Jonathan and Ruby meet on an island where they are both attending a “marine biology research station” (221) where both of their lives are changed forever. Andrea Barrett’s “The Littoral Zone” recounts how the pair grew from being friends to becoming lovers. The first twelve days of their stay there the two paid very little attention to each other. However after they truly converse for the first time on the “granite ledge where they sat” (223) they became companions. It is in the littoral zone that Jonathan and Ruby first begin to notice, and later fall for, each other. The littoral zone is described as being “between high and low watermarks and where organisms struggle to adapt”(223). This parallels how their relationship ends up being neither a high nor low point in their lives and how they struggle to deal the the repercussions of their decisions.
Although when Ruby and Jonathan first meet they are filled with lust and passion after many years they find themselves sitting in silence unable to “bear to talk about what they
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Even when their children had grown into young adults they would offhandedly make remarks whining about how “it wasn’t like you and Mom ever fought” (224) demonstrating that even many years later, their children are still unable to adapt to change. By pursuing their desires Jonathan and Ruby’s entire families are put into the littoral zone and are “struggling to adapt”.
Andrea Barret's "Littoral Zone" used the setting of the littoral zone to parallel Jonathan and Ruby's conflicts in their relationship. Just as the organisms that live in the littoral zone have trouble surviving their marriage also struggles greatly. Their relationship is average, not great and not undesirable similar to how the littoral zone is place in between high and low tide. Through the use of setting Barret is able to convey a greater meaning to Jonathan and Ruby’s
In Oceania, love is cast aside and adoration for Big Brother is put in its place. Two people, Winston and Julia, developed a love for one another that is distinct from relationships in Oceania. These lovers must meet in secret and pretend that they do not know one another while they are in public. Due to their circumstances, the two experience isolation from the other citizens as a result of their strong emotions. In 1984, the glass paperweight that contains the small coral represents the fragile relationship of Winston and Julia and their forbidden love life.
In Susan Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It, life for Miranda and her family comes to a screeching halt after a meteor collides with the moon, triggering calamitous natural disasters. After the initial tragedy, humanity is left with unanswered questions, to which no one seems to have answers for. As a result, Miranda must forget about her normal, mundane life and focus on the hardship ahead of her and her family. With her world collapsing around her, she is left with choices and responsibilities that affect her loved ones as much as herself. Through literary devices, Pfeffer emphasizes the emotional struggles and physical battles Miranda must surmount before and after the misfortunate collision.
The dynamic between parents and children condition what the child will think and follow through with. It is important that child and parents establish an appropriate relationship that can guide them through their life.This struggle between parents and children as discussed in In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the life of wealthy Christopher McCandless is chronicled, and what may have drove him away to traverse the wilds of Alaska, which ultimately lead to his demise. Jon Krakauer takes the reader on ride explaining the damaged relationship between christopher and his parents using specific events and words, this shaped Christopher into the person that went into the woods to find new horizons. Krakauer does this by introducing his purpose.
George and Ophelia grow up in significantly different environments with exposure to vastly dissimilar experiences; their diverse backgrounds have a profound impact on the way they interpret and react to situations as adults. George and Ophelia both grow up without their parents, but for different reasons. George grows up at the Wallace P. Andrews Shelter for Boys in New York. The Shelter’s strict surroundings did not provide the warm and inviting atmosphere that a mother strives for in a home. The employees at the Shelter are not “loving people,” (p. 23) but they are devoted to their job, and the boys. At a young age, Ophelia loses her mother. We learn very little about her apparently absent father. Mama Day and Abigail raise Ophelia. Abigail provides a source of comfort and love for Ophelia as she fulfills the role of mother figure. Mama day, Ophelia’s great aunt, acts more as a father figure. “If Grandma had been there, she would have held me when I broke down and cry. Mama Day only said that for a long time there would be something to bring on tears aplenty.” (p. 304). Ophelia grows up on the small island of Willow Springs. Everyone knows each other and their business, in the laid-back island community. The border between Georgia and South Carolina splits down the middle of the island. Instead of seeing any advantage to belonging to either state, the townspeople would prefer to operate independently. For George and Ophelia, the differences in their backgrounds will have a tremendous impact on many facets of their adult lives.
In Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh shares her thoughts on relationships, love, inner peace, and contentment. During her vacation by the sea to relax and detach herself from the hectic outside world, Lindbergh masterfully provides insights to a reader of any age or gender. Her poetic and flowing style allows the reader to easily absorb the themes from her meditations. She warns against the pitfalls of modern life because of what she calls hectic rhythm, as opposed to a more fluid and natural primeval rhythm. By removing herself from the outside world, she is able to look at life, love, and relationships from a different perspective. Also, she allows the natural world to help her make connections. She provides advice on how to treat our relationships with other people, and our ever evolving relationship with the outside world.
...victims, the Walls siblings may not have chosen to overcome their painful history to become such strong and successful individuals. The abdication of what one could consider appropriate parental responsibility by moving to Welch isolated the children in a very hard environment. In their time there, the remarkable survival skills and character that the children developed served as a source of strength in their escape from their environment. Their determination in forging a better future for themselves is realized by utilizing the skills they formed while trapped in Welch. The courage to embrace change; putting aside such a deplorable childhood speaks volumes about the remarkable ability of these siblings to overcome hardship and achieve their own powerful and unique lives.
The thought of her brothers still being in her former home environment in Maine hurt her. She tried to think of a way to get at least one of her brothers, the sickly one, to come and be with her. She knew that her extended family was financially able to take in another child, and if she showed responsibility, there would be no problem (Wilson, 40). She found a vacant store, furnished it, and turned it into a school for children (Thinkquest, 5). At the age of seventeen, her grandmother sent her a correspondence, and requested her to come back to Boston with her brother (Thinkquest, 6).
Kathy Harrison starts her personal story happily married to her childhood sweet heart Bruce. Kathy was living a simple life in her rural Massachusetts community home as the loving mother of three smart, kind, well-adjusted boys Bruce Jr., Nathan, and Ben. With the natural transitions of family life and the changes that come with career and moving, she went back to work as a Head Start teacher. Her life up until the acceptance of that job had been sheltered an idyllic. Interacting in a world of potluck suppers, cocktail parties, and traditional families had nothing in common with the life she would choose after she became a Head Start teacher.
Now, as the family of four travels across the continent, the narrator is able to slough off all the obligations which society has dumped on her. Almost relieved, “we shed our house, the neighborhood, the city, and…our country” (378). On the road, she is no longer forced to hide from the friendly phone calls or household chores. The narrator has been freed on the highway to Ontario, Canada. The Prisoner of War, held under siege in her own home, is liberated to be “hopeful and lighthearted” (378). This trip becomes a break from the life that she’s is currently leading, a life which society thinks should make her content. With this new bit of freedom the narrator is able to form an identity for herself.
Currently, families face a multitude of stressors in their lives. The dynamics of the family has never been as complicated as they are in the world today. Napier’s “The Family Crucible” provides a critical look at the subtle struggles that shape the structure of the family for better or worse. The Brice family is viewed through the lens of Napier and Whitaker as they work together to help the family to reconcile their relationships and the structure of the family.
...n she acrs as their mother. When the Darling children’s return to the nursery they accept the rules imposed on them, in effect trading freedom for security. They will have to accept the dominance of Mr. and Mrs. Darling and leave behind their pirates, redskins, and mermaids and in turn grow up. “Soon they settled down to being as ordinary as you or me” (218). They give up their world of wonderment for an average life where they must enter into a society with certain expectations for them.
Gembrowski, Susan. "A Portrait of Families Today." Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 1992 : 3.
Pratt, Mary Louise. “Arts of the Contact Zone.” Ways of Reading 8th Edition. Eds. David Bartholomae, A.P. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2008. 499-511.
In Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ 2006 movie Little Miss Sunshine, they depict the tribulations of a dysfunctional family trying to get their daughter to a beauty pageant, while encompassing strong portrayals of common issues in the United States today. It communicates the individual’s struggle to be perfect, as well as the difficulties of the average middle class family in society. In this paper I will analyze three characters; Olive, Dwayne, and Richard Hoover, identifying their life stages, psychosocial development, role in the family and their resiliency through the stories challenging circumstances.
Hemingway often depicts nature as a pastoral paradise within the novel, and the fishing trip serves as his epitome of such, entirely free from the corruptions of city life and women. Doing away with modern modes of transportation, they walk many miles gladly to reach the Irati River. While fishing, Jake and Bill are able to communicate freely with each other, unbound by the social confines of American and European society. The men also enjoy the camaraderie of English Veteran, Harris. This is quite different from the competitive relationships that can develop between men in the presence of women. Bill is able to express his fondness for Jake openly without it “mean[ing] [he] was a faggot,” (VIII), and Jake has no qualms over his fish being smaller than Bill’s, in what could be interpreted as an admission of lesser sexual virility.