...Importance of Friendship In Lisa See’s novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, protagonist Lily, a young girl longing for love, is paired with a laotong, or old same, and begins an emotional relationship meant to last a lifetime. Snow Flower, Lily’s old same, influences the young girl’s personality and character through her actions. The inspiration from her laotong provides Lily with the confidence to take risks and live for herself, not others. As her old same, Snow Flower passionately loves Lily like no one had before, and in doing so teaches the young neglected girl to show affection to those she cherishes. Although a secondary character, Lily’s laotong, Snow Flower, provided inspiration and love that critically shaped Lily’s personality. Old sames forever, Snow Flower’s childhood actions shape Lily’s life by inspiring a usually timid and proper Lily to take risks later in life. In the beginning of their laotong relationship, Snow Flower’s ability to fly against the traditional ways presented to her encouraged Lily to do the same. Exhilarated by Snow Flower’s bravery, Lily often wanted, “to cling to her wings and soar, no matter how intimidated I was” (61). Snow Flower’s courageous ability to take risks and chances caused a hesitant Lily to covet her laotong’s perilous actions. Providing Lily with an example at a young age helped model Lily into a carefree woman, who tended to hesitate less when taking chances. After receiving an embroidered baby jacket as a gift...
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...The literal definition of an epic hero is “a brave and noble character in an epic poem, admired for great achievements or affected by grand events”(Dictionary.com). People usually see a hero as someone in a cape, who flies around the city saving people. There are, however, epic heroes in real life. An example would include Princess Diana. She embodied the characteristics of an epic hero because she was capable of deeds of great strength and courage, a national hero, and she faced overwhelming foes. Princess Diana was capable of deeds of great strength and courage. According to “Diana, Princess of Wales,” “Diana earned the admiration off countless people not only for her beauty but also for her compassion, her honesty, her strength, and her...
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...Courtney White Victim or Manipulator? How do Shakespeare in ‘Macbeth’ and Steinbeck in ‘Of Mice of Men’ present female characters? Both Shakespeare and Steinbeck have presented their characters in ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Of Mice and Men’ as women who possess the features of a manipulator and a victim. Both elements are a question of power; manipulation being able to overpower someone else, whereas a victim is a subject to someone else’s power. Lady Macbeth and Curley’s wife both manipulate men using their femininity: Curley’s wife shows this as she manipulates the men on the ranch using her appearance and Lady Macbeth uses her sexuality to persuade her husband to kill the king and by welcoming Duncan into her home, even though she was plotting to kill him. Alternatively, there are differences between the two women, as Curley’s wife is lonely and isolated on the ranch, her husband disrespects her and is disliked by all the men on the ranch and as a result, manipulates the men innocently to get some attention. Lady Macbeth desires power and fame, and acts manipulatively and selfishly to get what she wants. Lady Macbeth is upperclass, giving her more freedom to do what she wanted. She had status, wealth, glamour and equal partnership with her husband. This was very unusual for the time- Shakespeare has presented her as a very modern anti-heroine. The writers have also presented the women as victims of their gender. During the time each text was written women had restrictions placed on...
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...Worldview Assignment APOL 104- D09 July 15, 2013 Worldview Assignment A worldview is shaped by the opinions, thoughts and conclusions of others, such as parents, teachers, media, friends and our religious leaders. What we receive from these sources will play an important role for years to come in defining who we are as individuals, our belief systems, how we view our fellowman, the schools we attend and where we live. In addition, it affects morality and how we define right and wrong, social and political issues. The way we view the world has a direct correlation to our decision-making, which will not only impact our lives in a positive or negative manner, but those around us. The Bible tells us that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it for his glory (Gen 1:1). The Universe did not come into existence by happenstance as the Secularist would have you to believe, but the work of intelligent design (John 1:3). The Bible is the standard by which the Christian Biblical Worldview is framed and our standard for living. Humanity began when God articulated that He was the architect of it. God took dust from the ground and created Adam and breathed life in him, and out of Adam came Eve. What makes humanity so special is that we were not spoken into existence, but sculptured by the loving hand of God, in his image and likeness. We did not evolve from the animal kingdom as Darwinism states. Humanity is unlike any other creation of God; we were...
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...this play feeling “unspeakably empty.” (9) Her husband and mother have died and younger brothers have grown up, so Christine is left with no one to serve. Serving others is all she has done and, when that is taken away, she feels lost and alone—as if she does not have a purpose in life. This characterizes Mrs. Linde as the ideal wife in the 1800s. Women, as discussed in Carroll Smith-Rosenberg’s article about sex roles in the nineteenth century, were supposed to manage everything about the home. Women should “manage the family’s day to day finances, prepare foods, make clothes, compound drugs, [and] serve as family nurse,” which is exactly what Mrs. Linde had done. (656) In the last act, however, Mrs. Linde not only finds a new family to love and care for, but also a new sense of self in the relationship. As Christine and Nils are planning their future, Christine realizes she does not just want to serve Nils like she had done in her previous relationship. She still wants to care for Nils but she also wants Nils to care for her. This can be seen when Christine speaks of her and Nils leaning on each other like “two shipwrecked people” standing together. She mentions, “two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own.” (54) While each half of the marriage is imperfect, together they can fill the areas where the other...
