Amber Hutchison Post Modern Fiction Indigo February 23, 2000 People are born with passion. The irony is that most people spend all their lives searching for that passion without looking inside that soul to the heart of the passion. The trick to discovering that passion is to find what makes us happy. For Indigo the main character of Sassafras, Cypress and Indigo by her passion lies in the music she creates from her soul while using her violin as her tool. From a modern literary criticism standpoint this passion is seen through her characterization and the symbolic use of the violin. However in peeling back the layers and focusing on this story from a Post – Modern standpoint the reader uncovers deeper issues. There is a sense of discontinuity in the linear structure that leads to a discovery about the cultural issues in this story. Indigo challenges the boundaries of her age and a society that struggles to find a place for her and her soul. That is going under the assumption that there is a place. "Indigo did not tell her mother about Mr. Lucas being so evil, nor did she mention that her new fiddle could talk."(Norton 43) With in the first few lines of the story Indigo’s violin begins its transformation from merely and instrument to an extension of her soul. Symbolically Indigo’s violin is representative of her soul. With her violin Indigo pursues the passions of her soul as she struggles to find her place somewhere between childhood and womanhood. Indigo’s mother begs her not to play the violin anymore at night because the neighbors complained about the awful noise. She forces Indigo to take lessons or go somewhere else to play. By rejection her violin her mother rejects the heart and soul of Indigo. Only when she flees to Sister Marie Louise’s shed is she able to play her music and bare her soul to the world. The violin takes on the presence of sin in her life as her mother forbids her to play. It is the forbidden fruit that Indigo longs to taste. Indigo’s character constantly revolves through the turmoil of a young adolescent on the brink of woman hood. "Then she would blush, hurriedly out the fiddle back into the case, the Colored and Romance having got the best of her."(Norton 45) Indigo is not ready to take that final step into womanhood but she is brave enough to sample.
Throughout her transformation, she does not only lose her unwanted body parts but also herself. She was “born as usual.” She was “healthy.” She was “intelligent.” Yet, she “offered” her body and became an object for others to point and critique at. Upon the judgments that are harshly thrown at the poor child, “her good nature [was] worn out/like a fan belt.” The poet creates this simile and the tone of insecurity to show that over a long period of time she is no longer able to take in any more criticism. She cannot be “apologizing” any more for how she is. Thus, she conforms to the ways of society by having pieces of her cut off. She becomes a doll, an object that does not live life and that is easily wielded and manipulated by others. This child takes her own freedom away, a freedom that Louise from Chopin’s work strives
Before then she was a spirited woman who was struggling against the traditional binary gender roles. Margaret and Edna parallel each other as they both exhibit masculine characteristics and do not fit in the mould of the 19th century. Edna is even described as a ‘’not a mother-woman’’ (19). She believes that she has no choice in her life. When Mademoiselle Reisz plays a piano piece, it stirs countless emotions inside of Edna. She imagines a man ‘’standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore. He was naked’’ (65). This is a symbol that Edna believes to be impossible for her. That symbol is of freedom. The man has shed all of his weight, his oppression and Edna wonders if this will ever be possible for her. As a woman, she might never be equal and will forever be oppressed and supressed. However, that very night, Edna stands up for herself and gains this awakening. Starting from this symbolic image that she imagines as she listens to the music, she starts to grow into the person she truly is. Chopin writes ‘’ a feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul’’ (70). Later that night she refused to go in with her husband, instead sleeping outside. She ‘’began to feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul’’. Edna was
In the Open-Mindedness personality section, my percentile is a 7. I’m more close-minded, meaning I tend to be conventional, down to earth, narrow interests, uncreative, and I prefer traditional and familiar experiences. In the Conscientiousness personality section, my percentile is an 87. I’m more conscientiousness, meaning I am reliable, well-organized, self-disciplined, careful; reliable, well-organized, self-disciplined, careful, very well-organized, and can be relied upon. When it comes to the Extraversion personality section, my percentile is a 7. I’m introverted, meaning I tend to be shy, reserved, inhibited, quiet, and I probably enjoy spending quiet time alone. When it comes to the Agreeableness personality section, I scored a 78. I tend to be agreeable, meaning I tend to be good natured, sympathetic, forgiving, and courteous. Finally, when it comes to the Negative Emotionality personality section, my percentile is 67. I’m a little bit more nervous/High Strung than Calm/Relaxed.
