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In a time where horses slowly disappeared from streets, being replaced by automobiles, and on the impoverished Brooklyn tenement buildings, there resides the Nolan family. Surviving by just a few dollars a week, Katie Rommely Nolan, with an alcoholic husband, struggles to provide for her family. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Katie’s beautiful hands are damaged by the products she uses to clean building, for just some cents a day. Katie’s life purpose is to obtain land and provide a successful life for her children, Francie and Neeley Nolan. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Katie Nolan struggles to achieve her American Dream of providing her children with a fulfilling and successful life, that is superior to hers, through the means of education.
Katie Noland’s American Dream is first brought to her by her mother, Mary Rommely after she had given birth to Francie. Katie states, “ What must I do, Mother, what must I do to make a different world for her?” and her mother replies, “The secret lies in the reading and writing. You are able to read. Every day you must read one page from some good book to your child. Every day this must be until the child learns to read every day, I know this is the secret(53).”
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Instead of having oneself finding meaning in life, she wants her children to life a fulfilling, successful life, that will provide an escape from poverty. After Francis was born she did not give up on her dreams, but instead adapted them to her present situation, placing them on her newly born child. She ruined her hands from the thousands of hours she spent cleaning houses, so she could provide for her family. She also educated her children on matters on the outside world, so they will be prepared when they enter into it. Katies never gave up and was a strong independent woman that sacrificed all she had for the wellbeing of her children, until she achieve her American
As a result, she wanted to provide a better and memorable childhood for her children by educating them in a better way. For instance, by showing and transmit them love and at the same time doing so with other people and animals. That animals are not just an object or an insignificant life but to treat them as part of the family. She wanted to show them those principles by not having a repetitive cycle about her own experiences as a child.
Kathy Harrison starts her personal story happily married to her childhood sweet heart Bruce. Kathy was living a simple life in her rural Massachusetts community home as the loving mother of three smart, kind, well-adjusted boys Bruce Jr., Nathan, and Ben. With the natural transitions of family life and the changes that come with career and moving, she went back to work as a Head Start teacher. Her life up until the acceptance of that job had been sheltered an idyllic. Interacting in a world of potluck suppers, cocktail parties, and traditional families had nothing in common with the life she would choose after she became a Head Start teacher.
Katie’s teacher, Mr. Dubey, puts a very high emphasis on the students at Katie’s school about how important school is. Because Katie starts to feel bad for using David to get into Harvard, his attitude toward the topic changes and he tells that she should be self-serving and not really care what people say and to not "ruin the rest of your life just because you feel a little guilty right now"(74). All of these conflicting messages on what Katie should be like, how she should treat others an...
One girl who chases the American Dream is Lena Lingard, a small farm girl from a poverty-stricken family. "Lena gave her heart away when she felt like it, but she kept her head for her business and had got on in the world." (192). Lena had one thing on her mind: money. To her the American Dream was wealth. She wants freedom from worry about where her next meal would come from. Lena begins her journey to wealth by becoming one of the many hired girls in the town of Black Hawk. There she was apprentice to a dressmaker and before long began to show great potential. Soon she began making money with her hard work, dedication and talent, but she uses this money not to indulge in her own desires, but to benefit her family. She spent her excess funds buying clothes for them, and paying their bills. But this wasn't enough to gain society's approval. She is a hired girl. Because she went to many dances over the summer months, many young men began noticing her, as they never had before. Because of this Lena earns a reputation like those of the hired girls; that ...
The Bean Trees is a novel which shows Taylor’s maturation; it is a bildungsroman story. Taylor is a developing or dynamic character. Her moral qualities and outlook undergo a permanent change. When the novel begins, Taylor is an independent-minded young woman embarking on an adventure to a new world. She has no cares or worries. She is confident in her abilities, and is determined to make it through life on her own. As she discovers new things and meets new people, Taylor is exposed to the realities of the world. She learns about the plight of abandoned children and of illegal immigrants. She learns how to give help and how to depend upon the help of others. As she interacts with others, those people are likewise affected by Taylor. The other developing characters are Lou Ann Ruiz, Turtle, and Esperanza. Together they learn the importance of interdependence and find their confidence.