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...including first person monologues of the protagonist, Kent allows us to appreciate Agnes not just as an evil scheming murderess, but as someone with a complex history and vulnerabilities, offering a deeper understanding of her experience. The use of material from historical archives to preface the chapters of Burial Rites, creates a powerful authenticity to the story that provides a factual skeleton of Agnes, as well as insights into the way she was treated by the authorities. Kent is able to use ‘truths’, such as her literacy, intelligence and poverty, established by the Ministerial Records and inventory of her possessions, to flesh out the persona of Agnes and explore their implications in terms of her experience. They also reveal the deep love and attachment that Agnes had for Natan and her continuing grief over his loss, through her poetry in response to Poet Rosa, with lines like “do not scratch my bleeding wounds” and “my soul is filled with sorrow”. This suggests that rather than the narrow view of her murdering out of rage and hatred, that there may have been a more complicated situation, which Kent explores further. And, the official letters of District Commissioner Blondal indicate the hardline patriarchal approach of the law, at a time when women had minimal rights. His words characterize him as officious and...
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...True and False What exactly is the difference in love and lust? One would say love is a bond between two souls and lust is a connection of two people through a material object. In “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” written by Ernst Hemingway, Harry and his wife Helen have a very peculiar relationship. While trapped on the Mountain of Kilimanjaro, Harry has a severe case of gangrene in his leg and is practically immotile. He enters into a state of depression and bestows all negative feelings onto his wife. In the pit of Harry’s despair, he turns further away from Helen and shows the reader his true colors towards their relationship. He becomes undesirable, pessimistic and looks at nothing positive in his life. By doing this, he exemplifies the death-in-life aspects of his life and is negative in way that he has confronted his death earlier than anticipated in a most uncommon way. By doing so, he pushes Helen’s love aside and ignores her calls for sympathy. Helen stands by her husband, as any loving wife would do in an intense time, yet Harry denies the given love. Throughout Hemingway’s story Harry and Helen display two very different types of love for one another; love verses lust, these become apparent are shown through the progressive downward spiral of Harry's mental and physical digression. Harry gave up on his desire to live, long before his life was actually taken. At the beginning of the short story, Harry exemplifies a man in decline. Hemingway begins the story with Harry saying...
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...yet not finding any at the time. Furthermore, Ginsberg screams in his poem saying, “Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!” (Line 81). Moloch is a person(s) who has no love for people and judges them as well. Ginsberg describes Moloch as a nightmare, as a dream crusher, explaining that certain authorities (Moloch) tell people how we can and can’t live- like a government. I think he believed that it would be dangerous towards society if any form of government had wide-raging control, which is why I think “Moloch” is the...
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...problems often manifest as depression or anxiety. The children who suffer physical abuse at a young age by their parents or care givers have a greater imprint and is taught that he or she has no one to turn to for help. Addie Bundren exhibits several of the physiological sign of being abused as a child. These long term effects not only dictated how she lived her life but also how she raised her own children. Now her children have also become victim not to physical abuse but physiological abuse and neglect. In situations such as this the cycle will most likely continue on through generations to come. When a child is abused at the hands of their caregiver or parents they begin to believe that they are unlovable. They often enter into loveless relationships just as Addie did with Anse. While there might be multiple reasons for her marrying Anse she had became accustom to being surrounded by people who mistreated her and did not show her affection. Before marrying Anse, Addie had a career as a schoolteacher in Addie sections she speaks about punishing the children “I would look forward to the times they faulted, so I could whip them”.(170) This is the quote that leads you to believe Addie herself was abused as a child. Children that are abused unconsciously repeat the cycle of what they experienced as children when they become adults. Addie may have been aware that she was not going to be a good mother. She may have felt the lack of being able to bond with other people...
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...1931. The 1930’s faced a new wave of violence and sexuality in America, and the American ideals that founded this country were being questioned in the eyes of its residents. James M. Cain’s novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, shows the lack of hope that most Americans had in a society where hard work and good intentions were no longer bringing opportunity. His main characters Frank and Cora, a wanderer and a femme fatale, reflect the suffering that surrounded the Great Depression and the feminist movement. Cain reveals the American Dream to be flawed and easily corrupted by desperation and hardship. What exactly is the American Dream? The reason this is so hard to define is because “the American dream” is an intangible concept like “love” or “peace.” This dream is usually different to every individual, but one thing is for sure, it starts in America; so as far as definitions go we can think back to the Declaration of Independence in 1771. It states that all men in the United States are given certain “inalienable rights” that consist of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This means that men and women had the right to be recognized by their knowledge, talent, and hard work instead of their race, class, religion, gender, or other social stratifications. It sounds like a perfect motto to live by, and most Americans work their whole lives trying to receive these privileges; but life is filled with inequality and in many cases the system provides more obstacles than...
