Heartbreak and Hope: A Craft Analysis of Amy Bloom’s “Silver Water” Amy Bloom’s “Silver Water” is a poignant, beautiful story about Rose, a young woman struggling with mental illness and about how the family deals with the illness. Narrated by Violet, Rose’s younger sister, the skillfully written story navigates the frightening voyage from a beautiful, gifted teenager to a disturbed adult. From beginning to end though, Violet tells her sister’s story with love and tenderness. Using a first-person point of view, a reliable narrator, and well-developed characters, Bloom crafts a story that provokes strong feelings in the reader. It is a story of love and of a family finding their way through the dark waters of mental illness. The story …show more content…
This allows Violet to choose what she feels are the most significant events of her sister’s illness. By doing this, she is better able to form the story and connect with the reader. Instead of telling the events as they happen and perhaps missing a detail, she has the advantage of hindsight. She can include thoughts and perceptions that she wasn’t aware of at the time, such as after Rose’s episode in the kitchen, Violet states that “I’ve only told three lies in my life, and that was my second” (26). That adds a layer to the story that a conventional narrative would overlook. Violet can compare her “beautiful, blonde defender” (22) before her illness to “the mountain of Thorazined fat” (21) of after, making sure the reader sees the stark contrasts between the different versions of her sister with a few skillfully chosen words. She can emphasize the bond her family shared while describing the difficulties they faced when trying to find Rose care by telling of the worst of the doctors, Mr. Walker, “Rose was still nuts, but at least we had a little fun” (23) and the best, Dr. Thorne, “We loved Dr. Thorne” (24). Furthermore, Violet is able to better develop the characters by telling how the family reacts to certain …show more content…
Violet’s mother, who Violet struggles to have a relationship with, accepts Rose’s illness first and approaches it matter-of-factly. Though Violet hints that her mother difficult woman by stating that she is “widely regarded as eccentric” (22) and that they have a strained relationship by looking to Rose as her ”guide to…my mother’s moods” (22), the woman that emerges by the end of the story is strong, sensitive, and intensely devoted to her children. Violet starts showing that sensitive side of her mother when Rose is first taken away, by reassuring Violet that while “Some people go crazy…You never will” (22). She shows the devoted side by telling of her mother’s refusal to accept anything but the best care for her daughter when they came to a place that “had no pictures on the walls, no windows, and the patients all wore slippers with the hospital crest on them” and she “didn’t even bother to go to Admissions,” but “turned Rose around and the two of them marched out” (22). Her mother’s strength is shown fully at the end of the story as she watches her daughters in the early morning, one dying and the other letting her go, when she gathers her remaining daughter into a hug and states “I raised warrior queens” (27). While Violet’s mother appears to undergo changes throughout the story, her father starts and ends the same
She is fairly new to the work world and has lied on her resume’ to get hired, and realizes that the job is harder than she first thought. All hope is not lost because Violet assures her that she can be trained. She ends up succeeding at the company and telling her husband she will not take him back after he comes back begging for her love again.
She occasionally tells her children that life would be much simpler if she didn’t have four children to take care of. Her parenting style reflects deeply on her family’s behavior. The kids want to give up on their mother almost every day because she has little to no determination, but that doesn’t stop them from trying. They have to get her up and ready for work because Rose Mary sees teaching jobs as a betrayal of her true calling and never takes them seriously. Rose Mary believed that the kids should all have jobs in order to support the family even stating “why do I always have to be the one who earns the money?” (pg.218)
Next, consider the text trying to express her frustration with life: “She wants to live for once. But doesn’t quite know what that means. Wonders if she has ever done it. If she ever will.” (1130) You can sense her need and wanting to be independent of everything and everyone, to be truly a woman on her own free of any shackles of burden that this life has thrown upon her. Also, there is an impression that her family does not really care that she is leaving from her sisters to her disinterested father. “Roselily”, the name is quite perplexing considering a rose stands for passion, love, life; while the lily has associations with death, and purity. Still at the same time the name aptly applies to her because the reader knows she is ultimately doomed to wilt away in a loveless marriage in Chicago. Even though she is convincing herself that she loves things about him it is all just a ploy to trick herself into believing that this marriage could be the answer to all her problems. Now on to the men of Roselily’s past most of which are dead- beat dads that could not care about what happens to their children, or where they go.
In Black and Blue, Fran Benedetto tells a spellbinding story: how at nineteen she fell in love with Bobby Benedetto, how their passionate marriage became a nightmare, why she stayed, and what happened on the night she finally decided to run away with her ten-year-old son and start a new life under a new name. Living in fear in Florida--yet with increasing confidence, freedom, and hope--Fran unravels the complex threads of family, identity, and desire that shape a woman's life, even as she begins to create a new one. As Fran starts to heal from the pain of the past, she almost believes she has escaped it--that Bobby Benedetto will not find her and again provoke the complex combustion between them of attraction and destruction, lust and love. Black and Blue is a beautifully written, heart-stopping story in which Anna Quindlen writes with power, wisdom, and humor about the real lives of men and women, the varieties of people and love, the bonds between mother and child, the solace of family and friendship, the inexplicable feelings between people who are passionately connected in ways they don't understand. It is a remarkable work of fiction by the writer whom Alice Hoffman has called "a national treasure.
Another factor that clearly brings out the theme is the fact that she claims that orderliness of family roses is her pride. However she may not necessarily be that orderly as depicted in the development of that story. The author of the story Shirley Jackson uses the author and her ambiguous cha...
