Fiela’s Child by Dalene Matthee tells the story of a South African, coloured woman, Fiela, who adopts Benjamin, an abandoned white child. Within the novel, Matthee effectively uses the symbolic actions of the characters, strong diction, and both positive and negative word choice in relation to the contrasting relationships Benjamin formed with both Fiela and Elias in order to display the influence each relationship had on Benjamin’s acceptance of his identity.
To begin with, when we are first introduced to Benjamin it is noted that he “had always known that he was his parents’ hand-child…but it never mattered because he was just like Dawid and Tollie and Kittie and Emma in the house (10).” This scene effectively displays the love that Fiela
By revealing Elias’ emphasis on economic gain, the author quickly displays Elias as a selfish person. Thus, Matthee quickly asserts the stark contrasts between Elias’ and Fiela’s personality, since Fiela is conveyed as a motherly woman who emphasizes work for the benefit of her family, not herself. Due to the contrast between Elias’ and Fiela’s personalities, Benjamin begins to question where he truly does belong if he does not belong with the Komoetie family, but doesn’t believe he belongs with the Van Rooyens. Thus, Matthee effectively uses the contrast between Fiela’s and Elias’ familial relationships when it comes to labor in order to cause Benjamin to lose acceptance in his identity both as Benjamin and
For example, Benjamin attempted to escape the Van Rooyen household in order to return to Fiela in the Long Kloof, however, Elias catches up to him (157-58). Elias threatens Benjamin to “just try running away now,” and Benjamin begs “please, master!” in hopes that Elias would not harm him (158). However, Benjamin’s begging further angers Elias because Benjamin, his “own flesh and blood”, was calling him “master like a Coloured (158)”. Therefore, Elias begins to lash Benjamin with an ox rein while asking him “Who am I…Who’s your ma…And who are you?” to which Benjamin responds “Benja-Luckas” (159). By using negative diction and word choice, the author displays Elias’ determination to ensure that Benjamin loses his old ways and stops acting like a coloured child. As well, when Elias asks Benjamin who he is Benjamin begins to utter the name he has had since birth, but he proceeds to correct himself and says Luckas. Through the action of Benjamin correcting himself, the author effectively displays Benjamin losing connection with himself. Continually, through Elias’ brutal actions, Matthee successfully displays Benjamin being pressured to lose connection with his past family and identity as Luckas in order to assimilate to his new life style and be accepted within
Jennifer Saake is the daughter of Ralph and Betty Camp. Jennifer was born in 1972, after her parents struggled with infertility issues. Saake spent her childhood years on the mission field in Japan.
When thrown into a foreign country where everything new is particularly strange and revolting, the Price family would be expected to become closer; however, the exile from their homeland only serves to drive the family farther apart. In Leah’s case, as a impressionable child in need of guidance in a dramatically foreign country, she remains loyal to her father, idolizing his close-minded ways. This blind devotion unknowingly
...approval by their family and the people around are considered as the most common trend between teenagers around the world and are used throughout the novel. Josephine was first introduced to the reading knowing that she was unsure of her identity and how she was searching for acceptance from her grandmother due to her illegitimacy. Marchetta created Josephine’s characteristic as one that the readers can truly understand and allow them to be able to feel a connection and a relation between the characters in the novel and themselves; it can make them realize that this is a social issues that each generation of teenagers face on a daily basis. The characters in the novel accompanied by the themes such as stereotypes and social statuses supported the author’s idea of creating a novel in which comment on the social issues and reflect reality within the novel.
As for the analysis of the book itself, although the author aims toward providing a chronicle of two years in the lives of the two brothers, he actually ends up writing more about their mother. He discusses LaJoe's parents, how they met and married and why they moved to Horner. He depicts LaJoe as an extremely kind-hearted yet tough woman who will do anything to help not only her own family, but all the neighborhood children as well. LaJoe feeds and cares for many of the neighborhood children. For this, she is rare and special in an environment of black mothers who are prostitutes and drug addicts. She sticks by her children when most mothers would be ashamed and disown them. I finished this book feeling a great deal of respect and admiration for LaJoe and everytihg she went through.
Shakespeare’s introduction of the other couple in question is in stark contrast to the way in which Beatrice and Benedick were introduced. Claudio and Hero are amorously receptive to one and other from the very start. Upon laying eyes on Hero, Claudio remarks of her to Benedict “is she not a modest young lady?” (1.1.125). Clearly, by having Claudio express his fondness of Hero to Benedick, the playwright directly compares the older and more cynical to the more young and naive, allowing the reader to see the contrasting personas of the two men. This is reinforced by Benedick, who after finishing listening to Claudio’s rhetoric on the charms of the young Hero (“in m...
African American literature is a genre that has, in recent years, grown almost exponentially. African American novels such as Tina McElroy Ansa's Baby of the Family and Donald Goines' Black Girl Lost are increasingly becoming more popular with the public. Baby of the Family is a wonderfully written "coming of age novel" ("Reviews 2") about a young girl named Lena McPherson as she grows up and must learn to deal with her extraordinary powers. Much unlike this, Black Girl Lost is a "shocking novel" (Goines 208) about a young girl named Sandra, who is forced to live on the streets. Though each of these novels is unique in their own aspect, a common bond can be established between the two through the use of language employed in the text. Because of the various functions that language can serve in literature, it is a rather "fascinating phenomenon" (Blackshire-Belay 1) to study in reference to these two novels. In both Baby of the Family and Black Girl Lost, language is used to reflect the speech patterns of the minority culture, as a portrayal of different worlds within the novels, and acts as a mirror to the life of the main character in order to navigate plot speed.
