Xuela’s Abandon Jamaica Kincaid develops the interesting and amiable character of Xuela Claudette Richardson in her 1996 novel The Autobiography of My Mother. In contrast to other members in her community, Xuela is unique and unpredictable in an instable setting. Other characters in the novel such as her father, her half-sister, and the men she engages in sexual behavior with follow a pattern in their lives, which others appreciate and expect. Xuela, however, does not follow any guidelines in the manner that she thinks and behaves; while she is not hurt by the lack of love that she feels, she definitely identifies and accepts it. This sense of acceptance of herself and the acknowledgement that no one else is like her is what makes Xuela the free, unparalleled, and slightly defiant individual that she is. Throughout …show more content…
Her point of view is so innocent, even in its morbidity. Her thoughts are so suave and certain that it is impossible for the reader to misunderstand why Xuela does, says, and thinks all of the things she does. Many in the book seem as if their lives are predestined for them, whether because of race, gender, or monetary status. Xuela, however, does not view these things as something to predict her life, but rather takes these things and challenges their importance. She quotes “Who you are is a mystery no one can answer, not even you” (Kincaid 202). She seems uncertain of who she is to become, but she knows that she will be unique and somebody that she actually likes and respects, not someone who she is expected to be. Therefore, The Autobiography of My Mother lays out the life of Xuela Claudette Richardson and her unpredictable way in asserting her freedom from the social norms that were set in her time and place. Xuela’s acceptance of her difference from others and her unwillingness to conform is what makes her the free character that she
In this memoir, James gives the reader a view into his and his mother's past, and how truly similar they were. Throughout his life, he showed the reader that there were monumental events that impacted his life forever, even if he
Our mothers have played very valuable roles in making us who we are and what we have become of ourselves. They have been the shoulder we can lean on when there is no one else to turn to. They have been the ones we can count on when there is no one else. They have been the ones who love us for who we are and forgive us when no one else wouldn’t. In Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds,” the character Jing-mei experiences being raised by a mother who has overwhelming expectations for her daughter, which causes Jing-mei to struggle with who she wants to be.
The main idea of the essay is to demonstrate the different ways in how Annie Dillard, the speaker, thinks and admires her mother’s personality and her qualities. This essay is not unusual because every daughter feels admiration and Proudness toward their mothers, even if they express their feelings in many different ways. As the speaker says, she takes pleasure in describing her exceptional mother and is proud of the lessons her mother taught her. The style of some mother’s uses to teach their kids is always in the beginning of their lives which lead them to have success or failure.
...ism we enjoy. Hampered by the need for secrecy, Fran slowly overcomes impoverishment, loneliness and fear to make new emotional connections. But the price she pays for this triumph is terrible, and all too real. Above all, Quindlen is wise and humane. Her understanding of the complex anatomy of marital relationships, of the often painful bond of maternal love and of the capacity to survive tragedy and carry on invest this moving novel with the clarion ring of truth. References http://www.randomhouse.com/features/annaquindlen/ (Black And Blue By Anna Quindlen) http://www.bookbrowse.com/dyn_/title/titleID/400.htm (Book Browse) http://www.oprah.com/obc/pastbooks/anna_quindlen/obc_pb_19980409_rev.jhtml;jsessionid=XQFV2DGW142PRLARAYFCFEQ (Oprah’s Book Club) http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?isbn=0440226104&userid=3549JZP1CE (Barnas&Noble.com)
Although the two critics share the above ideas, their theories, although quite similar, embrace the homosocial relationships of Edna and the other women of the novel to varying degrees. They both agree, however, that having lost her mother at an early age and being under the care of her conservative, overbearing sister and strict Presbyterian father, Edna had little experience in having relationships with other women. We know that when she first encounters the culture of the Creole people, she is quite taken back and not generally pleased with the openness of the women ...
The mother-daughter relationship is a common topic throughout many of Jamaica Kincaid's novels. It is particularly prominent in Annie John, Lucy, and Autobiography of my Mother. This essay however will explore the mother-daughter relationship in Lucy. Lucy tells the story of a young woman who escapes a West Indian island to North America to work as an au pair for Mariah and Lewis, a young couple, and their four girls. As in her other books—especially Annie John—Kincaid uses the mother-daughter relationship as a means to expose some of her underlying themes.