When comparing my Big Five Personality scores to the class average, I received a score of 6 and the average was 5.7, one score did not come to a surprise. My personality is reliant on my strength of conscientiousness. Individuals who score high in conscientiousness tend to be methodical, well-organized, achievement orientated, and ethically guided. The conscientious personality type has a strong correlation to leader emergence which I can attest is true. I often am the first individual in the group to take reigns because of my organization, self-discipline, and need to create a plan before acting.
Nora and Torvald were very poor and had to watch what they spent, but after Torvald earned a new position at the bank where he works, they no longer had to worry about how much money they have spent. Mrs. Linde, Nora’s friend, came to speak to Nora about her life and what has gone on since her husband has died. Nora then begins to tell her how Torvald became sick and how they had to travel to Italy so he could recover, but since they didn’t have enough money she illegally borrowed money for the trip and has been trying to repay the debt before he or anyone could notice. Krogstad, an employee at the bank, then black mails Nora and threatens to tell her husband that she stole money if she does not convince him to let him keep his job. Mrs. Linde and Krogstad both reveal that they had fallen for each other and she tries to convince him to not tell Torvald of his wife’s secret, but instead she tells him to leave the note for him to find out. Torvald then finds the letter and is angry. He tells Nora mean things and calls her a liar and then tells her she will not be allowed to raise their kids. Once Helene, their housemaid, brings another letter containing the contract the tries to apologize and ask forgiveness. Nora then begins to express her feelings of how they do not belong together and explains that she feels like a “doll” that is played with and admired. She then decides to leave Torvald. Mrs. Linde and Krogstad both used Nora’s secret to get what they wanted. Although, Mrs. Linde didn’t know her secret at the beginning she still used it against her at the end because she felt that Torvald needed to know what she had
My experience with culture shock is far different than what one would expect from a freshman in college. My experience does not fit the mold of what someone would normally think of as culture shock. I have never struggled with the idea of adapting to a new environment, simply because moving place to place has been a constant factor in my life. My culture shock revolved around the idea of being subjected to a set of ideas that I had never been subjected to. My culture shock was experiencing the death of my father, and my mother being diagnosed with cancer in a span of two years. These events required me to grow up faster than I imagined I would ever have to.
When Crusoe meets Friday, he is joyous for having found someone he could finally make his slave as he had been previously. Although not fully envious of Robinson Crusoe, Friday is found stuck in between two worlds. One, where he thinks of Robinson as his friend and the other where he wonders why he is being treated as a slave, and not for his own personal benefit. Robinson’s views are purely of self-profit as he describes his dreams: “to think that this was all my own, that I was King and Lord of all this Country indefeasibly, and had a Right of Possession” (Defoe 72). This passage explains the belief of Robinson Crusoe in the feudal system and the use of hierarchy to promote bourgeois values upon a population. The character of Robinson Crusoe is then used in Green Grass, Running Water in a satirical manner when Thought Woman explains to Crusoe that Robinson Crusoe himself would not enjoy his own company as he is seen as a white supremacist with no place on native land: “But I don’t want to be Friday, says Robinson Crusoe. No point in being Robinson Crusoe all your life, says Thought Woman. It wouldn’t be much fun” (King 295). Furthermore, this remarks insists that Friday was never a true friend to Crusoe when he also states: “it has been difficult not having someone of color around whom I
Innocence ripped away and replaced by premature struggling through life is what outlines Sold by Patricia McCormick. This historical fiction novel follows the story of Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old girl living in Nepal. Desperately poor, Lakshmi can only enjoy simple pleasures, such as raising her speckled goat named Tali, and having her mother Ama brush and braid her hair. When the violent Himalayan rains tear away all that remains of their cucumber crops, Lakshmi’s maimed stepfather says she must take up a job, for he cannot get work. Lakshmi is introduced to the charming Bajai Sita who promises her a job as a maid in a wealthy area of India. Excited and full of hope to help her family, Lakshmi endures the long trek to India where her journey ends at the “Happiness House.” Soon she learns the frightening truth: she has been sold into prostitution. She is betrayed, broken, and yet still manages to come through her ordeal with her soul intact. Sold depicts a story meant to teach and inspire, making the novel a piece that is highly important for all to see and read.
Since its first appearance in the 1886 collection A White Heron and Other Stories, the short story A White Heron has become the most favorite and often anthologized of Sarah Orne Jewett. Like most of this regionalist writer's works, A White Heron was inspired by the people and landscapes in rural New England, where, as a little girl, she often accompanied her doctor father on his visiting patients. The story is about a nine-year-old girl who falls in love with a bird hunter but does not tell him the white heron's place because her love of nature is much greater. In this story, the author presents a conflict between femininity and masculinity by juxtaposing Sylvia, who has a peaceful life in country, to a hunter from town, which implies her discontent with the modernization?s threat to the nature.
