The story of man dictates that change is found reasonable by many, while for others the idea itself can prove too overwhelming. Since their creation, walls have offered people shelter, residency, security, and a great degree of certainty. In the chapter, “Block Party,” of Women of Brewster Place, author, Gloria Naylor, focuses on the unwillingness of people to part with their homes, neighbors, surroundings, etc., even when the promise of a better life beckons them forth. In this context, Gloria Naylor depicts Brewster Place as a false paradise for its residents, who remain idle out of the fear of being outed as social rejects, “undesirables,” somewhere else. Naylor approaches the central idea that comfort is not always a blessing through the …show more content…
Towards the beginning of the novel, it is explained that the original residents of Brewster Place looked to this wall fondly, finding solace in the banner that decorated it, bearing the words, “Today Brewster-- Tomorrow America.”(pg.186) People in search of a home, they confided their lives, hopes, and aspirations in the wall, ignorant of the lackluster lives they, and their kin would live in Brewster Place. However, in chapter, “Block Party,” Naylor uses the wall as a metaphor for the confined lives led by the characters during their stay in Brewster Place, “Cora pulled Sonya’s hand away from the wall and uncovered a dark stain on the edge of the brick that the child had been scraping. The stain began to widen and deepen.”(pg.185) The image of blood, another metaphor for the residents’ troubled existences, paints the wall in a much more sinister light, highlighting the ugliness of life in Brewster Place. More importantly, with the blood stain, Naylor reveals the ugliness of the lives lived by the residents. The residents’ catharsis, the result of their realizing the horrible conditions they’ve been living in, continues the metaphorical presentation of the wall, as the residents desperately attempt to claw their out of their walled-in lives, “Women flung themselves against the wall, chipping away at it with knives, plastic forks,
The Brick wall symbolizes Bobby and how he is disconnected from friends and family, "Everything is clean brown brick, and off in the shadows of some brownstone. Where the hell
Jeannette Walls has lived a life that many of us probably never will, the life of a migrant. The majority of her developmental years were spent moving to new places, sometimes just picking up and skipping town overnight. Frugality was simply a way of life for the Walls. Their homes were not always in perfect condition but they continued with their lives. With a brazen alcoholic and chain-smoker of a father and a mother who is narcissistic and wishes her children were not born so that she could have been a successful artist, Jeannette did a better job of raising herself semi-autonomously than her parents did if they had tried. One thing that did not change through all that time was the love she had for her mother, father, brother and sisters. The message that I received from reading this memoir is that family has a strong bond that will stay strong in the face of adversity.
One obstacle Jeannette overcomes is unstable home life. The Wall’s family moves frequently because some family members were worried someone might be after them for money. When the family started “Doing the skedaddle.” (17)-their dad referred as a movement of fleeing very slowly and sneaky. According to this philosophy, the family experienced moving outside of their home in search for prosperity. The parents made it seem like an adventure instead of escaping their problems. For example, they would talk about gold and the prospector design to give a sense of hope. However, in terms of stopping at a place to live, it was always run down. Unfortunately, conditions worsened in terms of not having beds for the Walls’ children but improvised with boxes. Another example includes the house at 93 Little Hobart Street, Welch, West Virginia. Some problems that arose in the house were rotten pieces of wood, no toilet system but instead improvised with a bucket in the kitchen, no running water, and minimal electricity when they make the payments. A hole was dug for the glass castle foundation but garbage piled inside as a backup plan because trash collection fees exhorted their income. Today, society is determined to escape lower conditio...
As I was starting my homework, I heard my mom yell "Honey! Come down for dinner!!". As I went down the stairs, an aroma of buttery mashed potatoes filled the air. As soon as I sat down at the table, my father asked the same question he does everyday, "what did you learn at school today sweetheart?" "Well, I read a story called "Block Party" and we had to identify the theme of the story, which was that you dont necessarily need a mother to grow up well, get advice, help regarding more personal problems, or to have a female role model in your life. I agree with the theme of the story because if you need advice you can always ask your friends, or or if you are having more personal problems you could go to other relatives in your family. Also, you could have another female role model, such as an aunt or a grandmother.
There are several different social issues presented in Jeannette Wall’s memoir “The Glass Castle.” These issues include neglect – medical and education. unsanitary living conditions, homelessness, unemployment, alcohol abuse, domestic violence. violence, discrimination, mental health issues, physical and sexual abuse, hunger and poverty. Poverty was one of the major key issues addressed in this memoir.
The persona in the poem reacts to the power the wall has and realizes that he must face his past and everything related to it, especially Vietnam.
Society continually places restrictive standards on the female gender not only fifty years ago, but in today’s society as well. While many women have overcome many unfair prejudices and oppressions in the last fifty or so years, late nineteenth and early twentieth century women were forced to deal with a less understanding culture. In its various formulations, patriarchy posits men's traits and/or intentions as the cause of women's oppression. This way of thinking diverts attention from theorizing the social relations that place women in a disadvantageous position in every sphere of life and channels it towards men as the cause of women's oppression (Gimenez). Different people had many ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities amound women, including expressing their voices and opinions through their literature. By writing stories such as Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic that took a major toll in American History. In this essay, I am going to compare Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to James’ “Daisy Miller” as portraits of American women in peril and also the men that had a great influence.
