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No Fixed Address
In Aritha Van Herk’s “No Fixed Address”, one key symbol surfaces many times. The main character’s name is Arachne, which means spider, and sets the reader up to understand the central symbol in the novel—the spider web. The reader sees several other instances of webs showing up throughout the novel. Arachne’s dependence on the road and her random driving is another form of web in “No Fixed Address”. To tie in Arachne’s driving with webs, we see Thomas’s maps as webs of sorts. The most important web that Arachne is seen to weave is that perverbial web of lies—a person can never escape from that web. In the end, Arachne is indeed caught in her own web, and in the end, she is caught in it.
Arachne, in mythological terms, is the master weaver; the women who pitted herself against a god and lost, thus being turned into a spider. Arachne Mantea is much the same. She is constantly putting herself into categories that she doesn’t belong in. Much of her life, Arachne was certain that she was adopted. Her family seems to be poor, but Arachne could not fit herself into that social class. When she finally meets a family that is of a rich class, she realizes whole-heartedly that she doesn’t belong to that class either. Arachne seems to belong nowhere, almost as if she belongs to that race in the heavenlies—this is her first and most fatal lie. When Arachne ceases to belong to any particular group, she becomes capable of anything. Cheating, stealing, and killing are no longer beneath her. If she doesn’t belong where she is anyway, Arachne doesn’t need to remember her past; she doesn’t need to cope with the things that have happened to her. Thus, Arachne forms lies of denial concerning her past and present actions. She represses the memories of a painful youth, while believing that her whoring around will never catch up with her. She begins to live a lie, and one that eventually gets her. Other aspects of her life mirror the level of lie that she is living. The manner in which she drives shows us more than any other.
When Arachne is merely lying to herself, we see her driving in a relatively small area, and very predictably so. She drives a bus, and in doing so, Arachne has a defined route.
In the first part of the novel, he emulates his father, by being deaf to women's wisdom and women's needs, and casually disrespecting the women he should most respect. He chooses to stray from his father's example and leaves town to obtain his inheritance and to become a self-defined man. From Circe, a witch figure, he is inspired to be reciprocal, and through his struggle for equality with men and then with women, he begins to find his inheritance, which is knowing what it is to fly, not gold. At the end, he acts with kindness and reciprocity with Pilate, learning from her wisdom and accepting his responsibilities to women at last. By accepting his true inheritance from women, he becomes a man, who loves and respects women, who knows he can fly but also knows his responsibilities.
...“A war-maker” “A ruler” From this the reader learns that there has been a distinct split between men and women since the beginning of time. It is interesting that Alette is hearing this information from a headless woman. (Notley 91) The woman being headless symbolizes women being praised for their bodies, sexuality, or feminity not for their brains or education. The headless woman says, “my body” “still danced then-” “but my head” “played audience” “to the achievements” “of males” (Notley 91)
Besides this spider-web also represent the fragilely and delicate of
Readers are shown, through the use of structure, the challenges and feelings of going through the swamp. Gooey, sticky mud and the struggle of walking through it are visualized through a wave like structure. The waves represent a person moving forward with hefty and large steps. Oliver also incorporates enjambment in her poem to demonstrate a never ending journey. By avoiding the use of periods at the end of lines, we are show that the struggle of crossing
Friendship and loyalty can be evident in both Charlotte's Web and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Animals and human are indistinguishable. A black creepy spider forms a parallel relationship to Fern's love with Wilbur the pig. When Fern's family sold the pig to another family, Wilbur longs for Fern's friendship. A spider is able to fulfill that need. The spider name Charlotte is very motherly, loyal and friendly to Wilbur. Wilbur feels comfortable in the farm, despite the fact that he grew up in a house with human love and care. Fern experiences similar difficulties as Wilbur. Her mother sees a doctor because Fern was spending too much time in the farm with Wilbur. Fern is able to outgrow the relationship she had with Wilbur, by forming
Jack and the Judge, here is where we mainly see the web at work. Jack, at the request of Willie, went to dig up dirt on the Judge. Jack finds so many things out and as he exposes it everything goes wrong, the spider got him. When Jack reveals his findings to Judge Irwin, his father, he ends up killing himself before Jack has a chance to talk to him father to son. Although, for the most part, Jack's goal as stated at the beginning of the book was that he was to pursue truth and knowledge, he needed to leave this alone because it was a pursuit of knowledge, but it had no positive motive behind it, and, as we have encountered in previous books throughout the year and throughout this one, truth is not always a good and noble thing. In this case the truth led to what destroyed the Judge and Jack was pursuing the truth.