Jake and Babbitt both crave the “authentic American” lifestyle, but this means different things to each of them. Initially, Babbitt vies for a rise in his social status and to live the lifestyle of the wealthy by acquiring material things and luxury items. The extravagant design and objects of Babbitt’s residence, Floral Heights, depicts how he views himself as an important figure. His bathrooms contain glazed tile and an enormous bathtub, his furniture is mahogany, and the bedrooms are masterpieces. Even his alarm clock has prestige and the most modern attachments. Lewis states that Babbitt “was proud of being awakened by such a rich device” (Lewis 3). Clearly, materialism and mass consumption played a significant role in his life and how
America was not everything the mothers had expected for their daughters. The mothers always wanted to give their daughters the feather to tell of their hardships, but they never could. They wanted to wait until the day that they could speak perfect American English. However, they never learned to speak their language, which prevented them from communicating with their daughters. All the mothers in The Joy Luck Club had so much hope for their daughters in America, but instead their lives ended up mirroring their mother’s life in China. All the relationships had many hardships because of miscommunication from their different cultures. As they grew older the children realized that their ...
Although the author, Betty Smith, denied ever writing a novel with socially political motives, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn abounds with references to class issues. Nearly every scene, every character illustrates or deals with the problem of poverty in early twentieth-century America. For the Nolan’s, being poor means they must always think about being poor – how they will buy the next load of coal, where their food will come from, their insurance, rent, medicine, all the necessities of raising a family. The novel also shows that poverty is not just the absence of food or comfort, it is the direct cause for Uncle Flittman to leave, Johnny’s utter nothingness and Francie’s inability to go to a high school. Every action in the novel is based around a limited amount of resources, as not only the Nolan’s but also the entire community suffers. Exploitation abounds, whether in the overpriced sale of candy, child labour in metal collection, dishonest grocers and butchers and employers with impunity to set their own rules. Katie does her best with the household money, and we find that for the poor sometimes a luxury isn’t in getting something, but in being able to waste it.
Maggie and Jimmie, siblings whom Cranes uses as protagonists, live in deplorable and violent conditions. The setting is America West, during the industrialization era. The change from agricultural to industrial economy led to many casualties, including Maggie and Jimmie’s parents. They found themselves in periphery of economic edifice where poverty was rampant. Now alcoholics, they are incapable of offering parental care and support to their children. This leaves the children at the mercies of a violent, vain, and despondent society that shapes them to what they became in the end. Cranes’ ability to create and sustain characters that readers can empathize with is epic though critics like Eichhorst have lambasted his episodic style (23). This paper will demonstrate that in spite of its inadequacy, Cranes Novella caricatures American naturalism in a way hitherto unseen by illustrating the profound effect of social circumstances on his characters.
"My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America" (491). This ideology inspired Jing-mei’s mother to work hard to create a better life for herself and her family in a new country. The search of the American dream exerts a powerful influence on new arrivals in the United States. However, realizing that they may not achieve the dream of material success and social acceptance, parents tend to transfer that burden to their children. It is a burden where dreams usually fall short of expectations.
In this transitional moment, she must fight for her right to continue the journey up the tree. Jewett further highlights Sylvia’s frailty and “thin little fingers” against the tree’s “great stem.” Like any hero or heroin, Sylvia has to experience some kind of change in order to arrive at her destination. Among the “sharp dry twigs” that “caught and held...and scratched her” Sylvia becomes like a bird and is accepted by the pine
For many of us growing up, our mothers have been a part of who we are. They have been there when our world was falling apart, when we fell ill to the flu, and most importantly, the one to love us when we needed it the most. In “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, it begins with a brief introduction to one mother’s interpretation of the American Dream. Losing her family in China, she now hopes to recapture part of her loss through her daughter. However, the young girl, Ni Kan, mimics her mother’s dreams and ultimately rebels against them.
When people think of the American Dream, they usually picture a wealthy family who lives in a big house with a white picket fence. They see the husband being the breadwinner for the wife and kids, by supporting and providing the best way that he can. They also picture the wife catering to her husband 's every need. The protagonist Janie Crawford lives this American Dream but soon comes to a realization that this life isn’t her destiny. Crawford learns that love does not involve money but rather being joyful. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie breaks the American Dream myth by living a non-traditional life through belief, happiness, and freedom.
White Oleander is the harrowing story of Astrid Magnussen, who finds herself in foster care after her relentless mother, is imprisoned for murder. It’s a novel written by Janet Fitch, which then had a film adaptation in 2002 directed by Peter Kosminsky. The screenplay of this beautiful story leaves the audience without experiencing the full emotional impact. New elements were added and major components were left out for the film composition to be less complex, thus easier to sympathize with. For this to be a reality Kosminsky disintegrates the novel by altering its theme, character development, and the setting.
There are many underlying messages that an author conveys in his or her writing that correspond to the social problems present in today’s society. As for the social issues present in A Tale of Two Cities and The Bean Trees, these novels discuss two topics that correlate with each other and reflect upon the world we live in today. Such examples of social issues are abuse and discrimination, which are also viewed in current events. The act of discrimination creates an intolerable reason to utilize abuse for addressing problems that people encounter.