Often when children are spoiled, they develop a sense of superiority to those around them. However, after leaving the closed environment of a household, the need for authority and supremacy can create unintended consequences imbedded with sorrow. The fallout from this misfortune is seen in “Why I Live at the P.O.” in the family quarrel that ensues due to the return of Stella-Rondo. Throughout the narration, the author asserts that because, the world is apathetic to one’s dilemmas, a shielded and pampered upbringing can only hamper personal development. Through the denial of truth that the family exhibits in attempts to improve relations and through the jealousy that Sister experiences as inferior to Stella-Rondo, the source of hindered maturity …show more content…
In the narration, Stella-Rondo easily regains the position of the family “favorite” through the lies she produces and the family’s seeming acceptance of these lies as pure truths. In fact, however, Mama constantly questions these lies. She reprimands Sister for suggesting that Shirley-T is Stella-Rondo’s biological daughter, but she herself wonders how Stella-Rondo could possibly prove that Shirley-T is adopted. Later, she links Shirley-T’s silence and strange behavior to Mr. Whitaker’s consumption of chemicals, suggesting that she knows that Mr. Whitaker is, in fact, Shirley-T’s biological father. The author uses this characterization of Mama in order to show, that rather than not understanding the difference between truth and lies, she prefers one version over another, therefore allowing Stella Rondo’s irresponsibility in the outside world to be acceptable within the family, leading to her slowed …show more content…
By using the older sister’s point of view to narrate the story, the author is able recount the injustices done to Sister as well as angle for sympathy from the audience. From the beginning of the story, Sister builds a case by blaming the discomfort and anguish of her home on Stella-Rondo. Sister states “Of course I went with Mr. Whitaker first…and Stella-Rondo broke us up”, to depict how the strained relationship with her younger sister started. Although there are many unexpected conflicts within the family, this action of Stella-Rondo stealing her older sister’s boyfriend is the core, driving force of all of the conflicts within the household. To relentlessly reiterate this point, the author uses the narrator’s anger to constantly bring up the separation of the spoiled Stella Rondo and Mr. Whitaker. Then, to effectively pull the reader into the story, the author uses shifts into the second person point of view, such as stating, “Do you remember who it was really said that?”, in order to ask the reader to corroborate to Sister’s defense. These shifts serve as a link to the audience’s pathos and allow for the reader to judge how, rather than taking the narrator’s biased declarations for granted, a pampered personality
As this occurs, the story takes on a comedic aspect from the view of the reader, and we lose our sympathy for Sister. Sister lives in China Grove, Mississippi, presumably a very small town with only a few occupants. She lives with her mother, grandfather and uncle in their home, being the center of attention for the duration of the time until her younger sister, Stella-Rondo returns home. The return of Stella-Rondo sparks a conflict with Sister immediately because Sister is obviously envious of her and has been even before she came back to China Grove. The reader gets clear evidence of Sister’s jealousy toward Stella-Rondo when Sister says “She’s always had anything in the world she wanted and then she’d throw it away.
Harriet Jacobs’ feminist approach to her autobiographical narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl brought to life the bondage placed on women, in particular enslaved black women, during the nineteenth-century America. In an effort to raise awareness about the conditions of enslaved women and to promote the cause of abolition, Jacobs decided to have her personal story of sexual exploitation and escape published. The author’s slave narrative focuses on the experiences of women, the treatment of sexual exploitation, its importance on family life and maternal principles, and its appeal to white, female readers. Likewise, through the use of the Feminist/Gender Theory, issues relating to gender and sexuality can be applied to the author’s slave narrative. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and its lack of reception during its own time disclose the strict boundaries and unique challenges Harriet Jacobs encountered and overcame as a woman in antebellum America.