Throughout Toni Morrison’s controversial debut The Bluest Eye, several characters are entangled with the extremes of human cruelty and desire. A once innocent Pecola arguably receives the most appalling treatment, as not only is she exposed to unrelenting racism and severe domestic abuse, she is also raped and impregnated by her own father, Cholly. By all accounts, Cholly should be detestable and unworthy of any kind of sympathy. However, over the course of the novel, as Cholly’s character and life are slowly brought into the light and out of the self-hatred veil, the reader comes to partially understand why Cholly did what he did and what really drives him. By painting this severely flawed yet completely human picture of Cholly, Morrison draws comparison with how Pecola was treated by both of her undesirable parents. According to literary educator Allen Alexander, even though Cholly was cripplingly flawed and often despicable, he was a more “genuine” person to Pecola than Pauline was (301). Alexander went on to claim that while Cholly raped Pecola physically, Pauline and Soaphead Church both raped her mental wellbeing (301). Alexander is saying that the awful way Pecola was treated in a routine matter had an effect just as great if not greater than Cholly’s terrible assault. The abuse that Pecola lived through was the trigger that shattered her mind. In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison uses the characters of Cholly Breedlove and Frieda McTeer to juxtapose sexual violence and mental maltreatment in order to highlight the terrible effects of mental abuse.
In “The Key Game,” it can be assumed that the child is only half-Jewish, otherwise the whole family would need protection, not just the father. If the father were to be killed, the son would lose his connection to Jewish heritage. If the son were to be killed, along with his father, this would represent the disappearance of that generation as well as a sense of confusion and fear for the future of Jewish people. In “A Spring Morning,” the death of the daughter is certainly indicative of the death of the future and hope of Europe’s
In both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, we see that there are two types of women who arise from the demands of these expectations. The first is the obedient woman, the one who has buckled and succumbed to become an empty, emotionless shell. In men’s eyes, this type of woman was a sort of “angel” perfect in that she did and acted exactly as what was expected of her. The second type of woman is the “rebel”, the woman who is willing to fight in order to keep her creativity and passion. Patriarchal silencing inspires a bond between those women who are forced into submission and/or those who are too submissive to maintain their individuality, and those women who are able and willing to fight for the ability to be unique.
In the story, “The Flower” by Alice Walker, the main character, Myop, is faced with the harshness of the world she lives in, causing her to face reality and lose her innocence, which causes her to grow as a person. Initially, Myop is like every other ten year old, who hasn’t yet discovered the dangers, that people in the world can cause. “Nothing existed for her except her songs, the stick she clutched in her dark brown hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment” (Paragraph 2). Myop had nothing to fear or worry about in her life, except for things so wanted to think about, which most of the time was discovering new places to see. Myop often left her sharecropper cabin and went to explored the woods alone. “Today she made her own path, bouncing this way and that way, vaguely keeping an eye out for snakes” (Paragraph 4). Many people who have
Culture shock is a feeling of isolation, rejection, experienced when one culture is brought into sudden contact with another. Meeting a different way of living after moving to a new location, uncomfortable feeling of unfamiliar people, culture, etc. I’ve experienced a culture shock when I moved into United States from Russia. Everything felt so different here. At first, I was really quite, and didn 't talk to anyone. A lot of my time I spent watching “strange” people to try to adapt to my new country. People’s actions and views on life confused me a lot when I moved to the US. It was hard for me to find friends. The first thing I did was natural, I would look for people my kind, from Russia. That way I could communicate with them in Russian and find out more about the country I had just moved into. Then, I made a lot of American friends and that helped me to adapt faster. It took me a good three years to adapt to the country, people, different cultures, attitudes and a lot more. Having lived here for five years I 've gotten used to the country, and I really enjoy living here
Monism states that the universe is composed of only one type of substance and monists argue that it can either be the mind or the body that exists, not both. Two ideas that compose monism are physicalism, which holds that all things are composed out of physical matter and idealism that argues how all the things are composed out of mind, not your mind, but God. Philosophers believe that everything is physical and that it can be clarified by all the sciences since they are the branches of physics. Physicalism argues that everything supervenes on the physical and that every existing thing depends on the physical. Idealism states that the mind is all that exists and that the outside world is either mental or an illusion that the mind creates. Idealism also says that all things are ideas. Idealism argues that the physical is a function of the mind therefore saying that the mind is the only one that exists. Monists argue that mental events are physical events and the mind is what has the most control. Monists still cannot come to a conclusion whether the body is the one that exists or the mind is the one that exists. Monism also comes in contact with the concept of supervenience