Go Down Moses by William Faulkner is an artful collection of short stories that connect in a biblical fashion to create a coherent novel. Within each story Faulkner beautifully illustrates the tensions arising from man’s struggle to overcome the curse of Adam, and how that biblical narrative plays out in the South. A complex family tree plagued by sin and encompassing two “races” with a heavily mixed bloodline slowly unfolds from chapter to chapter. In nearly every story, the black characters are juxtaposed against their white counterparts, neither race can be understood without the presence of their opposite. Faulkner uses this set up to repeatedly contrast the black slave community’s humanity and capacity to love, against the white community’s refusal to treat them as more than heartless pieces of property. Rider, Eunice, and Molly Beachem are all outstanding pictures of the true humanity and compassion of the black community. While the Sheriff, Old McCauslin, Roth Edmonds, and Ike demonstrate the white man’s inability to see these qualities in blacks, and the sin that results from this blindness. Rider, the protagonist of “Pantaloon in Black” and a classic renaissance picture of manhood thinking from his waist down, demonstrates his capacity to love through violent grief over the death of his wife. Rider, previously a man about town, turns from his drunken ways upon meeting Mannie, his future wife of just six months. As a true pantaloon should, Rider naturally expresses his grief through the strength and intensity of vigorous activity and violent anger. He is first seen shoveling dirt so fast that “the mound seemed to be rising of its own volition, not built up from above but thrusting visibly upward out of the earth itself” ... ... middle of paper ... ...tension continues when Gavin visits the Worshams in their home as they grieve. When Mollie and her husband Hamp start singing the old spiritual “Go Down Moses,” Gavin attempts to explain to them that Samuel’s fate is not Roth’s fault, but the Worshams won’t stop singing. Gavin quickly grows uncomfortable and races for the door, thinking, “Soon I will be outside… There will be air, space, breath” (362). As he leaves, he asks for Mollie’s forgiveness, and she remarks “It’s all right… It’s our grief” (363). This statement succinctly conveys Mollies acknowledgment of Gavin’s attempt to care for her and Hamp in their grief, while simultaneously noting that he doesn’t fully understand the way in which they mourn or how they see the situation. Despite his effort, as a white man, he will never fully understand slave culture or be able to see things from their perspective.
Dennis Covington writes about a unique method of worship—snake handling, in his memoir, Salvation on Sand Mountain. He begins as a journalist, looking in on this foreign way of life; however, as time progresses he increasing starts to feel a part of this lifestyle. As a result loses his journalistic approach, resulting in his memoir, detailing his own spiritual journey. Upon the conclusion of his stay in this world, Covington realizes the significance of this journey, and argues in his memoir that we cannot entirely know ourselves until we step outside of our comfort zone and separate ourselves from our norm.
Marriage is a concept that society takes extremely inaccurately. It is not something one can fall back from. Once someone enter it there is no way back. In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” she tells the story of Delia, a washerwoman whom Sykes, her husband, mistreats while he ventures around with other women and later attempts to kill Delia to open a way for a second marriage with one of his mistresses. By looking at “Sweat” through the feminist and historical lens Hurston illustrates the idea of a sexist society full of men exploiting and breaking down women until men dispose of them.
There are plenty of different kinds of books written, and published today. It’s a interesting form of entertainment that still holds up along side modern adaptations, like television or games. Books have a wider open door to visualization and interoperation. People can read things differently according to their own experiences. It’s up to the author to still allow that room for interoperation while keeping the books characters and plot on track. Looking at a book from the point of one main character, people may want to relate themselves to that character. That way they can feel and experience that change the character does.
Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911. He was the second child of Edwina and Cornelius Coffin Williams. His father was a shoe salesman who spent most of his time away from home. Edwina was a “southern belle” she was snobbish and her behavior was neurotic. As a child, Williams suffered from diphtheria which almost ended his life. Williams attended Soldan High School, a setting he referred to in The Glass Menagerie. Later, he attended University City High School. He then attended the University of Missouri. (Tennessee)
In the book, The Glass Menagerie, the main characters want to leave behind what they are
In life people often think that the life they live in is either a good one and do not think that a change would do their life any good. In reality change is good, but Emily in the short story "A Rose for Emily'; thinks that the life she has lived through is the one to keep and does not want to change it even though to us we might think of her life as a tragic and deprived one.