The spider weaves his web in thin air. A hornet flies with purpose through the air. His hive mind telling him to collect. Until the moment he realizes he is caught in the spider's web, A web so dense and powerful it forces him into a death rattle. Alarming the hibernating spider. One eye opens fixating on the hornet. Then a second eye, then a third, as all eight eyes bear down on the hornet. The spiders stomach groans in eminent pleasure. The hornet tries one last time to free him self. But there is no success to his desperate actions. The spiders legs have come to full rest on his web, Hovering over his meal, savoring every last bit of starvation he went through. Then fangs sink in deep into hornets flesh.
Females may be seen as small but they are not disregarded the way that other cultures have done for centuries. For many Native American cultures females and elder women play an intricate role as leaders and wise women. Though warring and hunting were left to the males, females made the daily decisions on how the tribe of village was run. They had many gender specific roles, but were seem more as equals. Spider Woman is a symbol of feminine power and knowledge. What we as individuals take from these teaching depends on the individual. I have come to see the potential and multi-ranged abilities of females in a new
Which is caused by the narrator having a male perspective. The narrator does not give the women and credit or redeeming qualities. All the women follow a general stereotype. If they tried to break away from the stereotype, they would me more important and influential characters. Paquette, a chambermaid in the Baron’s castle, is described as “a pretty and obedient brunette” (5). She is identified obedient not because of her job as a chambermaid, but because she is willing to exploit her soul and body to the men around the castle. In regards to the old woman, she doesn’t even have an actual name, which does not matter since is ugly and useless. The old woman has the mindset that she is; an object; a mistake; a disgrace. That her time has passed as a beautiful useful woman. All the rape and abuse has physically affected her and she is out of luck. In fact, she is lucky if men talk to her, or even look at her without
...irl she always, throughout the end of the play, tends to bow down to her lord with no opposition showing the claim of her character being nothing more than an object for the men in the play to use as a slave with no pay as well as a consistent source of sexual desires.
...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.
The speaker exactly where the spider stands and pays attention to its isolation. Whitman helps us out here by essentially using the word “isolated”. Remember how that spider "stood isolated" in line 2? The writer creates a huge deal about how the soul is also cut-off from other substances and the external world. A reaction of isolation might be the major emotional component of this poem. In addition, the speaker writes how the spider accomplished exploration, and the speaker is almost jealous, wondering how he can imitate it. All that the speaker can do is jot down: “how to explore the vacant vast surrounding” that the spider is so capable of. The theme "Exploration" is easy to point out, since the spider and the soul together explore. This helps us to understand the more positive pieces of the poem. There is a encouraging note here, remarkably at the end. Eventually the spider will begin his web, and the soul will make connection with something throughout that vast ocean. Exploration is thrilling, full of guarantee and hopefulness – although it can also be dreary, terrifying, and
First distinguishable element includes imagery. “Ever unreeling them [filament], ever tirelessly speeding them [filament]” (“Noiseless” 5), Whitman demonstrates how the spider moves in detail, focusing
manliness” so she can kill King Duncan with no remorse - she sees herself as
In Charlotte’s Web, Wilbur is thrown into an entirely new situation, away from Fern, and is forced to adapt and make other friends. In Wilbur’s first interaction with Charlotte, he thinks to himself, “But what a gamble friendship is! [...] Wilbur was merely suffering the doubts and fears that often go with finding a new friend” (p. 41). Once more, it appears that White uses the talking animals to mask a broader focus on life itself. Wilbur overcomes various trials in the course of the book, such as finding himself in an unfamiliar situation, and later ultimately facing Charlotte’s untimely death. The ability to adapt is a necessary life skill, and moreover, dealing with the finality of death cannot be avoided and to pretend that it does not exist does children a great disservice. White introduces controversial topics in a book that is geared toward children, though it should remain a classroom because of those controversial elements. Literature in itself is designed to leave an impression on its readers and White leaves a lasting impression on his young readers as they develop an understanding of unfamiliar situations, and later, death