A suburban life is a paradise full of shopping, colorful gardens, and well-groomed homes. Despite all these benefits, a suburban life is an isolated life. People living in suburbs are rarely exposed to miseries in society. One of these conflicts is homelessness. When living in an environment surrounded by homes, individuals often have difficulty imagining not being able to sleep in a warm bed, eat a proper meal or even receive necessary medical attention. This grim situation is depicted in the writings of Jeannette Walls. In the autobiography The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls accurately portrays homelessness by explaining its causes, its impact upon daily life, and its effect on victimized families.
A description of the wall is necessary in order to provide a base for comparison with the rest of the story. Because we only get the narrator s point of view, descriptions of the wall become more important as a way of judging her deteriorating mental state. When first mentioned, she sees the wall as a sprawling, flamboyant pattern committing every artistic sin, (Gilman 693) once again emphasizing her present intellectual capacity. Additionally, the w...
From the beginning of this work, the woman is shown to have gone mad. We are given no insight into the past, and we do not know why she has been driven to the brink of insanity. The “beautiful…English place” that the woman sees in her minds eye is the way men have traditionally wanted women to see their role in society. As the woman says, “It is quite alone standing well back from the road…It makes me think of English places…for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people. There is a delicious garden! I never saw such a garden—large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors with seats under them.” This lovely English countryside picture that this woman paints to the reader is a shallow view at the real likeness of her prison. The reality of things is that this lovely place is her small living space, and in it she is to function as every other good housewife should. The description of her cell, versus the reality of it, is a very good example of the restriction women had in those days. They were free to see things as they wanted, but there was no real chance at a woman changing her roles and place in society. This is mostly attributed to the small amount of freedom women had, and therefore they could not bring about a drastic change, because men were happy with the position women filled.
...ndurance of poverty, as we witness how Walls has turned her life around and told her inspiring story with the use of pathos, imagery, and narrative coherence to inspire others around her (that if she can do it, so can others). Jeannette made a huge impact to her life once she took matters into her own hands and left her parents to find out what life has in store for her and to prove to herself that she is a better individual and that anything is possible. Despite the harsh words and wrongful actions of Walls’ appalling parents who engage her through arduous experiences, she remained optimistic and made it through the most roughest and traumatic obstacles of her life at the age of three. Walls had always kept her head held high and survived the hardships God put upon her to get to where she is today; an author with a best selling novel to tell her bittersweet story.
Upon moving in to her home she is captivated, enthralled with the luscious garden, stunning greenhouse and well crafted colonial estate. This was a place she fantasized about, qualifying it as a home in which she seemed comfortable and free. These thoughts don’t last for long, however, when she is prescribed bed rest. She begins to think that the wallpaper, or someone in the wallpaper is watching her making her feel crazy. She finally abandons her positivity towards what now can be considered her husband’s home, and only labels negative features of the home. For example, the narrator rants about the wallpaper being, “the strangest yellow…wallpaper! It makes me think of… foul, bad yellow things” (Gilman). One can only imagine the mental torture that the narrator is experiencing, staring at the lifeless, repulsive yellow hue of ripping
The poem itself is a technique Robert Frost uses to convey his ideas. Behind the literal representation of building walls, there is a deeper metaphoric meaning, which reflects people's attitudes towards others. It reflects the social barriers people build, to provide a sense of personal security and comfort, in the belief that barriers are a source of protection which will make people less vulnerable to their fears. Robert Frost's ideas are communicated strongly through the perspective of the narrator in the poem, the 'I' voice, who questions the need for barriers. The use of conversation and the thoughts of the narrator reflect the poet's own thoughts. In line thirty to line thirty-five, the narrator questions the purpose of a wall. He has an open disposition and does not understand the need to 'wall in' or 'wall out' anything or anyone.
This poem is laid out in such a way wherein detailed sections come together to describe the female influence over men. The poem begins by describing the unpleasant tendencies of the landlady, for example, invading the tenants space and mind. Goutam Karmakar comments on Atwood’s intended symbolism behind the landlady’s negative portrayal. “Here she also plays with words like the bossy landlady’s slamming the doors about the house which tantamount to slamming the lodger’s [tenant’s] days, the days she would have spent in productive work.” Here, Karmakar theorizes Atwood’s premeditated motivation of female repression. Additionally, the narrator’s words are then directed towards describing the landlady’s jurisdiction over his own life. The above nuisances symbolize how the female influence on men, need them be described as monsters for an effective meaning, is becoming stronger. The poem then gears towards the tenant’s inability to escape his landlady’s overpowering control. This inability to escape symbolizes that the fearful female power symbolized here, as well as seen in todays society, is here to stay regardless of any male opposition. In this poem, Atwood thematically describes an innovative, compelling, and empowering attitude towards strengthening the female identity of
Many women in modern society make life altering decisions on a daily basis. Women today have prestigious and powerful careers unlike in earlier eras. It is more common for women to be full time employees than homemakers. In 1879, when Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House, there was great controversy over the out come of the play. Nora’s walking out on her husband and children was appalling to many audiences centuries ago. Divorce was unspoken, and a very uncommon occurrence. As years go by, society’s opinions on family situations change. No longer do women have a “housewife” reputation to live by and there are all types of family situations. After many years of emotional neglect, and overwhelming control, Nora finds herself leaving her family. Today, it could be said that Nora’s decision is very rational and well overdue.