...’ family is in deep alcoholism, depriving children the benefits of a proper upbringing. The Johnsons are also chaotic and tyrannical. Jimmie and his ilk of brawling youths epitomize the violence that rocked the society. In the middle of this violence is pursuit of vanity. Children are fighting viciously to establish the superior one. Adults are watching on indifferently. Maggie gets into prostitution because of pursuing an elegant life. She lacks appreciation of her beauty and persona. In the end, the question to ponder is whether human beings have the capacity to make personal choices in midst of immense social circumstances. Regrettably, Johnsons share the blame for the kind of person that their children turned out. The society too has remained passive in the midst of great social trepidation. Maggie and Jimmie share the blame for pursuit of vainglorious vanity.
On the Fourth of July, Sister’s monotonous life in China Grove, Illinois is abruptly interrupted by the arrival of her young sister, Stella-Rondo, who has just left her husband, Mr. Whitaker. It turns out that Sister had previously dated Mr. Whitaker before Stella-Rondo even became engaged to him. When Stella-Rondo arrives to the home, she is accompanied by Shirley-T., a little girl Stella-Rondo claims is her legally adopted daughter. Sister places the notion that she does not believes Shirley T. is actually Stella- Rondo’s adopted daughter, but actually her biological daughter, and uses this notion to challenge Stella-Rondo. A big sibling rivalry is created in the house hold that actually tears the family apart. Stella- Rondo tries to turn
...establishing a “home” has essentially been transferred from the parent to the child, and the traditional home, and consequently family, has all but disappeared in our society. This shift undermines the roles of the parents, and forces the child to take on adult responsibilities at a premature age. We live in an on-the-go day and age where nothing seems to remain constant for any time at all, and with this lack of continuity we have lost a great deal of what was once an integral part of society. The thought of a child ascribing to a “home” devoid of anything infallible is not a pleasant one. If every parent would spare a moment in their busy, fast-paced lives to consider the impact of the dissolution of the traditional home upon our children, we might not need films such as “Milo and Otis” to instruct our children to dissociate home from the world around them.
The way that people express their views about the same thing can show a lot about people’s beliefs and their character. Anne Bradstreet, writer of Upon the Burning of our House essentially has the same views as Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, whose most famous sermon is called, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Both Bradstreet and Edwards have God as a very important figure in their lives, they just project their views onto the public in vastly different ways. Bradstreet views God as a forgiving and loving figure and Edwards always describes God as an angry being who will not hesitate to throw people into Hell.
In the personal essay “Context” (1994), the author, Dorothy Allison, explores the difference in lifestyles of the prosperous, sophisticated people and poorer, less fortunate people. Allison develops this by comparing her impecunious childhood with the privileged youth of her lover. Allison emphasizes her lack of certain experiences as child in order to give readers a vivid understanding of what was “normal” or a context for her. This essay is mainly directed towards people who are quick to judge how someone speaks or acts without having a thorough understanding of their context and what they consider as “normal”.
Typically, siblings strive to make themselves better than the other siblings. Sisters often try to find any way to either arrange for the other sibling to get into trouble or sound like the innocent child. In the story Why I Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty, Sister’s narration is inadequate. The sister, Sister, telling the story attempts to make herself sound like the innocent daughter. The narrator’s sister, Stella-Rondo, knows their father, Papa-Daddy, is going to be enraged if someone says something about his beard needing to be trimmed, so she tells him Sister does not like his beard and the situation turns critical. Because she criticizes her family, the narrator wants the reader to believe she is a genuine person living in an unfortunate home. The narrator cannot see past the jealousy and disbelief and works to make the story unbelievable. The narration of this story helped set up the theme of the story.
In John Connolly’s novel, The Book of Lost Things, he writes, “for in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be”. Does one’s childhood truly have an effect on the person one someday becomes? In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle and Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, this question is tackled through the recounting of Jeannette and Amir’s childhoods from the perspectives of their older, more developed selves. In the novels, an emphasis is placed on the dynamics of the relationships Jeannette and Amir have with their fathers while growing up, and the effects that these relations have on the people they each become. The environment to which they are both exposed as children is also described, and proves to have an influence on the characteristics of Jeannette and Amir’s adult personalities. Finally, through the journeys of other people in Jeannette and Amir’s lives, it is demonstrated that the sustainment of traumatic experiences as a child also has a large influence on the development of one’s character while become an adult. Therefore, through the analysis of the effects of these factors on various characters’ development, it is proven that the experiences and realities that one endures as a child ultimately shape one’s identity in the future.