Helene was raised by her grandmother because she mother was a prostitute in the New Orleans. When Helene has a family of her own, she refuses to make her background be known. Helene raises Nel with fear because she doesn’t want her to have the lifestyle she grew up in. Helene controls Nel’s life and makes her see the world how it is. Nel and her mother go on a train to New Orleans to attend the funeral for her great grandmother. On the train, Nel witnessed racial situation between her mother and the white conductor. “Pulling Nel by the arm, she pressed herself and her daughter into the foot space in front of a wooden seat… at least no reason that anyone could understand, certainly no reason that Nel understood,” (21). Nel was very uncomfortable throughout the trip and wasn’t able to communicate with her mother because she never learned how to since her mother was not supportive of her. Nel views her mother very negatively for the way she raised her. Nel starts to determine her life and great her identity when she became friends with Sula. The effect of negative maternal interactions on an individual is explained by Diane Gillespie and Missy Dehn Kubitschek as they discuss
For many of us growing up, our mothers have been a part of who we are. They have been there when our world was falling apart, when we fell ill to the flu, and most importantly, the one to love us when we needed it the most. In “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, it begins with a brief introduction to one mother’s interpretation of the American Dream. Losing her family in China, she now hopes to recapture part of her loss through her daughter. However, the young girl, Ni Kan, mimics her mother’s dreams and ultimately rebels against them.
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
In the words of entrepreneur Brandi Harvey, “You are enough, without anyone else’s stamp, without anyone else’s validation or approval.” In this quote, she validates the fact that people, women in particular, do not need somebody to tell them they are sufficient enough— a woman does not need a man to provide for her needs, make her happy, or make her feel good about herself. It shows that women who lose their independence often lose their dreams as well. This idea centers all throughout the book, “My Antonia” by Willa Cather. In this book, the author focuses on the life of a young man named Jim and the many diverse women that surrounds him all from he was a small boy to a grown man. The idea of independence
Compromising her individuality, her emotional stability, and her dreams mark Nel's banal and unfulfilling life.Early in Nel's life during a trip to New Orleans, she watches as her mother is humiliated by a train's white, racist conductor; she watches the indignity of her mother's having to squat in an open field to urinate while white train passengers gaze; and she watches her mother's shame at her own Creole mother's libidinous lifestyle. Her mother's submissiveness and humiliation evokes a fear, an anger, and an energy in Nel. Her emotions intensify as she makes a declaration to never be her mother, to never compromise her individuality, "I'm me. I'm not their daughter. I'm not Nel. I'm me.
An evolving mother-daughter relationship is the focus of Jamaica Kincaid s autobiographical The Circling Hand. Like the narrator, Kincaid grew up in Antigua as the only child her mother and carpenter father. Also like the narrator, Kincaid admits her mother kept everything she ever wore. This narrative is a coming of age story, in which this dynamic and unusual mother-daughter relationship plays an important role. Through the beginning bliss of childhood to the frustrating stage of adolescence, this unique relationship, in which the daughter is infatuated with her mother, seems to control the narrator s development as a freethinking person.
It is impossible to interpret Gloria Naylor’s 1988 novel, Mama Day, in one way. There are multiple standpoints that a reader can take in explaining various events that occur throughout the book, as well as different ways that the characters in the book interpret these events. The author never fully clarifies many questions that the story generates so as to leave the readers with the opportunity to answer them based on their own personal experiences and beliefs. The multiplicity of perspectives in Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day is embodied in the legend of Sapphira Wade and the dynamics between logic and the supernatural and between George and Cocoa.
As a female university student, I feel deeply related to Marjorie since her personality is quietly similar to mine. Analogously, I could feel Bernice’s “vague pain” (Fitzgerald, 3) and realize her sensitivity as the things have happened to me when I was younger. In order to comprehend author’s main idea, I did numerous researches about the jazz age. Thus it can be seen, reader’s background is also crucial when responding to this literary texts. The writer’s main target audiences are women, who have different desires and needs than men. The meaning of the text often competes when we have a better understanding of our self-identities. We interpret the text based on our own psyches, experiences, and judgments. Literature, are like music, without interaction with its audiences, no profound meaning would be
There are many complex parallels between Xuela's character and the collective psyche and cultural beliefs of Dominica's "conquered" races. Yet, instead of sinking in despair, Xuela refuses to gracefully accept her lot in life. Early on, she rejects the imposed cultural perception of herself as inferior. Her description of her elementary schoolteacher is prescient: "a woman of the African people, that I could see, and she found in this a source of humiliation and self-loathing, and she wore despair like an article of clothing, like a mantle, or a staff on which she leaned constantly, a birthright which she would pass on to us" (15). Xuela then explains the distinction between Africans and Caribs in her Dominica. "My mother was a Carib woman, and when they (the class) looked at me this is what they saw. The Carib people had been defeated and then exterminated, thrown away like the weeds in a garden; the African people had been defeated but had survived. When...