In her 1936 novel Nightwood, Djuna Barnes explores colorful facets of the characters that we may liken to the dazzling performers in a popular Paris cabaret or cirque noir (p. 11). Although readers may argue that the novel’s central character is the “tall girl with the body of a boy,” whom we come to know as Mademoiselle Robin Vote, I agree with critics who claim, Dr. Matthew Dante O’Connor is the main character. Evan as O’Connor is serving as a friend and confidante to other characters in the novel, he captivating us with his woven tales of love and love lost (p. 46). Without O’Connor, who seems to know “everyone” and everything, there is not another obvious character who could narrate the story in his place (p. 165). According to some, “the …show more content…
O’Connor by name immediately after we are aware of him across the room at a party (p. 14). Generally, Barnes describes a character with much greater detail before she finally reveals the name.
To further support O’Connor’s role as a main character, Barnes devotes much of the story to describe his effeminate mannerisms. Barnes describes the doctor as someone who carried his hands “like a dog who is walking on his hind legs,” we learn because he would pray he would “wake up in the morning without finding [his] hands on [his] hips” (pp. 32, 130). As an affirmation of his sexuality, and possibly the reason the other women in the story relate to him so well is that O’Connor considers himself “the other woman that God forgot” (p. 143).
Another clue that Robin is not the main character is because of how she has brief relationships with the other people in the story. On the other hand, the doctor maintains a long-standing relationship with everyone. For instance, the people the doctor was acquainted with early in the story such as Nora, Felix, and Frau Mann, are still his friends by the end of the novel. While it may be true that Robin makes lasting impressions on everyone, her relationships are brief by
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43, 49). Regarding Robin’s relationship to Nora, she is at times more like a child, and even still, to Jenny, she is but a “second-hand” lover (pp. 68, 101). In an effort to explain Robin’s difficulties with relationships, Nora suggests, “Robin [seems] enormous and polarized, all catastrophes [run] toward her” (p. 56). To Nora, Robin is “the magnetized predicament” (p. 56). Moreover, Nora feels as if Robin is “moved out of death’s way by the successive arms of women” (p. 64). In other words, as far as relationships go, Robin is disaster prone and only saved by the forgiveness of the women she
Junot Diaz’s “Wildwood” is a roller coaster of emotions. The author gives us a full view of the tempestuous relationship between Lola and her mother who discovers has breast cancer. Lola, a young girl who lives in New York with her brother and mother, early on we can see that Lola’s mother is particularly abusive and channels her frustrations towards her daughter. When her mother asks Lola to examine her breast for a lump, she has a premonition her life would change.
Both Vanity Fair and A Room of One’s Own explore and challenge the idea that women are incapable of creating a name and a living for themselves, thus are completely dependent on a masculine figure to provide meaning and purpose to their lives. Thackeray, having published Vanity Fair in 1848, conforms to the widely accepted idea that women lack independence when he makes a note on Ms Pinkerton and remarks “the Lexicographer’s name was always on the lips of the majestic woman… [He] was the cause of her reputation and her fortune.” The way that a man’s name was metaphorically “always on the lips of the majestic woman” and how he was the source of “her reputation and her fortune” expresses this idea, especially through Thackeray’s skilful use of a sanguine tone to communicate that this cultural value, or rather inequality, was not thought of as out of the ordinary. From viewing this in a current light and modernised perspective...
Many of the short stories within the collection The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, can be compared and contrasted in regards to elements including theme, characters, and technique. In “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” the character Mary Anne Bell appears to be apparently similar to the character Martha from “The Things They Carried,” in that both are young women who have relations with a soldier in the war. Though upon further analysis of Mary Anne, it appears she is far from alike to Martha. Rather, an unexpected parallel can be drawn between the characters Mary Anne and Elroy Berdahl, from “On the Rainy River,” in that both appear to be epitomes of masculinity. The peculiar connection between these characters developed by Tim O’Brien shines a light on the ambiguity of conventional gender roles of men and women.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” utilize character responsibilities to create a sinister plot. For Hawthorne, protagonist Young Goodman Brown must leave his wife at home while he partakes in a night journey. For Poe, ancillary Fortunato covets a pretentious manner towards his wine tasting skills, and after being ‘challenged’ decides to prove his expertise by sampling Amontillado. Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting, characters, and fate of entrapment.
