Where Is Here essay The word infinity is used differently in the story Where is Here, by Joyce Carol Oates, then many other concepts we might think it’s used for. Oates uses it in a unique way, hinting that the characters, the drawing, and the house are representing infinity. Heading straight into the story, the strange man that comes into this family’s life on a chilling November night, does more than just look around at the ancient house he use to live in. As the mother tries to pry on his childhood in this house, it seems to be looking how the current family is living. There was a mother and father with two kids, a son and daughter. Realizing the stranger doesn’t talk about his sister much, the family only mentions her once. We started to infer towards the middle of the story that the stranger’s dad was abusive and at the end of the story, the father hits the mother leaving a bruise. The stranger explains the placement of how everyone lived and his old bedroom was the boy's bedroom and his sisters was the girl’s room now. His mom and dad was in the same room as the mother and father now. It may not seem like this has anything to do with infinity, but it’s strange to see by the end of the story how much both of their life’s are the same. …show more content…
The stranger explains it as a riddle of some sort and shows how you can make a drawing go on and on forever. “First you draw a square; then you draw a triangle to fit inside the square; then you draw a second triangle, and a third, and a fourth, each to fit inside the square..”. It seemed to be a fascination to the boy as it was to the stranger even though he was the one to draw it. When picturing this drawing, it seems like a spiral downwards and just continues forever, like it’s
While the studies at Governor’s School are noticeably more advanced and require more effort than at regular public schools, I see this rigor as the key to my academic success. For me, the classes I take that constantly introduce new thoughts that test my capability to “think outside the box”, are the ones that capture all my attention and interest. For example, while working with the Sierpinski Triangle at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth geometry camp, I was struck with a strong determination to figure out the secret to the pattern. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the Sierpinski Triangle is “a fractal based on a triangle with four equal triangles inscribed in it. The central triangle is removed and each of the other three treated as the original was, and so on, creating an infinite regression in a finite space.” By constructing a table with the number black and white triangles in each figure, I realized that it was easier to see the relations between the numbers. At Governor’s School, I expect to be provided with stimulating concepts in order to challenge my exceptional thinking.
In the short story “Where is Here” by Joyce Carol Oats the stranger discusses the idea of infinity. Infinity is an abstract concept that something is without a beginning or ending. The stranger gives three examples of this idea. All three can be represented of a different type of infinity.
The story begins with a young boy, who we come to find named, Reza, remembering that just a few days before he had overheard his mother and father arguing. But they weren’t arguing about your everyday things, they were arguing about sending one of their children to an orphanage, so that they would have “one less mouth to feed” (295). According to the parents, Reza was the most misbehaved of all of their children, so it made most sense to send him away. Once Reza realized that his parents were planning on sending him away, he went back to bed, crying.
Death and Reality in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates
In the movie, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Callie Khouri directs something of a powerful story between a mother and her daughter. The movie Life as a House (Wrinkler, 2002) tells something of the same; of a father and the fight for the love of his son. The two movies both portray the fight between parents and their children. The commonality between father and son and mother and daughter is portrayed through the troublesome children and the problems that they face together. The “abuse “ that these children have received has formed them into the people they are today. What these characters had become is something that they do not want to be. As we age, we begin to discover the importance of family as depicted through Life as a House and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
Cofer remembers her grandmother’s house as a huge house, but not a mansion. In the present day reality, the room and her Mama both seem small. But as a child, it was different. She remembers her Mama’s room as a queen’s chamber where it was difficult for her to look over the countertops and the tall beds. Mama’s room contained all of her symbols of power, and a massive four-poster bed, which was taller than a child’s head. her memory is of the enormous room, and not of the one in reality now.
