The Casual Vacancy Final Essay When Barry Fairbrother suddenly dies of a burst aneurysm, the town of Pagford witnesses a power struggle it is evident by the people on the parish council who want to shut down the local methadone clinic and the kids who are rebelling against their parents. Barry Farbrother’s absence seems to have an effect on a substantial amount of citizens of Pagford and Fields. Following his death there is a casual vacancy in the parish council and an election is held, the candidates consists of Miles Millison, Colin “Cubby” Wall, and Simon Price. The teenagers Andrew and Fats fed up with their parents plot against them and start revealing secrets to damage Price and Walls’ campaigns on the parish council’s website …show more content…
Fats is Andrew Price’s best friend for most of the novel; however, Fats betrays Andrew by making out with his crush Gaia. Fats lack of empathy towards his friend is rooted in his attempts to be authentic. Towards the beginning of the novel Fats explains what he believes authentic nature entails. In The Casual Vacancy during Fats’ explanation of what it means being true to oneself it states, “The difficult thing, the glorious thing, was to be who you really were, even if that person was cruel or dangerous, particularly if cruel and dangerous. There was courage in not disguising the animal you happened to be. On the other hand, you had to avoid pretending to be more of an animal than you were: take that path, start exaggerating or faking and you become another Cubby, just as much of a liar, a hypocrite” (75). Fats adopts a philosophy to avoid becoming what he feels is inauthentic, to act against one’s own desires. Fats believes he has an understanding of what it means to be authentic; however, he does not seem to see the bigger picture. Fats rules out the rest of the world in his philosophy and his actions seem to be an act of senseless rebellion towards his parents and what is expected of him. There isn’t much harm in being inauthentic, not to the point where one needs to meticulously judge one’s every action, to find the root of their intentions. Fats rebellion seems to stem from his feeling of not fitting into his family. This type of thinking leads Fats to disregard his friend Andrew’s feeling when he chooses to make out with Gaia which ends their friendship. Fats also is so caught up in his own desires he is partly responsible for Robbie’s death. Fat’s obsession with getting “laid” leads to the toddler’s death. Throughout most of
The first half of the play concerns a celebration - twins Girlie Delaney and Dibs Hamilton are celebrating their 80th birthdays, and with the gathering of their families comes the eruption of simmering resentments and anxieties about the future of Dibs and Farley Hamilton's farm, Allandale. The second half starts with a funeral and portrays the shattering of the tenuous links that held the family together.
Christa Kurkjian explains in her paper, Is “Fat” the New “F” Word?, that Carver transforms the social norm of being fat—and ugly—to something of a “saving grace” (Kurkjian 3). However, I have to disagree with Kurkjian on her thesis. I truly do not feel Carver’s intent for Fat is to transform the word “fat,” but to elaborate on how people perceive fat.
...eives nothing from the children. It should be obvious to the reader at this point that the children are obviously in no way doing any wrong and are telling the truth to the best of their knowledge. The continual obsession of the governess over maintaining the protection and innocence of the children gets so severe that it causes Flora to come down with a serious fever and Miles grows seemingly weaker and sicker without his sister there with her.
At the start the playwright creates slight allusions that produce tension; Sheila wondered ‘half seriously what had happened to Gerald previous summer when Gerald never went near Sheila’. Lady Croft and Sir George have not come to the engagement feast and Eric is behaving quite anxiously. Eric’s strange behaviour on the cheerful occasion creates trepidation and foreshadows a rather surprising event which interests the audience.
At the beginning of the novel, Golding describes Jack's physical appearance as "inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin and bony; his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled and ugly without silliness" (20). Jack's original intentions were to keep an organized group on the island. Jack agrees with Ralph when he brings the group together, saying, "I agree with Ralph. We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are the best at everything. So we've got to do the right things" (42). Although originally portrayed as a pretty normal boy, evidence of his hostility begins to emerge. While Piggy is talking, Jack exclaims, "you're talking to much. Shut up fatty" (21).
Willie asks Jack to search for secrets on a father figure from his child hood. Judge Irwin was a father figure in Jack’s life as a child. In this situation, Jack’s motivation and responsibility to himself is questioned. Jack discovers that Judge Irwin accepted a bribe and Governor Stanton covers the bribe up. The blackmail influences the suicide of Judge Irwin, makes Adam Stanton accept the position as head of the hospital that Willie is building, and Anne Stanton begins an affair with Willlie. Adam murders Willie when he finds out about Willie and Anne. This horrific event lead to Jack’s retiring from politics forever.