An-mei and Rose demonstrate a complex relationship, as An-mei sends cryptic messages to her daughter that she is unable to comprehend; therefore, Rose was not able to inherit the same strength of character that her mother did. This communication barrier creates a dynamic where An-mei struggles to get through to Rose and leads Rose to disregard her mother’s wisdom. As An-mei re-enters Rose’s life when she is nine, she begins to send
The diction used in this scene shows the strength in Rose’s voice. “I’ll take care of your baby for you… cause… like you say… she’s innocent… and you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child. A motherless child has got a hard time. From right now... this child got a mother. But you a womanless man.” This scene is very emotional and climatic. The bluntness of Rose’s words and the lack of sympathy she has for Troy shows the reader how little love Rose has left for him. The last sentence of the quote is really what leaves the reader’s jaw dropped. Wilson allows Rose to say so much with so little. In addition, her strength in this scene is very admirable. For me, I see my own mother in Rose. Most people admire their mother and see them as a mentally strong person. That being said, I am able to empathize with Rose because I am able to relate her to my own mother. I think that if my mother was in the same situation as Rose, she would have taken the baby in as her own as
“: You hungry, Gabe? I was just fixing to cook Troy his breakfast,” (Wilson, 14). Rose understands her role in society as a woman. Rose also have another special talent as a woman, that many don’t have which is being powerful. Rose understands that some things she can’t change so she just maneuver herself to where she is comfortable so she won’t have to change her lifestyle. Many women today do not know how to be strong sp they just move on or stay in a place where they are stuck and unable to live their own life. “: I done tried to be everything a wife should be. Everything a wife could be. Been married eighteen years and I got to live to see the day you tell me you been seeing another woman and done fathered a child by her,”(Wilson, 33). The author wants us to understand the many things women at the time had to deal with whether it was racial or it was personal issues. Rose portrays the powerful women who won’t just stand for the
...e he ruined his marriage by cheating on her. Rose takes care of Troy’s newborn baby Raynell because she believes that Raynell needs a mother figure in her life and not a worthless man; she then kicks Troy out of the house. After Troy dies, Rose forgives him. Rose married Troy after he was released from prison. Troy knows that he is unsuccessful in accomplishing what he wanted for him and his family. Troy is a garbage man who feels that the white man kept him from doing a lot of things that he wanted to do in life. Troy does not have many goals in life. Troy is in own little world and does not like to be judged.
She must stay loyal to her family, even though her family hasn't been loyal to her. She must remain devoted, or loving, to the child, although the fact it is not her own flesh nor blood. In the plays Act 2, Scene 5, Raynell is running around calling Rose “Mama” which the audience can infer she doesn’t know about the death of her mother, due to her young age. The play states, “Mama, can't I wear these? Them other ones hurt my feet.” This was said after Rose told Raynell to put on another pear of sneakers, followed by telling Raynell not to talkback. This shows Rose being both loyal and devoted. She remains loyal to Raynell, treating her as her own, while staying devoted and loving her at the same time. Rose puts the responsibility to her family before her wishes, which shows her loyalty and devotedness, even though it had its
Rose Mary is a selfish woman and decides not to go to school some mornings because she does not feel up to it. Jeannette takes the initiative in making sure that her mother is prepared for school each morning because she knows how much her family needs money. Even though Rose Mary starts to go to school every day, she does not do her job properly and thus the family suffers financially again. When Maureen’s birthday approaches, Jeannette takes it upon herself to find a gift for her because she does not think their parents will be able to provide her with one. Jeannette says, “at times I felt like I was failing Maureen, like I wasn’t keeping my promise that I’d protect her - the promise I’d made to her when I held her on the way home from the hospital after she’d been born. I couldn’t get her what she needed most- hot
“Royal Beatings” begins in the imperfect tense with Rose telling us what her life was like. Her attitude and her circumstances are immediately revealed. Her mother had died when she was still a baby, and so she grew up with “only Flo for a mother.” Her father was not readily available and somewhat scared Rose. Rose loves her family but is not like them; she is clumsy instead of clever and had a need to “pursue absurdities.” Characters are revealed and emotions are discovered but the story does not become about action until nine pages into the story. Then, the reader is thrust into present tense action. Rose vividly describes a Saturday of which she and Flo argue and irritate one another. Rose’s father is called in from his shed by Flo and so he gives Rose what the r...
Tennessee Williams’ play, “The Glass Menagerie”, depicts the life of an odd yet intriguing character: Laura. Because she is affected by a slight disability in her leg, she lacks the confidence as well as the desire to socialize with people outside her family. Refusing to be constrained to reality, she often escapes to her own world, which consists of her records and collection of glass animals. This glass menagerie holds a great deal of significance throughout the play (as the title implies) and is representative of several different aspects of Laura’s personality. Because the glass menagerie symbolizes more than one feature, its imagery can be considered both consistent and fluctuating.
This eventually leads to Waverly’s downfall when she decides to quit playing chess. As an adult, Waverly doesn’t overcome her issues with her mother, “After our miserable lunch, I gave up the idea that there would ever be a good time to tell her the news that Rich Schields and I were getting married” (Tan 167). This quote displays Waverly’s inability to trust and connect with her mother as she grows older. While spending time with her mother at home, Waverly does succeed in recognizing her mother’s importance and true intentions, she states, “In the brief instant that I had peered over the barriers I could finally see what was really there: an old woman, a work of her armor, a knitting needle for her sword, getting a little crabby as she waited patiently for her daughter to invite her in” (Tan 184). The following quote signifies Waverly’s psychological transformation in her journey as she successfully recognizes her mother’s affection and stops confusing her actions with personal attacks.
Violet Weston is the wife of Beverly. She is a conniving woman. After the death of his her husband, she is depressed. To keep herself going, she turns to pills and pain killers. She eventually gets addicted to the drugs. She later learns that her mouth has cancer. Despite her affliction, Violet does not desist from her scornful and evil abuse.