He sacrifices his own rest and comfort in order to ensure his family’s. His hands, which “cracked and ached” from years of labor work, push him out of bed every morning, start fires, and go back to work again. Hayden’s word choice reveals that the narrator’s father is a hardworking man who provides for his family, no matter how much it taxes himself, yet “no one ever thanked him,” including his weary son. This exemplifies the “lonely offices”of a parent’s love,which the speaker regrets misunderstanding in his adolescence. Parents are expected to love, care for, and teach their children without the need of thanks or a reward. When this view is shared by both the parent and their child, their bond becomes more of a duty than a relationship. The love becomes cold and “austere”, instead of warm and inviting, detaching the parent from their child, or in this case, a father from his son. The young man is well aware of his father’s struggle, but never tried to get up
Hegger, Susan. “The Trials of Childhood.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. (Aug 1993): 1B. Rpt. in Family. Vol. 5. Ed. Eleanor Goldstein. Boca Raton, FL: S.I.R.S., Inc., 1993. Art. 17.
In the essay: “ ‘Cinderella’: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts”’, Bruno Bettelheim discusses how Cinderella is a story about the difficulties of sibling rivalry and the degraded heroine ending up on top of the siblings that oppressed her. Bettelheim argues that sibling rivalry is created when a child feels that they cannot win their parents love and esteem in comparison to his brothers or sisters. In addition he argues that every child feels that they deserve to be degraded at some point in their life. The concept of Oedipal guilt, his last point, has some intriguing details included in it, concepts of which could be disputed. However, the main focus of this essay is on how children justify the idea that they should be degraded, and because of the hardships they have faced, risen up and exalted like Cinderella was. He states that Cinderella relates very closely to the youth because they feel like they can relate to her situation more than the majority of people could.
In the museum it states, “The salt paper print, was the dominant paper-based photographic process for producing positive prints during the periods from 1830 through 1860 and its technique was created by Henry Fox Talbot”. The exhibition has many photographs, which were produced on salt paper print, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, published in The Photographic Art-Journal, by John in August 1853, View Out of the window by Robert Montgomery Bird, and National Theatre on Portland Street in 1855 by Josiah John Hawes. One particular piece within the Paper Promise exhibit that interested me was the View Out of the Window. Within the description, it mainly talks about the photographer himself though, a reason why this piece stood out to me was because
Parent/Child relationships are very hard to establish among individuals. This particular relationship is very important for the child from birth because it helps the child to be able to understand moral and values of life that should be taught by the parent(s). In the short story “Teenage Wasteland”, Daisy (mother) fails to provide the proper love and care that should be given to her children. Daisy is an unfit parent that allows herself to manipulated by lacking self confidence, communication, and patience.
Mrs. Marian Forrester strikes readers as an appealing character with the way she shifts as a person from the start of the novel, A Lost Lady, to the end of it. She signifies just more than a women that is married to an old man who has worked in the train business. She innovated a new type of women that has transitioned from the old world to new world. She is sought out to be a caring, vibrant, graceful, and kind young lady but then shifts into a gold-digging, adulterous, deceitful lady from the way she is interpreted throughout the book through the eyes of Niel Herbert. The way that the reader is able to construe the Willa Cather on how Mr. and Mrs. Forrester fell in love is a concept that leads the reader to believe that it is merely psychological based. As Mrs. Forrester goes through her experiences such as the death of her husband, the affairs that she took part in with Frank Ellinger, and so on, the reader witnesses a shift in her mentally and internally. Mrs. Forrester becomes a much more complicated women to the extent in which she struggles to find who really is and that is a women that wants to find love and be fructuous in wealth. A women of a multitude of blemishes, as a leading character it can be argued that Mrs. Forrester signifies a lady that is ultimately lost in her path of personal transitioning. She becomes lost because she cannot withstand herself unless she is treated well by a wealthy male in which causes her to act unalike the person she truly is.