The first time I began to draw, I drew stick figures and malformed animals and people. As I continued to grow and experience new things, I also improved in my art. From fifth grade to my senior year in high school, I realized a major difference in the way I drew, and also in what it meant to me. For me, drawing represented the growth I went through in life. Through the tough times, happy memories, and crushing defeats, these all accumulated and created my personality and
In the poem Untitled by Lisa Marie Rollins; it illustrates a person looking back and reflecting on their childhood. The reason for this being they are deciding whether or not to return home and reconcile unsettled differences with the parents; specifically the father. The poem itself illustrates themes of alienation of the child by the parents and a child trying to conform to the father’s idea of how to act, causing tensions. All of which eventually result in a strained relationship between parent and child. The themes presented in this poem are universal, in many cultures and countries many families have faced this problem and much of them resulted in similarly to the way it is presented in this poem. In which the parent, after many years, reaches out and the child contemplates whether or not return. The poem itself tries to make the reader identify and sympathies for the child and put blame on the parent for the strained relationship.
The narration of the story is beautifully divided into parts: the first part is set in an unnamed town in Michigan and it depicts Milkman’s life from birth to his early thirties, within this section the author focuses on the emptiness of the protagonist’s life and his aimless visions caught between his father’s materialistic lifestyle and his aunt’s traditional values. This is the part infused with the most flashbacks to the characters’ past which enables the reader to truly understand each one individually. We learn that Milkman’s father and his aunt have run away after their father has been murdered and although they crossed paths eventually they don’t speak to each other because they have different views and standards and Macon feels embarrassed by such abnormally spiritual sisters and thinks that she threatens his social position. This part ends with Milkman’s attempt to leave his town in search for his concrete inheritance.
It begins with Dr. Montague, who is curious about the paranormal activity of Hill House, along with Luke, Hill House’s family heir, and Eleanor and Theodora, two young women who are brave enough to take on the horrors of Hill House with them. As the week goes on, the evil that lurks in Hill House thrives on the growing enmity between the two women. When Dr. Montague notices how deeply ensnared Eleanor has become by the ghosts of the house, he insists that she leaves for her own safety, while the others stay the rest of time left at Hill House only to be left with a horrific sight when they walked outside the next day. An example of the horror in the story is when Theodora and Eleanor are sleeping in the same room when Eleanor thinks she is feeling Theodoras hand touching, when in fact, it’s not Theodora’s hand at all. “Now, Eleanor thought...holding with both hands to Theodora’s hand, holding so tight she could feel the fine bones of Theodora’s fingers”(Jackson 115). “God God, Eleanor said, flinging herself out of bed and across the room to stand shuddering in a corner, “Who was holding my hand?”(Jackson 116). Another way Jackson portrays the true horror in the novel is when Eleanor begins to be mentally engulfed into Hill House. He mind and her thoughts are being dimented by the demons and spirits overtaking her. “I am disappearing inch by inch into
I agree with your theory that Connie is the black sheep in her family and her family adores Connie’s sister, June. The author, Joyce Carol Oates, symbolized Connie as a vain average teenage girl who agured with her mother. Connie received less affection from her family which led to her probably feeling neglected. And the threats that Arnold made towards Connie were direct threats about Connie’s family, described what June looked like and the location of her family. Another theory for why Connie decided to go with Arnold is that she longed for acceptance in her family. Connie decision of going with Arnold was protective instinct because she wanted to do the right thing of protecting her family, even though she does not feel acceptance.
Her husband John is a physician who is extremely scientific and his sister Mary, is a nurse for the narrator who takes care of her while the John is away. Mary also takes care of the narrator’s baby, due to her condition. The narrator struggle at the beginning with what appears to be anxiety, as she describes being away from her son makes her nervous. She also describes that her beautiful home can also be haunted, which can be the reasoning behind the low price they purchased it for. But of course, John did not accept her nervousness as a bad sign of her health, nor did he believe in the supernatural since it cannot be scientifically proven at the
This story is about a boy who loves to increase his knowledge and it is written by James Joyce.
Father teaches his son all about having a family and land. Both Giovanni’s room and The Man