The stars shone brightly above the port village of Mercedi, reflecting in the harbor as they traveled their path across the midnight sky. Schools of colorful fish swam through streaks of pale moonlight beneath the calm waves. Small, wooden rowboats parted the gentle waters carrying flame-flickering lanterns held by grinning villagers. Beyond the boats,toward the horizon, loud cracks made way for brilliantly colored explosions, erupting in different shapes and designs. The floating audience oohed and aahed at the spectacular show. All this, Alexandria Klein could see from the only window of Mrs. Malum’s Home for Abandoned and Lonely Children. Well, she could see all this until Mrs. Malum found the window open, and shut it, scolding Alexa (as she preferred to be called). …show more content…
Malum’s silver-buckled black heels made small dents in the splintery, wood floor. She had a tall stick-like figure which held up a head and face, permanently plastered with the same disgusted expression. A tight bun of gray hair perched at the crown of her head matched the piercing eyes behind the spectacles dangling at the tip of her crooked nose. Tucked into a gray, wool skirt that reached halfway down her shins, was a black sweater that seemed much too big for her thin, frail body. To match her turtleneck, Mrs. Malum wore black tights which were never seen with holes, attaining to the fact that she was very strict and believed that appearances reflected the inner soul. “You know any one of my darling children could fall out this window and be instantly killed!” She said this last bit with more hope than fear hinting in her brisk, British
Once Janie was an older woman in her forties she finally found the love of her life Tea Cakes. Tea Cakes soon became her third husband and has no comparison with the other two marriages. While married to Tea cakes Janie wore whatever she wanted because he was not controlling over her like in either of her other two marriages. Janie usually would wear overalls like Tea Cakes symbolizing how free and not under control she was. ?They don?t need to worry about me and my overhalls long as Ah still got nine hundred dollars in de bank. Tea Cake got me into wearing?
In Karen Russell’s short story St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves Claudette, the main character, and other teenagers are being raised in a home where they learn how to adapt to human society. Some girls accomplish this task while other girls fail. The wolf girl Claudette truly is conformed and successfully adapts to human society. Claudette proves this by her relationship with her other sisters along with her relationship with herself.
...ve interest was free born and wished to marry her. However, after Harriet?s attempts to pursued her master to sell her to the young neighbor failed she was left worse off than before. Dr. Norcom was so cruel he forbade Harriet anymore contact with the young man. Harriet?s next love came when she gave birth to her first child. Her son Benny was conceived as a way to get around Dr. Norcom?s reign of terror. However, this is a subject that was very painful for her. She conveys to the reader that she has great regret for the length she went to stop her Master. Along with her own guilt she carries the memories of her Grandmother?s reaction to the news of her pregnancy. Clearly this was a very traumatic time in Harriet?s life. In light of these difficult events Harriet once again found love and hope in her new born son. ?When I was most sorely oppressed I found solace in his smiles. I loved to watch his infant slumber: but always there was a dark cloud over my enjoyment. I could never forget that he was a slave.? (Jacobs p. 62)
After the death of Jane’s parents, her uncle Mr. Reed has taken her in with his family to a mansion called Gateshead Hall. Nine years after Jane uncle has past she has been trapped in Gateshead Hall while suffering the bitter treatment of her aunt Mrs. Reed. Mrs. Reed was resentful of her husband’s favoritism toward Jane and takes every opportunity to neglect and punish her. When Jane is punished by Mrs. Reed she would be sent to the red room by two of Mrs. Reed servants, Bessie and Miss Abbot. The red-room was “a spare chamber, it was one of the largest and stateliest chambers in the mansion” and in this every same chamber is where Jane uncle past (8). Not only did Mrs. Reed treat disrespectfully but her own son, Jane’s older cousin John Reed. John Reed would abuse and punish Jane several times a day, in the words of Jane; “every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh on my bones shranked when he came near”(4). Everyone would ignore Jane’s plea for help especially Mrs. Reed who would act be blind and deaf on the subject. No one except for Mr. Reed show any love and care for Jane during her childhood in Gateshead Hall. Jane said “I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalage” (10). Jane continued by saying that they did not love her not if as little she loved them. Although the family mistreats her, Jane still wished for the atte...
