Directed and written by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, the movie “Butterfly Effect” is about a young man (Kutcher) who blacks out harmfull memories of significant events of his life. As he grows up he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life. This movie teaches a simple lesson about life: one little thing in the past can change the whole outcome of life later. The book Bonesetter’s Daughter, by Amy Tan, also has something to do with past, as it is narrated by two people, mother and daughter, who talk about themselves, constantly referring back to the memories of their childhood. They regret the mistakes they have made as a little girl. If only they didn’t make the mistake in the past, they would have a totally different fate then.
Ruth’s life is much affected by her childhood memories with her mother LuLing. Whenever Ruth doesn’t obey her, LuLing threatens by saying, “Maybe I die soon!” (54), and “LuLing’s threats to die were like earthquakes” (54). Ruth’s childhood earthquakes caused Ruth to “think about death every day” (121). If one’s mother threatens to kill herself, nothing would be worse than that for a child. Ruth had to go through all those in her sensitive years, and as a result death became an overwhelming figure in her life.
Ruth also remembers how LuLing would embarrass her by seeming too Chinese at a time when she was so anxious to consider herself American. Tan skillfully portrays the growing pains of Ruth humiliated by her mother’s inability to accept the Western culture: “Her mother couldn't even say Ruth's name right. It used to mortify Ruth when she shouted for her up and down the block. ‘Lootie! Lootie!’ Why had her mother chosen a name with sounds she couldn't pronounce?” (49).
Both LuLing and Ruth are unable to connect with their mothers, who have hidden their past. The secrecy has deprived mother and daughter from the shared fate and emotions that are necessary for understanding each other. Art tells her, “In all these years we've been together... I don’t think I know an important part of you. You keep secrets inside you. You hide. It’s as though I’ve never seen you naked” (360). Though she has nothing to hide, Ruth has unknowingly adopted this attitude of secrecy and remains distant from those she loves.
As a girl, Ruth could only express herself freely in a diary, which her mother repeatedly found and read.
Morrison places emphasis on Ruth’s upbringing in order to convey her idea. Ruth was born into an upper class setting and from a young age had the things that some of the white girls had and it made her feel good as well as beautiful because she had the dresses and all of the beautiful European materialistic things that they had. Ruth spent her childhood in an environment that was more Europeanized than that of her racial community with no one there that was like her making her feel that she is, “little; I mean small, and I’m small because I was pressed small. I lived in a great big house that pressed me into a small package. I had no friends, only schoolmates who wanted to touch my dress and my white silk stockings"(124),Ruth’s childhood consisted of her receiving compliments on the materialist things which she perceived as making her beautiful and therefor making her feel as though she is the clothes and not a naturally gorgeous African American woman and has in turn internalized the compliments on her items as her beauty and now feels that the only thing that makes her beautiful are her clothes For Ruth the white stockings and all the European clothes have consumed Ruth, but much like Hagar; Morrison uses Ruth to emphasis and
Ruth led a life broken in two. Her later life consists of the large family she creates with the two men she marries, and her awkwardness of living between two racial cultures. She kept her earlier life a secret from her children, for she did not wish to revisit her past by explaining her precedent years. Once he uncovered Ruth's earlier life, James could define his identity by the truth of Ruth's pain, through the relations she left behind and then by the experiences James endured within the family she created. As her son, James could not truly understand himself until he uncovered the truth within the halves of his mother's life, thus completing the mold of his own identity.
Ruth is a character whom Susie has not interacted with much while she was living, but in heaven, they felt a special connection. “it’s strange the memories you keep . . . [Susie] remember[s] the girl . . . , Ruth Connors. The kids at [her] school said that she was weird, but now [Susie] know[s] she saw things that others didn’t” (221). In a short moment before Susie is brought to heaven, her soul touches Ruth Conners, an experience which ruth describes as dreamlike, unforgettable. Ruth and Susie seem to be counterparts, one on Earth and one on heaven. In contrast, though, Susie wishes desperately to return to Earth, while Ruth hopes to explore heaven. As the novel progresses, however, Ruth understands that there is no use in attempting to change the past. It was when Ruth and Susie’s souls exchanged that she realizes this truth. When Ruth’s soul was in heaven, she speaks to all the women that were murdered, helping her gain understanding of the link between the dead and the living. Later, Ruth continues to do what she loves to do: investigate crimes and the dead. She moves to New York City, and applies her second sight to help others instead of dwelling on Susie’s death. Clearly, Ruth, as Susie’s earthly counterpart, is able to move on to a better life when Susie loses her connection between them.
