The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy
“The Withered Arm” is a tragedy of fate and is a story of two women
linked to one man. The nature of the tragedy is that the suffering is
always a punishment that is disproportionate to the ‘offence’. In this
story it is the innocent who are punished for the sins of others
(Rhoda’s son, Gertrude). They exemplify the unfairness of existence.
The story begins with a group of milkmaids gossiping about the
farmer’s new, young wife. It is, perhaps, a comical scene, but it is
quickly apparent that the humour of these sharp tongued, common folk
is a bare veil over the hardship of rural life that Hardy finds
everywhere. One milkmaid, Rhoda, is quickly established as a former
lover of the farmer. She is separated from the others, physically, and
by their alienating chatter. At the end of Chapter One, Rhoda’s
cottage is a painful, if obvious, metaphor for her worn-down
existence. Her cottage has been attacked by the elements and is
virtually at the point of collapse:
“ It was built of mud-walls, the surface of which had been washed by
many rains into channels and depressions that left none of the
original flat face visible; while here and there in the thatch above a
rafter showed like a bone protruding through the skin.”
At first Rhoda is presented as the protagonist. She is frail, keenly
protected by the milkmen in the first chapter, and a single mother.
Yet as she is presented as increasingly jealous, and as Gertrude
appears increasingly perfect, our sympathies veer towards the latter.
In fact, Gertrude is less well drawn than Rho...
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...ssed her and she did not
altogether deplore that the young thing at her side should learn that
their lives had been antagonised by other influences than their own.”
Gertrude is a pathetic victim of ‘other influences’ but Rhoda, in
spite of being confirmed as a sorceress, takes on an almost tragic
quality. She attracts the sympathy that any jilted woman left with a
child might attract. Her jealousy is understandable, her ‘malignity’
is subconscious rather than conscious and she suffers from a sense of
guilt as she witnesses Gertrude’s decline. Finally, her agony and
anger over her son’s corpse are, if not exactly justified, excusable.
And the body over which she wails is the victim not only of law’s
harshness but also of his parents’ negligence. Nothing could better
illustrate the unfairness of existence.
Men and Women in The Withered Arm and Other Stories by Thomas Hardy and Men and Women in Turned by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“The Story of an Hour” and “The Hand” both has remarkable similarities and differences. They share a common theme of women and marriage and the sacrifices they make for their family. The setting in both stories is significant to understand the role of women hundreds of years ago. The symbolism portrayed in “The Hand” is about relationships and marriage. When a relationship is new and everything is wonderful there are not any fears or regrets. As time goes by even the most desirable qualities in someone will begin to be an annoyance rather than a joy.
The men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 were just ordinary men, from a variety of backgrounds, education, and age. It would appear that they were not selected by any force other than random chance. Their backgrounds and upbringing, however, did little to prepare these men for the horrors they were to witness and participate in.
Allegra Goodman was born in Brooklyn New York in 1967, but she grew up in Honolulu, where her parents moved and taught at the University of Hawaii in 1969. She received a Ph.D. in English Literature from Stanford University. Ms. Goodman began writing short stories in high school, and the summer after she graduated in 1985. Now, she has published two short story collections and six novels. The Other Side of the Island, which was published in 2008, describes how the world was controlled by Earth Mother after eight years of the Flood, and what the Greenspoons, especially Honor, did while they were living in the Colonies on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea. On one hand, Earth Mother and the Corporation were protecting and providing citizens with the new weather, the Enclosure; on the other hand, they were trying to control everybody from Unpredictable and defeat the Forecaster and his partisans. Ms. Goodman wrote the book while she suffered from the heat wave in Boston. She realized that everywhere around her things are attached air conditioners: her house, her car, and shops. People didn’t live in the real world anymore; she even wished there were air conditioned streets as well. Therefore, she started with that concept: “All this happened many years ago, before the streets were air conditioned. Children played outside, and in many places, the sky was still naturally blue.”
The most evil in the world at that time and what Harriot Stow tells readers about the evil that is slavery. The regards to the slavery the evil is that it affects everyone. The way she details the events in the story shows the struggle of slavery but also the way family life was affected by it. Not because it was just cruel but that to the white slave owners would act as if it was completely normal. That is what the evil is the fact that it is nothing to them just a part of their lives.
Albert Camus has his own toolbox of literary devices when it comes to accentuating the theme of The Stranger, one of them being his unique sense and use of secondary characters. Whether major or minor, every character in the book serves a purpose, and corroborates the theme in some form of fashion. Camus describes his secondary characters as foiling Meursault in one aspect or another, and thus, shining light on Meursault’s characteristics. Whether through close connections like familial relationships (Maman) and friendships (Salamano, Raymond, and Marie), or through bonds as distant as people he briefly converses with (Chaplain), or even so much as complete strangers (Perez and unidentified lady at the restaurant), characters that Meursault encounters foil and therefore, emphasize many aspects of his nature. Furthermore, because Meursault aptly embodies Camus’s ideology of Absurdism, emphasizing Meursault through secondary characteristics simply highlights Camus’ doctrine and theme of the book.
During the nineteenth century, Nathaniel Hawthorne graced America with The Scarlet Letter. Out of all of his works, the commended author’s most enduring and well-known novel is The Scarlet Letter. The narrative was set in the 1600s around the same time as the historical Salem Witch Trials. Over the years, this classic story has been reviewed by numerous essayists. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s most popular novel reflects the injustice of the Salem Witch Trials and received notable analyses from major literary critics.
In “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Story of an Hour”, the woman in each story imprisons in the domestic sphere. In “Hills Like White Elephants”, the woman in this story conflicts between keeping the baby or getting abortion although the relationship with her boyfriend would not improve as he said. In “The Story of an Hour”, even though Louise Mallard, an intelligent, independent woman understands that she should grieve for Brently, her husband and worry for her future, she cannot help herself from rejoice at her newfound freedom. The author of this story, Kate Chopin suggests that even with a happy marriage, the loss of freedom and the restraint are the results that cannot be avoid.
Rhoda is curious about the new wife and sends her son of to "check her
One of Thomas Hardy’s greatest works: ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles‘ was first published in 1891, a novel set in the fictional county of Wessex, Britain. By the time of its appearance, Hardy was considered to be on of England’s leading writers and had already published several well known novels including ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ and ‘The Woodlanders’ as well as numerous other short stories. However in spite of his reputation and fame, Hardy had immense difficulty finding a publication prepared to publish Tess when he offered it for serialization to London reviewers. The subject matter and content was considered to be- in the eyes of Victorian society, unfit for publications in which young people may read.
For my book I chose to read The Body by Stephen King. This novel is about four young boys taking a journey to find a body somewhere in the woods that is at the county line. This story is about more than just four boys going on an adventure its about them becoming closer to each other and learning real life lessons along the way. The four boys are all going into their first year of middle school so this is a time in their life when they learn things that will help them in life.
Capital punishment plays a major part in "The Withered Arm", as Gertrude must place her damaged arm on the neck of a hung criminal, to cure it.
The Life of Women in The Withered Arm and Other Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy
In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. The relief, however, is short lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death take on opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she lacked the courage to stand up for herself.
The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.