Zora Hurston was an African American proto-feminist author who lived during a time when both African Americans and women were not treated equally. Hurston channeled her thirst for women’s dependence from men into her book Their Eyes Were Watching God. One of the many underlying themes in her book is feminism. Zora Hurston, the author of the book, uses Janie to represent aspects of feminism in her book as well as each relationship Janie had to represent her moving closer towards her independence.
Throughout many of Toni Morrison?s novels, the plot is built around some conflict for her characters to overcome. Paradise, in particular, uses the relationships between women as a means of reaching this desired end. Paradise, a novel centered around the destruction of a convent and the women in it, supports this idea by showing how this building serves as a haven for dejected women (Smith). The bulk of the novel takes place during and after WWII and focuses on an all black town in Oklahoma. It is through the course of the novel that we see Morrison weave the bonds of women into the text as a means of healing the scars inflicted upon her characters in their respective societies.
Nine patriarchs found a town. Four women flee a life. Only one paradise is attained. Toni Morrison's novel Paradise revolves around the concept of "paradise," and those who believe they have it and those who actually do. Morrison uses a town and a former convent, each with its own religious center, to tell her tale about finding solace in an oppressive world. Whether fleeing inter- and intra-racial conflict or emotional hurt, the characters travel a path of self-isolation and eventual redemption. In her novel Paradise, Toni Morrison uses the town of Ruby and four broken women to demonstrate how "paradise" can not be achieved through isolation, but rather only through understanding and acceptance.
Emily Grierson, a woman of stature and nobility of the once proud South; transformed to a mere peasant, through the fall of the Confederacy and the changes that ensued. Tragic in a sense, the story of her life as told from the author; William Faulkner, in his short story - "A Rose for Emily." (Faulkner 74-79). First published in the popular magazine of his time in 1930, The Forum; Faulkner tries to maintain her self image throughout the story through the narrators eyes as being repressed in nature through her upbringing in society prior to the war and the circumstances of the times as they unfold - while struggling to fill a void of emptiness inside.
Who is the birthday party a rite of passage for, the birthday boy or his mother?
Stubborn, lazy, short tempered, jealous, shopaholic, antisocial, emotional, sensitive, and shallow are all words that can describe a few faults of human nature. The list goes on and on. Humans are flawed creatures. In the theory of naturalism, Human nature contains numerous foibles; it is not perfect. Many people tend to shame these faults and hide them from others, but is that really the best thing to do? Should flaws be hidden and denounced? In the poem “In the Desert” by Stephen Crane, a squatting creature and his actions portray that humans are imperfect beings with faults, however, these faults should be embraced and celebrated rather than disowned and condemned.
Tennessee Williams play The Glass Menagerie relives the horrors of the Great Depression and the effects it had on many people's lives. The story is in many ways about the life of Tennessee Williams himself, as well as a play of fiction that he wrote. However, the story is based on Tennessee and his family's struggle to emotionally deal with the harsh realities that followed the crash of 1929 (807).
Amanda Wingfield in the play, The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams, was portrayed as a distraught southern belle trying to control the lives of her children. In The Glass Menagerie Amanda is the matriarch of her small family who appears at first to be a woman who cared about her children’s futures- that is before she becomes so overbearing that she started to hinder her children’s future. Amanda was a single mother who could never grasp reality. The Glass Menagerie was a memory play that told of a family trapped in destructive patterns. After being abandoned by her husband sixteen years prior, Amanda became trapped between two completely different worlds; worlds of illusion and reality. It seemed like when the world became too harsh or hard for Amanda, she would just simply close her eyes and pretend like nothing was wrong. When the real world became to overbearing for Amanda, she would recall the days of her youth and how great they were. This was simply just a way for Amanda to stay optimistic and stay out of reality. Amanda made the relationship between her and her children very difficult because she never tried to understand her children’s different personalities. Amanda was stuck on trying to mold her children’s lives the way she wanted them, rather than letting her children choose and lead their own lives. Amanda’s way of helping the children did not let her connect with them the way that each of them needed. Due to her one minded opinion, she didn’t see that Laura was a shy girl with low self esteem and needed a mother to show her how to act around the public and that Tom just simply needed to switch jobs and have someone to talk to. Tom eventually left the house because he realized his weak relati...
William Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying" centers on the death and ensuing burial of the matriarch of the Bundren family, Addie. The book is written in first person point of view and is narrated by family members and acquaintances of Addie. It is through the narratives of the other characters that her personality is revealed. Few clearly defined details about Addie are given in the novel, and as such, the reader must learn about her through the narrations of the other characters. Addie Bundren is a complex woman with many conflicting personality traits that often influence others.