As a child Janie’s race is something she realizes later, but is still an important part of her life. As a child Janie grew up with a white family, named the Washburns, for whom Nanny worked as a nanny for. It is not until Janie sees herself in a picture with the Washburns children that she realizes she is black, Janie recounts her realization t...
“Désirée ’s Baby” is a mix feelings story. It is an intriguing, captivating, and sad short story which reflects her experience among the French creoles in Louisiana (Chopin). I used “sad”, because it shows the level of hatred the white has towards black. The story is about two two families in Louisiana: the Valmonde and the L’ Abri. The story focuses on human relationships; the lives and characters of both family members are subtly portrayed in comparison. The story tells about love, slavery, and racism. Hypocrisy of patriarchal society, gender conflicts, and injustice of racial prejudice are depicted in the story. In the story, racism victimizes everybody without equivalent consequence. The story is heaped with ironies. The narrator uses symbolism and irony to convey the themes of half-blood, racial hatred, unequal gender roles, and social ladder. Irony and symbolism are also used to enhance the story, captivating the minds of the reader until the very end.
“Desiree Baby” by Kate Chopin is a very thought provoking short story that deals with racism, prejudice, and love. The story takes place in southern Louisiana, where Armand, a prominent landowner, marries a girl of unknown origin named Desiree. The story has a twist when their baby is born and is discovered to be of mixed race. Armand knew all along that he was OF mixed race, and I will prove it by analyzing characterization, diction, and imagery.
Throughout Act one and two, Benedick repeatedly says that he will never love a woman or get married. At some stage in the duration of the play his mindset changes. In the end he is head over heels in love for Beatrice whom he once quarreled with habitually. The turnabout in his behavior was brought about by the deceiving Claudio and Pedro who indirectly told Benedick that Beatrice loved him.
Through David and his perception of the many metaphors contained within Giovanni’s room, James Baldwin is showing a negative interpretation of homosexuality as identified in society. The metaphors within Giovanni’s room are Giovanni’s prison, symbolic of Giovanni’s life, holding the relationship between Giovanni and David, being a metaphor of homosexuality for David and being a tomb underwater. These metaphors are negative and exist to demonstrate to the reader that homosexuality is restricting, punishing, dirty and suffocating. These negative connotations of homosexuality are brought from society and internalized by the characters and builds into self hate.
This love story of Benedick and Beatrice, we are shown a love/hate relationship they have for each other. Beatrice doesn’t hold back as she verbally insults Benedick even prior to his arriving by stating “It is so, indeed: he has no less than a stuffed man: but for the stuff, ---well, we are all mortal”. () I can only laugh as this relationship is so witty, candid and such a play on words that are used as almost like a weapon. One has to question why there is such hatred between Beatrice and Benedick, because we know that he is a war hero and respect as such. I think Shakespeare wanted their bantering back and forth to almost be a flirtatious relationship, but neither wants to admit it how they truly feel. This deflection of real feelings is another example of deception that carries on in this play. Their verbal exchanges are harsh but in reality, the truth of their relationship is being hidden behind these words as though they were wearing masks. There is a strong connection between these two when Beatrice was exchanging words with Don Pedro about Benedict when she said “indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one: marry, once before he won it of me with false dice, therefore your grace may well say I have lost it”.
On this train of thought, Felix’,s family hold power over Safie’,s father, but only while he is imprisoned. Once he is freed, the tables turn, and he breaks his promise to Felix of his daughters hand in marriage. Coming form an Eastern society that is suggested to be even more patriarchal than the Western European culture, a power struggle ensues between Safie, who wishes to marry Felix, and her father, who wants her to return home with him. What is most interesting is the fact that it is Safie, with the assistance of another woman, who eventually gets her own way.
A main theme in this novel is the influence of family relationships in the quest for individual identity. Our family or lack thereof, as children, ultimately influences the way we feel as adults, about ourselves and about others. The effects on us mold our personalities and as a result influence our identities. This story shows us the efforts of struggling black families who transmit patterns and problems that have a negative impact on their family relationships. These patterns continue to go unresolved and are eventually inherited by their children who will also accept this way of life as this vicious circle continues.
The novel generally shows that those days’ values, norms of those days are, the dilemma of the weak; equality notions in class differences, richness, and marriage among people. However, my scope is only education and family institution. First of all, I need to emphasize major conflict that are David is born fatherless, and when he is seven years old his mother marries Edward Murdstone, who is unkind and offensive to David and his mother, first event that I realized in the novel. It is a confliction between norms and values because any of societies do not accept being cruel individual behaviors. As it seen, it is unfair and unacceptable because those behaviors harm integrity of family’s values. Anyhow, David protects himself in one of his stepfather’s de...