Carmen Sternwood is described with profoundness but in a different (less sexual) sense than her sister is. Marlowe encounters her on many occasions and is thorough in describing her--from her first flirtations to her continuous irritations. In t...
Bruccoli, Matthew J. and Judith S. Baughman. Reader's Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night.
...ome from different worlds, yet they still share the same type of sadness and pain in their everyday lives. What Nora does is considered courageous in that time in history, where women were not treated as equals and were always looked down on and ignored. Women speaking out and taking matters into their own hands was unheard of and often risky. They want to be independent so they do what they believe is necessary to accomplish and reach their goals, so that they can once again be happy for eternity.
Flannery O’Connor was born Mary Flannery O’Connor on March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia, as the only child to Edward F. O’Connor, Jr., and Regina (Cline) O’Connor. Later in 1941, Flannery O’Connor’s father dies of lupus while O’Connor is in Milledgeville, Ga. After her father’s death, O’Connor rarely speaks of him and continues to be active in school projects such as drawing, reading, writing, and playing instraments. Further, in the summer of 1942, O’Connor graduates and enters Georgia State College for Women as a sociology and English major. Moreover, O’Connor took on the name Flannery O’Connor, dropping Mary from her signature. When O’Connor graduates from college, she leaves for Iowa City and applies for several college teaching positions while attending the University of Iowa. Thus, she receives her Masters of Fine Arts in 1947. Although her first story, “The Geranium” was publised in Accent, during the summer of 1946, it was only the beginning of many of her works to be published. Like her father, O’Connor was living with lupus and her first major attack came in December, 1950. However, O’Connor did not allow the disease to keep her from writing and getting her works published. In fact, she got her nineth story , “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” published. Also, O’Connor has won many prizes and awards with her writings over the years. For instance, she was named the Honorary Doctor of Letters by institutions, was the first prize of the O. Henry award in 1957 and 1963 and had previously won second in 1954 and 1955. Moreover, O’Connor died on August 3, 1964 I a Milledgeville hospital. Nevertheless, her stories cont...
With a heart-full of advice and wisdom, Dinah maturates from a simple- minded young girl to a valiant independent individual. “For a moment I weighed the idea of keeping my secret and remaining a girl, the thought passes quickly. I could only be what I was. And that was a woman” (170). This act of puberty is not only her initiation into womanhood but the red tent as well. She is no longer just an observer of stories, she is one of them, part of their community now. On account of this event, Dinah’s sensuality begins to blossom and she is able to conceive the notion of true love.
Desmond, John. Flannery O’Connor’s Misfit and the Mystery of Evil. Renascence. Marquette University. Winter2004, Vol. 56 Issue 2, p129-137. 9p. Web.
Whereas one can see Mrs. Linde as mature and world-weary, one can easily read the character Nora as immature and childlike; one of the first examples of this immaturity and childishness can be found in the first few pages. Nora has come in from a day of shopping and in these excerpts we can see her child-like manner while interacting with her husband, Torvald:
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Comp. John Schilb and John Clifford. Making Literature Matter. Print.
...dlike mentality and needs to grow before she can raise her own children. Her defiance of Torvald, when he refuses to let her leave, reflects her epiphany that she isn't obligated to let Torvald dictate her actions. The height of Nora's realization comes when she tells Torvald that her duty to herself is as strong as her duty as a wife and mother. She now sees that she is a human being before she is a wife and mother and she owes herself to explore her personality, ambitions, and beliefs.
Nora’s life struggle began at a young age. Her father treated her like an inhuman object, and now her husband has done the same thing. After many years of maintaining her “perfect” life, Nora could no longer live like this. She finally stands up for herself and makes a choice to leave her family. This decision is completely reasonable. It is unimaginable to think anyone could treat another person so crudely. No person should be molded into being someone they are not. It is unfair to treat a loved one like an object instead of an equal human being. Unfortunately there are many women today who find themselves in the same position in Nora. Many of which do not have the strength to confront, and to pry themselves from grips of their abusers. It is possible that the greatest miracle will be Nora, out on her own, finding her true self.