As her "daddy's daughter", there is little doubt that a form of love exists between Ruth Dead and Dr. Foster; however, such love is not truly love because as evidenced by Ruth's subsequent life, the filial relationship better resembles an emotional dependence that Ruth took for granted (67). The great emotional schism within her that is the result of her father's death leaves Ruth dysfunctional: she is unable to emote towards other, especially her family. Instead, ...
3. Ruth - Mama is unable to accept the fact that Ruth might find it necessary to have an abortion.
For this paper I read the novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, this novel is told in the span of 25 years, it is told by two characters David and Caroline, who have different lives but are connect through one past decision. The story starts in 1964, when a blizzard happens causing the main character, Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. During the delivery the son named Paul is fine but the daughter named Phoebe has something wrong with her. The doctor realizes that the daughter has Down syndrome, he is shocked and age remembers his own childhood when his sister was always sick, her dyeing at an early and how that effected his mother. He didn’t want that to happen to his wife, so David told the nurse to bring Phoebe to an institution, so that his wife wouldn’t suffer. The nurse, Caroline didn’t think this was right, but brings Phoebe to the institution anyways. Once Caroline sees the institution in an awful state she leaves with the baby and
Ruth has an intriguing personality. She is very loving towards her family. She will do all in her power to improve the lifestyle of her family. When it appears that the deal for the house in Clybourne Park will fall through, she promises to dedicate all of her time to make the investment work. “Lena-I’ll work… I’ll work 20 hours a day in all the kitchens in Chicago…I’ll strap my baby on my back if I have to and scrub all the floors and wash all the sheets in America if I have to-but we have to MOVE!” she pleads to her mother-in-law (Hansberry140). Her plan is unrealistic and idealistic, but the well being of her family is more important to her than anything. Ruth is also witty and sarcastic at times. She cracks jokes to lighten the mood of her family when they’re worried. “Well that’s the way the cracker crumbles. Joke. (121)” When Beneatha and Mama are stressing over the neighborhood they are moving into, Ruth makes a witty joke to improve the mood. Ruth supervises the daily routine and well being of her family. She makes sure that everyone does what they are supposed to and stays on track. ...
On March 13, 1933, Joan Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Celia Amster and Nathan Bader (Salokar & Volcansek, 1996). Ruth had an older sister, Marilyn, but she passed away at the age of six from meningitis; Ruth was one year old at the time. Cecilia, Ruth’s mother, stayed home and took care of Ruth while she grew up. Cecilia made sure that Ruth worked diligently in school and taught her the value of hard work. Cecilia was diagnosed with cancer while Ruth was in high school and the day before her daughter’s graduation she passed away (Salokar & Volcansek, 1996). One of the greatest influences on Ruth’s life was her mother and the values she instilled in her from a young age. Two of the greatest lessons that Ruth learned from her mother was to be independent and to be a lady, and by that she meant not to respond in anger but to remain calm in si...
Ruth, whose dreams are the same as Mama’s, get deferred when the family are forced into there small apartment and there lack of money. Since she has no money she can not help her family as much as she would like to.
Before the murder, Ruth had concerns about her son Frank’s relationship with the killer’s estranged wife and fears the worst for her ...
Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture. As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American.
Tan was born to a pair of Chinese immigrants. Her mother understood English extremely well, but the English she spoke was “broken.”(36) Many people not familiar with her way of speaking found it very difficult to understand her. As a result of this, Tan would have to pretend to be her mother, and she called people up to yell at them while her mother stood behind her and prompted her. This caused Tan to be ashamed of her mother throughout her youth, but as she grew, she realized that the language she shares with her mother is a “language of intimacy” (36) that she even uses when speaking with her husband.
Each of the Chinese mothers attempted to guide her daughters, yet they were ill equipped to translate their life experiences in China to the alien environment they found in America. It was their lives, not their language, that they were unable to translate. Like her friend Lindo, An Mei Hsu was raised the Chinese way, as she describes:
The Narrator’s family treats her like a monster by resenting and neglecting her, faking her death, and locking her in her room all day. The Narrator’s family resents her, proof of this is found when the Narrator states “[My mother] came and went as quickly as she could.
The limitations decreed by the superstructure are a prime illustration of the restriction of acceptance and the exploiting force set upon the clones, causing an unaccomplished life coupled with premature death. The structure’s denial of parents for the clones provides an emptiness and lack of connection that needs to be present within any child. Ruth seeks acceptance from one of the guardians, Miss Geraldine, due to her regard as the closest thing to a parental figure, “ There was a certain smile, a certain voice Ruth would use- sometimes accompanied by a finger to the lips or a hand raised stage-whisper style- whenever she wanted to hint about some little mark of favour Miss Geraldine had shown her…” (Ishiguro, 57). During class at Hailsham, the children are babbling innocent...