...Piggy was a blow to the islands social make-up and Piggy's subsequent death. Golding's reasons for pursuing this course of action in the sociology of the island are debatable. While it may be a mere exciting plot device, it is also very possible within the context of the macrocosm that Golding is in fact, portraying the island as a person in decay. Previous events including the crash, which could symbolize death and various untended wildfires indicate the island has suffered substantial trauma and loss. Golding's choice to generate conflict between the id and the ego may well be a symbol for a greater crisis for the island/person, where it is reduced to an internalized battle between its two fundamental psychological processes.
narrative focuses on a father and son, Grange and Brownfield Copeland, and illustrates how their respective demons and destructive tendencies affect the people around them. In the opening chapter of the novel, the reader is introduced to Grange as he exhibits abusive tendencies towards his wife, Margaret, while he is in a drunken state. ?Late Saturday night Grange would come home lurching drunk, threatening to kill his wife and Brownfield, he threatened Margaret and she ran and hid in the woods with Brownfield huddled at her feet? (Walker 14). Grange?s prolific consumption of alcohol seems to be a conscious effort to blunt the feeling inferiority he feels as marginalized citizen in southern society. Grange Copeland?s fits of violent anger seems to be misdirected at his family instead of the person whom he truly hates: Shipley.
Mack, the leader of a reckless and erratic gang, through collaboration, brings the boys together into a sense of friendship and community; in The Bean Trees, Kingsolver's strong willed, group of women, develop into a similar relationship. Throughout Cannery Row, the group’s individual responsibilities, for example, Eddie’s part-time job, Gay’s “magic” in mechanics, and Mack’s innovative personality, helps them survive by the help of one another, and adds success to their ambitions, like giving Doc a party. They independently work toward one goal, but in unison. The devotion, as well as teamwork to “give him (Doc) one hell of a party,” becomes the numbe...
The community, although it is very tight and strongly bound by tradition and family, is also troubled and varied. The potato crop is failing, the maps are being changed for the convenience of the English, people want to move out of Ireland, (for example when Maire tells Hugh she wants to learn English for when she moves to America). Things appear to be at peace when we are put into this environment and everything seems well at first, but as we look further into it we can see things are much more deep seeded and dark than at first glance. For example, Doalty steals a piece of equipment from some English soldiers; this cheeky mischief seems harmless until we hear about some of the English horses being lead off a cliff to their deaths. Nothing is what it seems in this play, there are many more issues that lurk beneath the rather innocent surface of this seemingly simple, rural community; feelings of hatred and betrayal course through the bodies of many of the populous. What the English are doing is not right, nor is it fair. They have no right to change the identity of a people for their own convenience.
life in the mid to late twentieth century and the strains of society on African Americans. Set in a small neighborhood of a big city, this play holds much conflict between a father, Troy Maxson, and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. By analyzing the sources of this conflict, one can better appreciate and understand the way the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work.
The Birlings are holding a party to celebrate their daughter’s engagement with Gerald Croft. The pleasant scene is interrupted when a rather shady looking Inspector gives them a visit, investigating the suicide of a young working-class girl in her middle twenties. Each family member is interrogated and they all find out that they are somehow linked to the girl’s death.
Charles is actually Laurie which means that Laurie is arrogant because he talks about himself a lot. Every day, Laurie comes home and tells his parents about the day’s events, the topic that always comes up is Charles. The way Laurie talks about Charles makes him sound like he is someone who makes a great friend or that he is actually popular among other school children but his parents think that Charles is made up of “toughness and bad grammar” (1). Laurie talks about Charles to the point that it has become a “routine” (2). When children talk about someone very much, it usually means they either admire that person or the complete opposite like a child would go on and on about a superhero. The language he uses to describe Charles to his parents also suggests that he thinks Charles is not a bad influence. He mentions to his mother that even though Charles gets into trouble and the teacher warns the class not to play with him, everybody still does. Laurie makes it sound as if everybody thinks Charles is likable enough for everybody else t...
I would recommend this book to others because it shows the unity and division of small town life. Being from a small town myself, I can relate to how issues are played out in our communities before any official judgments are passed. I feel that I most identify with Jake Brigance because he has a desire to see justice served in the most honorable manner. Even the poorest of humanity deserve to be represented to the best of one’s ability. This novel is evidence of my opinion that small towns are great to live in and the majority of people join together to help their neighbors in time of need.
The plot of the novel follows traditional plot guidelines; although there are many small conflicts, there is one central conflict that sets the scene for the novel. The novel is about an embarrassing mismatched couple and their five daughters. The novel begins with Mrs. Bennet, telling her daughters of the importance of marrying well. During this time a wealthy man, Charles Bingley, moves close to Netherfield, where the Bennets’ reside. The Bennet girls struggle to capture his attention, and Jane, who judges no one, is the daughter who manages to win his heart, until Mr. Bingley abruptly leaves town.