Introduction
Anita Shreve’s “Rescue” is about the emotional and physical trauma between parents and children. A delicate and interesting novel explores the life of the Webster and Sheila, as they are trying to realize their past and begin again. Anita Shreve is a best-selling author who has followed a simple style in the novel “Rescue” that is straightforward and concise that has no confusing points of view or complex flashbacks (Bukowsky, 1). She has portrayed her characters in a way that are insightful that has never failed to take the readers into it, especially the character of Peter Webster. “Rescue” is a touching story of a down-to-earth small-town hero, Webster, who brings misfortune to his life through a drunk driver, Sheila, but he never fails to take responsibility. Webster is portrayed as a dedicated father and hard working breadwinner. He meets his fate in the name of Sheila whom he rescued from an accident and attracted toward her physical beauty. He falls in a situation where he has to grow his daughter, Rowan, alone when his wife leaves him for years. Even though he always regrets for marrying Sheila as a wrong choice, he never regrets of his daughter’s birth. He proves himself as a father who cares about his daughter alone and loves her most. However, it does not mean he hates his wife; he loves her too, but he cannot stop her from her alcoholism that keeps her away from him and Rowan. Through his character and life, Shreve has offered an insight that proves love should be accompanied by communication, true concern, and respect.
Webster, as a Father
When his wife and Rowan’s mother, Sheila leaves him, Webster has to take care of his teenage daughter alone. Webster likes his daughter’s face and admires her eyes, m...
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...nd cares his family, as he wants to rectify his mistake of selecting Sheila as his life partner by raising his daughter in a good way. At a certain stage, he cannot take care of Rowan completely. That makes him to suspect himself whether he is good father to a teenage girl. This very thought makes him to bring back Sheila for the rescue of his family and hope. Webster was a rookie paramedic when he rescued Sheila that he feels ruined his life. He rescued Sheila and lost his life, but now he wants Sheila to bring back his life by saving the life of their daughter, Rowan.
Conclusion
The novel “Rescue” is about loving father and sincere family man. His dream about his baby when she was in the womb proves his care and love for his family: “A baby. Settling down. Maybe a place of their own. And he’d be with her every step of the way. As much as he could” (Shreve, 38).
The plot of this book begins with the fact that Canadian girl named Laura finds out that her father is a humble pensioner, a former teacher, committed suicide from the bridge, during
Allen was stunned, and explained to her how his family died. The stunned expression on his face made Maggie wonder, “if Herb Kowalsky had looked much the same as he watched his daughter down the river” (135). Herb develops frustration and desperation in his time of suffering. He is trying to be nice and considers the county’s way, but is not receiving any results, saying, “‘I was told Ruth would be out in a day.’ “(48).
Henry Lawson creates an image in his readers’ mind of the protagonist and all that she does for her children. ‘The Drover’s Wife’ portrays the love the mother has for her family as she does everything in her power to care for her family and home. Lawson highlights on several different occasions the lengths the Drover’s wife went to keep her children safe. She takes on the role of the man when her husband is away and there is danger, such as a raging bushfire, flood or snake nearby. “She makes a bed on the kitchen table for the children, and sits down beside it to watch all night.”
Baby narrates her story through her naïve, innocent child voice. She serves as a filter for all the events happening in her life, what the narrator does not know or does not comprehend cannot be explained to the readers. However, readers have reason not to trust what she is telling them because of her unreliability. Throughout the beginning of the novel we see Baby’s harsh exposure to drugs and hurt. Jules raised her in an unstable environment because of his constant drug abuse. However, the narrator uses flowery language to downplay the cruel reality of her Montreal street life. “… for a kid, I knew a lot of things about what it felt like to use heroin” (10). We immediately see as we continue reading that Baby thinks the way she has been living her life is completely normal, however, we as readers understand that her life is in fact worse then she narrates. Baby knows about the impermanent nature of her domestic security, however, she repeatedly attempts to create a sense of home each time her and Jules move to another apartm...