The illustration of Margaret’s mother standing in the doorway looking down on Clementine shows there is a direct didactic lesson taking place. This picture reinforces the adult-centeredness that is being portrayed because her mother is an obvious authority figure and therefore knows what is right. Margaret’s mothers concern of Clementine’s and Margaret’s behavior shows that she is caring and giving the children knowledge that they should be taking to heart. She is teaching them a direct lesson. Margaret’s mother standing in the doorway, hovering over Clementine, shows that she is the center of authority and gives her power. When she tells Clementine that she should be in her room thinking about the consequences of her actions it shows that Clementine and Margaret need to be thinking about their actions and learning a lesson. Punishment weakens a behavior because a negative condition is introduced or experienced as a consequence of the b...
The heroine, Mrs. P, has some carries some characteristics parallel to Louise Mallard in “Hour.” The women of her time are limited by cultural convention. Yet, Mrs. P, (like Louise) begins to experience a new freedom of imagination, a zest for life , in the immediate absence of her husband. She realizes, through interior monologues, that she has been held back, that her station in life cannot and will not afford her the kind of freedom to explore freely and openly the emotions that are as much a part of her as they are not a part of Leonce. Here is a primary irony.
...cts of the mother and the descriptions, which are presented to us from her, are very conclusive and need to be further examined to draw out any further conclusions on how she ?really? felt. The mother-daughter relationship between the narrator and her daughter bring up many questions as to their exact connection. At times it seems strong, as when the narrator is relating her childhood and recounting the good times. Other times it is very strained. All in all the connection between the two seems to be a very real and lifelike account of an actual mother-daughter relationship.
In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa Dalloway undergoes an internal struggle between her love for society and life and a combined affinity for and fear of death. Her practical marriage to Richard serves its purpose of providing her with an involved social life of gatherings and parties that others may find frivolous but Clarissa sees as “an offering” to the life she loves so well. Throughout the novel she grapples with the prospect of growing old and approaching death, which after the joys of her life seems “unbelievable… that it must end; and no one in the whole world would know how she had loved it all; how, every instant…” At the same time, she is drawn to the very idea of dying, a theme which is most obviously exposed through her reaction to the news of Septimus Smith’s suicide. However, this crucial scene r...
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
Since Ma’s kidnapping, seven years prior, she has survived in the shed of her capturer’s backyard. This novel contains literary elements that are not only crucial to the story, but give significance as well. The point-of-view brings a powerful perspective for the audience, while the setting and atmosphere not only affect the characters but evokes emotion and gives the reader a mental picture of their lives, and the impacting theme along-side conflict, both internal and external, are shown throughout the novel. The author chooses to write the novel through the eyes of the main character and narrator, Jack. Jack’s perception of the world is confined to an eleven foot square room.
“It was a large, beautiful room, rich and picturesque in the soft, dim light which the maid had turned low. She went and stood at an open window and looked out upon the deep tangle of the garden below. All the mystery and witchery of the night seemed to have gathered there amid the perfumes and the dusky and tortuous outlines of flowers and foliage. She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet half-darkness which met her moods. But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the stars. They jeered and sounded mourning notes without promise, devoid even of hope. She turned back into the room and began to walk to and fro, down its whole length, without stopping, without resting. She carried in her hands a thin handkerchief, which she tore into ribbons, rolled into a ball, and flung from her. Once she stopped, and taking off her wedding ring, flung it upon the carpet. When she saw it lying there she stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the glittering circlet.
The heavy door seemed like a prison door that was meant to keep inmates inside. The Nurse on the other hand who was attending the visitor’s desk was dressed in a white uniform. She was as cold in her reception, similar to the day that was cold outside. Marian does not tell the nurse her true intentions of being there except that she was a campfire girl wanting to visit some old lady. When asked by the nurse in a manly voice “Acquainted with any of our residents?” (122), Marian nervously pushing her hair behind and stammers “With any old ladies? No – but – that is, any of them will do”. (122) showing that the both of them were really not concerned about the
Early on the reader is aware that Mary Katherine thoughts are unusual and eccentric for a girl her age. Mary Katherine was brought up as upper class in a small village, living with her family until their sudden death. With only her Uncle and
Mrs. Sommer’s was a wealthy woman at some time in her life before she married her husband and had children. She tries not to think about her past, as she is now in the present. She, is merely, doing the best she can. She wished her children had the finer things in life such as better clothing. The children’s clothing was nothing short of rags and tears. Children’s clothing was sewn by hand, so they didn’t
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...