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...The Story of an Hour 1. There are many themes in The Story of An Hour; ‘heart trouble’ – which describes not only the physical affliction of Mrs Mallard but also the emotional suffering in her marriage. Three other themes that are prominent within this story are; death, freedom and oppression. Though, the themes of freedom and oppression can be seen as the main themes within this story, as we see the character of Mrs Mallard – a Mallard is a type of wild duck, which can be seen as being symbolic of her need to be free and to live for herself – struggle to cope with the apparent death of her husband. ‘She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment’, until she was alone in her room where she began to come to the realisation that she had the freedom to be herself, to be ‘free, free, free’ from the restraints of marriage. There is an inward struggle between Mrs Mallard accepting this new freedom, as when Mrs Mallard retires to her room she is told to come out of her room for fear that she would ‘make herself ill’, whereas on the contrary we see that ‘no; she was drinking in a very elixir of life’. Here we see the theme of oppressive nature of marriage appear. As a newly founded widow, she is expected to be upset just as she was expected to be happy in marriage, whereas on the contrary we see that in reality she was not happy then but only happy now her husband is dead. This use of dramatic irony, highlighting the contrast between the characters reality and what is expected...
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...Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian American author who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her book Interpreter Of Maladies. The book is a collection of short stories that addresses the topic of romantic relationships and marriages of Indian Americans, who are entangled in a new culture (the United States). Lahiri illustrates the nature of relationships throughout her book. She includes examples of love and tolerance. However, I believe that Lahiri puts the most emphasis in exploring the portrayal of romantic relationships as a type of malady with accompanying symptoms. One symptom that indicated the malady of marriage is the lack of communication. This is most easily seen in Shoba’s and Shukumar’s relationship in “A temporary Matter”. Their breaking down of communication is driven by their...
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...calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head. (Robinson, 4)”. This climactic end to “Richard Cory” was benevolent to inner health and the realism was indicated in “Richard Cory”. Naturalism and Realism are Real people, Places, settings, conflicts. Also shows when nature has caused issues with the character's objective. Three works were chosen to really show what Naturalism and Realism are: Ethan Frome, a man who his whole life turned around several times because of illness and his struggles with love. “The outcasts of poker flat”, who are misfits to society, are kicked out of the flat and must travel...
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...Dalairis Amaro Professor Riebman HIST 103 December 6, 2013 Courtly Love: The Emancipation of Love Woman have never been viewed equally in society, they are expected to be pure, innocent, and silent while men are not held to that same standard. Men have always been allowed to have multiple women, and been put in a position above their woman. She is merely a possession that owes him loyalty, respect, and honor. In Medieval times a woman was simply an acquisition like acquiring land. This idea that women are held to higher expectations in morality and purity is something instilled by the church centuries ago, but something that still remains current. Just in 2009 there was an incident in Sicily where a man decapitated his wife in front of his family because she was having an online affair. Giuseppe Castro, 35, stabbed his wife Gia Scuto, 41, in the neck, then sawed her head off after seeing messages she was sending back and forth with her online lover (Nelson, “Jealous Husband”). Castro stated “She was chatting with other men I just couldn’t take it anymore” (Nelson, Jealous Huband). The possession that Castro felt over his wife is an entitlement that has been passed down through centuries. His wife owed him loyalty even if they were unhappy or she was being mistreated. The institution of marriage has never been about love, but more about economic gain or accomplishing political goals. Most women were married off to complete strangers. If they loved each other it came...
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...The 19th century was a time of great political and social upheaval in Russia. Beginning with the abolition of serfdom in 1861, Russia experienced the age of the Great Reforms, leading to a complete overhaul of the country’s social and political climate. This age of restless transformation led to the realization of a new cultural phenomenon: suicide. Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina supports the notion that a national suicide “epidemic”, as the journalists of the time interpreted the statistics, was a by-product of the decomposing societal and moral order produced by the inception of material progress. Furthermore, Anna Karenina mirrors the “cultural institution” of suicide that erupted in the 1860’s and offers a realistic, albeit fictional, representation of the suicide phenomenon regarding both peasants and nobles. Leo Tolstoy, through use of railroads as a symbol in Anna Karenina, shared views similar with his contemporaries on the negative impact of material progress on the mental health of Russian society. Approximately 30 years before the reforms of the 1860’s, an Englishman who traveled to St. Petersburg, Thomas Raikes, Esq., commented that Russians had not yet experienced the progress of civilization that accounted for the misery leading to suicide. At the time, Russians were not yet privy to the amount of responsibility over their social and political conditions as they would be when the reforms took place, therefore they still lived free of the passion and anguish which...
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