Everybody desires to be perfect. As a matter of fact, people long to have more control of their lives, yet life does not work their way with problems everywhere happening. Joan Bauer's short story, "Pancakes," is about a girl, named Jill, and how she manages her work at a pancake house. One Sunday when Jill was working, a group of tourists arrived at her workplace. Jill, at that time, was the only waitress working at the diner, so she had to balance her “perfect” way of work as more and more customers walk in. Jill tries to maintain her “perfect” work, but the stress from customers caused her to fail at being perfect. The author’s overall argument in "Pancakes" was to show that it is impossible to be perfect through the use of foreshadowing, …show more content…
By using foreshadowing, the opening of the short-story reveals how Jill emphasizes on how she’s never messed up and how perfect her life is, yet at the end of the story she loses control of her life. At first, Jill explains about her workday and why it is pleasing to have so much authority in life. Then, Jill goes on to speak that she has everything under her control, as she says, “I never lose control” (83). As long as she always used her “perfect” ways to manage her life, she never lost control of her life. For this reason, the author had included that Jill never loses control is to foreshadow and have a prediction that Jill will lose control after the story. For the purpose of Jill losing control at the tip of the story, the author wanted to state that earlier. In fact, the foreshadowing had told us that she never loses control, although, at the end of the story, she gets overwhelmed with no control. After the tourists comes in and leaves, customers continue entering the diner. By herself, Jill tries to continue control her job, but fails when everything becomes a mess. She yelled, “I simply can’t do everything!”(88). The foreshadowing had told us that she never loses control, but yet she at the end of the story, she admits she can not do everything. When Jill could not control her problems, she gives up and realizes she can not do everything by herself. Just like …show more content…
The literary device reveals Jill overlooking her customers like a hawk, not missing a single detail and delivering the pancakes to her tables perfectly until a mob of tourists begin walking in that causes Jill to lose control. The pancake house has just opened and Jill was waiting for the mob of customers that will soon come in. Jill begins daydreaming ahead of how she would look and act perfectly doing her job. The author uses a simile to how Jill acts, “... watching my station like a hawk, keeping the coffee brewing, getting the pancakes delivered hot to the tables” (83). As a result, a hawk views their prey and then attacks which is similar to how Jill looked at the customers walking in and out. Like a hawk, Jill waits for customers to come in and take their orders right away, which is the same as a hawk with its prey. Hawks have sharp eyes meaning Jill does too, and that is why the author uses a simile to compare Jill and a hawk because that must mean Jill uses her eyes to check to see if anything is not perfect to her liking. In contrast, how Jill imagined herself to look like is different when a group of tourists arrive. Jill usually knows how to handle a certain amount of tourists, yet this time there was a bus full of them. Jill was horrified and scared because the “army of round, middle-aged women stepped from the bus and headed toward the
Tom is a very ambitious person when it comes to his work. He is caught up in getting a promotion from work by doing a project. Tom just focuses on the “big picture,” which is his future, rather than the “small picture,” which is what his wife is doing. This trait changes at the end when he decides to go to the movies with his wife. When the paper flew out the window for the second time, he realized that he can do the paper over again but he can never take back that one specific night he could have spent with his wife.
In conclusion, Julia Child’s experiences display all that can be done when people do not give up. Although she was often excluded in her cooking classes, she did not quit. Creating a French cookbook for Americans was not an easy task either, but she did not back down. Trying to publish her cookbook and having to deny requests from their original publisher was definitely painful. But, her thick skin, endurance, and principle all payed off when the first edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking finally hit the shelves.
Also, she thinks working is the only anodyne for her pain of being left. Keep the focus on work and make herself busy, to neglect that men, to neglect the sorrow. Nevertheless, we can find out that the feasibility is not so well. That her works are full of her past. We can find evidence of Mary who is excellent at " The tone of time". For example, copying some old portrait or somebody's style. Conversely, she trapped in it at the same time. Her new commission is to think of a sitter, she can only think of him as a bigot. Mary was the prisoner of the past and the prison guards, her past, is tormenting her. As we can see, she cannot get away from the shadow that the man is gone, turned his back to another woman and never came back for her. All these actions and thoughts are what she does to reject the man has left her, this is the unexpected turn. We also know the man that we consider it is not worth it, it is what she thinks important which more than life. Moreover, Mary's only friend is the narrator but her heart is always on that man. She doesn't trust the narrator as in the last part of the story, she assumes he
...g the perfect life should seem unrealistic to anyone evaluating the goal from an objective perspective; however the circumstances of the characters in the presented literary works exaggerate the expectations of everyday society. Each work focuses on portraying a flaw inherent in human nature from a different angle and ultimately, the characters’ quests for perfection demonstrate that the flaws permeating human nature are inescapable, prophesying failure for all those who seek to embody perfection.
...n be seen as her overcoming his total control over her life. She was now taking control, almost taking over the role that he had previously occupied.
1. In “Feather’s,” the somewhat silent and solemn dinner the two couples share impacts Jack and Fran’s lives, as that night transpires into an attempted “change” within their marriage. While Fran pinpoints that evening as an immediate shift, Jack believes the change came later, after their child was born. Jack recalls, “The change came later—and when it came, it was like something that happened to other people, not something that could have happened to us” (Carver). Throughout the dinner, the author parallels Jack and Fran to Bud and Olla. Together, Bud and Olla exhibit characteristics that Jack and Fran’s relationship lacks: love, affection and the family they have created with Joey and Harold. Jack and Fran strive for this type of bond, and although they attempt to achieve it after being given a glimpse at the dinner, they fall short. As much as Jack and Fran want to aspire to be like Bud and Olla, they never reach that next level. They are never able to utilize the peacock feathers.