The childhood of Frances Piper consists of inadequate love, loss of innocence and lack of concern, ultimately leading to her disastrous life. As a six year old child, she encounters several traumatic events, explicitly the death of her loved ones and the loss of her innocence. Over the course of one week, there have been three deaths, two funerals and two burials in the Piper family. “Frances was crying so hard now that Mercedes got worried. ‘I want my Mumma to come ba-a-a-a-ack.’”( McDonald 174). As a young child, there is nothing more upsetting than losing a mother. A family is meant to comfort each other to fulfill the loss of a loved one; however, this is not the case in the Piper family. Mercedes, only a year older than Frances, tries to console her even though she herself is worried. The loss of motherly love and affection has a tremendous impact on her future since now her sole guardian, James, expresses no responsibility towards her. Instead, he molests Frances on the night of Kathleen’s funeral to lessen the grief of his lost daughter. As a result “These disturbing experiences plague Frances with overwhelming feelings of low self worth and guilt that haunt h...
The type of narration, the plot’s rising action, and the overall imprint that is left on the reader, pushes this book above and beyond. Whaley creates a picture for the reader by using third- person omniscient point of view. This method helps the reader better understand the main characters. The rising action development was extremely easy to follow. The descriptions of the characters and the background information helps explained how the story was laid out. Also, the author seemed like he wanted the reader to realize the purpose of the three-way friendship. It represented how a relationship allows everyone to learn from their flaws and unwarranted decisions from other’s reactions. This book is truly unique, from the composure to the character’s
This story speaks of a married woman who fell in love with a man who was not her husband. She bore this man a child and realized that she could not live without him. In the event, she decides to leave her husband to be with the child’s father. However, there is only one problem and that is that she has two other children by her husband. She has a daughter who is 9 years old and is very mature for her age, and a darling son who is 5 years old. As she leaves to restart her life again with this other man, the 5 year old son is left behind to stay with his dad, and the little girl is tragically killed by a pack of wolves. The little boy is devastated by his mom’s decision to leave him behind. He is constantly haunted by dreams and images that come to his mind surrounding his mother’s...
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
Flannery O’Connor is a Southern author that writes about very violent and strange stories. O’Connor establishes a much need style of writing that capture reader feeling and emotions. This paper will identify some of the author’s hidden emotion and state of imagination to keep the reader on edge. This story is clearly more about the grandmother start from the beginning to end expressing her point of view. The grandmothers discuss her role and religious experience when she meets the Misfits. I think all critics will focus on the grandmother to identify all problems and to have a religious connection with God.
Progress is seen on the front of Claudia and Carolyn’s relationship. David attempts to reorganizes his relationship with Claudia in an effort to remove the pressure placed on her. However, the battle between Carolyn and Claudia continues to ebb and rise as the family narrows in on the dynamics of David and Carolyn’s relationship. Napier states to Claudia that, “...the family unconsciously agreed to go back to your and Carolyn’s war to rescue your mom and dad from the hot seat” (p. 137). When the family finally breaks free from this structure the exploration of David and Carolyn’s own relationship becomes the most critical aspect in therapy.
A breathtaking saga of a young girl’s tragic memories of her childhood. As with Ellen, Gibbons’ parents both died before she was twelve-years-old, forming the family. basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are reflected in the thoughts and actions of Ellen. The simplistic and humble attitude that both Gibbons and Ellen epitomizes in the novel is portrayed through diction and dialogue.
We have all heard the African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The response given by Emma Donoghue’s novel Room, simply states, “If you’ve got a village. But if you don’t, then maybe it just takes two people” (Donoghue 234). For Jack, Room is where he was born and has been raised for the past five years; it is his home and his world. Jack’s “Ma” on the other hand knows that Room is not a home, in fact, it is a prison. 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 with conflict, both internal and external, are shown throughout the novel.
She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her
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...
The characters in this book are very round. They each have their own story and have their own problems in life. Let’s start ...