Bradstreet is writing about the possibility of death after she gives birth to her children. During this time period 1 out of every 3 women die during childbirth. This poem was addressed to her husband as she goes on to say that if she does die that he remember everything positive about her. She even says that he must protect their children from a “step mother injury” and constantly remind them of their mother. Anne goes on to describe the possibility of this tragedy could happen to her. If this does happen to her she wants her husband to kiss the poem to symbolize kissing her after she is gone.
During the short space of time (which is 28 days) Sethe embraces the dominant values of idealised maternity. Sethe’s fantasy is intended to end upon recover, however, it doesn’t, on that ground she declines to give her family a chance to be taken from her. Rather she endeavours to murder each of her four kids, prevailing the young girl whom she named Beloved. Sethe’s passion opposes the slave proprietor’s- and the western plot line's endeavours at allocations, for better or in negative ways.
When the fate of the scarlet letter encompasses the beholder, it transforms their souls into the symbolic image of Yin VS. Yang. A common Chinese symbol that displays good vs. evil. As the essence of good (Yang) exists through charitable acts, and those who live life with an open heart. Whereas, the power, and the darker side of the light (Yin) comes through as being hidden from society, and relating symbols in life to the underworld. Two opposite sides of the spectrum clashing against one another to coincide. This similar symbol arises in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, as Hawthorne introduces and transpires a significant symbol throughout the novel. This symbol known as the scarlet letter is worn by Hester Prynne, a giving person
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
Before High school Melinda is assaulted and becomes depressed and a bit of recluse.When high school starts and she is in art class Melinda draws the subject of a tree which greatly symbolizes many things about Melinda through the school year.
The past shapes the future and in “Between the Pool and the Gardenias” this heavily applies. This story is focused in the point of view of Marie who in the past had a miscarriage. Her miscarriage affected her in the past and even in the future. That is why when she finds the deceased baby in the street she takes it in as her own and treats it as if it was alive naming it Rosie. After that she treats it like it was a living baby even though she knew it was not. There really is no doubt that she has done this because of the miscarriage that happened previously which more than likely affected her mental stability which all lead up to her taking in the dead baby. When the baby begins to rot she buries it between the pool and the gardenias after
In the short story, “Hills like White Elephants”, by Ernest Hemingway, is based on determination to abort a child. Hemingway introduced the readers to Jig a naïve girl, who lacks self-confidence and an American man who is self-indulgence. Jig and her partner made an adult decision to conceive a child, but are not capable of keeping the unborn infant. Jig is in a position of contemplation, where she has to decide her own seed over infatuated love because she does not want her decision to affect their relationship. The man she has unconditionally love for does not condone to her pregnancy. The American man specifies the abortion as a “simple operation”. He tries to persuade Jig into the operation, but does not realize life will not remain the same after the surgery is complete. Hemingway helps readers visualize the situation of abortion by comparing Jig pregnancy to the scenery and fictitious objects.
These qualities seem to be completely at odds with Julia’s attempts to commit suicide. However, Stout implies that there is a great disparity between how others see Julia and who she truly is when she states, “[Julia’s] psyche was mangled by profound trauma in her past … and the consequent suffering in her adult life has been nearly unsurvivable. Should one meet her on the street … she would seem quite normal. In fact, one might easily view her as enviable. Certainly, when looking on from a distance, nothing at all would appear to be wrong and much would be conspicuously right” (423). Although others may see Julia as “quite normal” or even “enviable,” it is important to note that while she may be perceived in this manner, the reality of who she is differs from this immensely. It may seem that “nothing at all [is] wrong and much [is] conspicuously right” with Julia and her life, but in actuality, her “psyche was mangled” by the trauma she had experienced at the hands of her parents, and this significantly impacted her mind and her perception of the world, and by extension, her conception of her
... aborted her children. She begins to think about the joy of having children. In contrast, the poem “those winter days”, it displays how children can be ungrateful for things parents do. It shows how a young boy believes his father doesn’t love because he is not affectionate. The father goes to work and comes home in pain. However, the father still performs the necessary tasks of keeping the house warm and polishing the children’s shoes. If the woman in “the mother” had not aborted their children, would they grow up to be the perfect little angels she dreams of? The father in “Those Winter Day’s” had sacrificed his own happiness for his child. The father’s life revolved around his son. Perhaps the woman in “the mother” was not ready to make those sacrifices as the father did. The woman could have not been able to carry out the duties of raising a child on her own.
In 'Desiree?s Baby,' Chopin illustrates her idea of the relationship between men and women by portraying Desiree as vulnerable and easily affected, whereas Armand is presented as superior and oppressive. Throughout ?Desiree?s Baby,? Kate Chopin investigates the concept of Armand's immense power over Desiree. At first, Desiree tries to conform to the traditional female role by striving to be an obedient wife. Later in the story, this conformity changes after Desiree gives birth to her part-black son.
Karen Van der Zee the author of “ A Secret Sorrow” talks about a woman name Faye have been part of a road crash which she find herself depress and her dreams fall down when she hear the news that she can’t have babies. But during a difficult time her fiancé give her all the encouragement that she need it and give her all the strength by being by her side.