In, "No One's a Mystery," by Elizabeth Tallent, a very naive eighteen-year old girl, who remains unnamed, neglects to realize the truth that is so plainly laid out before her. She is riding with Jack, and older married man with whom she has been having sex with for the past two years, and fiddling with the birthday present she received from him; a five year diary. A Cadillac that looks like his wife's is coming toward them, so he shoves her onto the floorboard of his filthy truck. Jack and his wife exchange subtle gestures as they pass, and the young girl is then given permission to get back onto the seat. When she asks how he knows his wife won't look back and see her Jack replies, "I just know...Like I know I'm going to get meatloaf for supper...Like I know what you'll be writing in that diary." Jack proceeds to tell her that within a couple of years she will not even to be able to recall his name or remember what interested her in him, other than the sex. Contrary to what Jack knows is true, the young girl imagines a sort of fairy tale life where she and Jack have a family and live happily ever after. She is totally oblivious to the truth that is so blatantly staring her in the face. Tallent demonstrates the way our heart and mind work together to blind us of the truth if we are not mature enough to see through the self created facade and face reality.
In the short story "Cornet at night" by Sinclair Ross foreshadowing plays a very important role in the piece of literature. Foreshadowing is the slight hint or clue that the author gives the reader to see how they can get the reader to imagine the vast amount of possibilities of what is to come in the future. In this story, foreshadowing is seen at many different times, but there are two instances where they are noted very strongly.
Rose Mary is a selfish woman and decides not to go to school some mornings because she does not feel up to it. Jeannette takes the initiative in making sure that her mother is prepared for school each morning because she knows how much her family needs money. Even though Rose Mary starts to go to school every day, she does not do her job properly and thus the family suffers financially again. When Maureen’s birthday approaches, Jeannette takes it upon herself to find a gift for her because she does not think their parents will be able to provide her with one. Jeannette says, “at times I felt like I was failing Maureen, like I wasn’t keeping my promise that I’d protect her - the promise I’d made to her when I held her on the way home from the hospital after she’d been born. I couldn’t get her what she needed most- hot
As time went on pieces from Emily started to drift away and also the home that she confined herself to. The town grew a great deal of sympathy towards Emily, although she never hears it. She was slightly aware of the faint whispers that began when her presence was near. Gossip and whispers may have been the cause of her hideous behavior. The town couldn’t wait to pity Ms. Emily because of the way she looked down on people because she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and she never thought she would be alone the way her father left her.
Charlotte will never be anything but a wife and mother with no room to become a writer. Dependent on her husband for emotional support as well as financial support, Charlotte did not outwardly disagree with John's diagnosis. Without much protest, Charlotte stays in one room for fear of being sent to Dr. Mitchell's for the Rest Cure. (4) Trapped in a room with no aesthetic pleasure, she was left to her own thoughts. Societal norms said th...
The Hawk’s fascist connotations are apparent throughout the play. The bird ends his monologue by stating, ‘I am going to keep things like this’. This line can be separated into two parts; the first section, ‘I am going to’ implies his intentions not to permit change. These points to the fact that he has ultimate control of his fate, his future is assured; unlike Macbeth whose fate is on the hands of others. This is followed by the words, ‘keep things like this’, which connotes that his authority and his position on top of the food chain is infallible and will remain until his death. This parallels fascist regimes where the dictator has ultimate power over his subjects and nothing can disrupt his control. The Hawk’s control over his own future is described in a way that connotes a fascist regime.
As she sorted through several critical literary books and papers in hopes of better understanding Victorian literature, she found that almost all analyses of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland were similar in that they were all grounded in Freudian psychology. This means that literary interpretations of the book heavily emphasised the role of Lewis Carroll’s subconscious more than anything else, further implying that many of the bizarre characters and events that exist in Wonderland were dismissed as mere expressions of Lewis Carroll’s supposed insanity rather than conscious symbolism. However, if one chooses to take a different approach at interpreting Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, he will find that the seemingly nonsensical elements of Wonderland can reasonably reflect certain aspects of the reality of the Victorian Era.
She hides her actions and attempt to justify them until she is expose by the letter from the paper regarding her novel entry. She is ignorant to her unrealistic judgements about Cecilia and Robert and attempts to fix the problem when she made it worse. She realizes her mistake when the letter questions the conflict of her novel and she witnesses her attempt to hide the true horror behind her decision. While she attempts at hiding her problem in the draft, she made it more noticeable to the paper and drain the luster of the plot. Her realization of her ignorance honor the lovers’ romance and made her strive to atone her former
Amanda, somehow, finds a way to be both selfish and selfless when it comes to Laura. Amanda wants Laura to be happy and successful, but does not understand that Laura is too shy and unmotivated to be either. When Amanda discovers that Laura has stopped going to typing class she is beyond disappointing. When discovered Amanda yells at her daughter saying, “Fifty dollars’ tuition, all our plans- my hopes and ambitions for you- just gone up the spout, just gone up the spout like that.” Laura quit something as simple as learning how to type; this realization struck Amanda because if she cannot do that there is no way Laura could provide for herself without a husband. Mrs. Wingfield’s worst nightmare is is for her children to become dependent on relatives and not being able to take care of themselves. After Laura drops out of typing school Amanda says, “What is there left but dependency all our lives? I know so well what becomes of unmarried women who aren’t prepared to occupy a position. I’ve seen such pitiful cases in the South—barely tolerated spinsters living upon the grudging patronage of sister’s husband or brother’s wife!—stuck away in some little mousetrap of a room—encouraged by one in-law to visit another—little birdlike women without any nest—eating the crust of humility all their life!. Amanda had always wanted for Laura to find a nice husband, but then the situation became desperate when the younger women