Toxic Love “So many people prefer to live in drama because it [is] comfortable. It [is] like someone staying in a bad marriage or relationship – it [is] actually easier to stay because they know what to expect every day, versus leaving and not knowing what to expect” (Ellen DeGeneres). Commonly, people stay in unhealthy relationships because they do not wish to conclude that there are issues with their significant other; due to strong emotional connections. In Gail Helgason’s “Bluffing” and Cathy Jewison’s “The Prospector’s Trail” the protagonists both remain in their relationships despite being mistreated, and are ignorant that there is a problem. Helgason introduces Gabriella whose partner, Liam, is in the hospital due to a bear attack a couple months ago. Sitting in the hospital, she reflects back on their time spent together realizing that Liam never truly loved her and to move on she must eliminate that aspect of her life. In “The Prospector’s Trial” a couple go on a journey to figure out how to go about their …show more content…
lives because money has become an issue. Therefore, Norman and his wife Jennifer are now in Yellownife, from Norman to become an entrepreneur. After being insulted, embarrassed, and mistreated Norman decides to conclude his relationship to finally be able to relax. Furthermore, despite being human, one tends to develop emotional attachments, when trying to obtain serenity eliminating all toxic relationships is essential. The authors of both stories are indicating future events that will occur, to imply to the reader that the antagonists are not kind people but in reality are deceiving and therefore, the use of foreshadowing is incorporated. The bear being mighty and powerful reflects the strength people must use to terminate their unhealthy relationships. Evidently, as a group of young adults approach the couple, Liam is trying to scare them out of going to the lake. He goes on to state that they spotted a bear and him knowing that bears “’…usually come back to the kill’” frightens the two young men to turn back around and after “they were out of sight, Liam and Gabriella continued to the lake” (Helgason 73). It is foreshadowing that the bear will attack Liam, even though he is scaring the boys as if a frightening animal killing another living creature does not bother him. Therefore, leaving the audience to believe that when faced with a bear he shall have no problems in remaining unharmed. Furthermore, Not only is Liam demonstrating how unmannerly he is but, also is in fact saying everything to the men in front of Gabriella. Gabriella once again naïve to his actions continues on with the day ahead. Similarly, in “The Prospector’s Trail” foreshadowing is demonstrate when the style Jennifer speaks to Norman reflects on the horrid ways she treats him. This portrays that Jennifer has ill character traits threatening to leave Norman if he does something she disagrees with. Jennifer explains to Norman that she will only give him ‘“…[s]ix weeks…’” to essentially recreate his life. As well as after seeing Roy (the man they are staying with) wearing a shirt she dislikes Jennifer discusses with Norman that if she “’… catch [es] him wearing a red plaid flannel shirt …[she]’ll leave [him] on the spot”’ (Jewison 24). Evidently, this shows that Jennifer is an overall wretched person and does not respect Norman at all. Furthermore, she places her bias opinion about Roy and insults the way he dresses stating that she will do something as drastic as ending their relationship as an effect to Norman wearing a shirt. Jennifer’s cruel words reflect on her personality and demonstrate that Jennifer does not value her relationship with Norman the way she should. The author is hinting at the future event to occur, by saying that the moment Norman wears a red plaid flannel shirt she will leave him, and soon enough he does. In both stories, the use of foreshadowing to indicate a future event reflects on the antagonist’s unpleasant personality and need to remove them from the protagonist’s life increases. Therefore, the characters move closer to being rid of their toxic relationships however, with progress come conflicts. Surrounded by nature is a suitable setting to have when trying to discard all unhealthy relationships because the character is one wit themselves and can be left alone. However, before they can be in tranquility the protagonist must endure the conflicts. Nature often puts characters in difficult situations making them have to combat against it nevertheless; nature can also be beneficial for the main character. The conflicts with nature in both stories symbolize the realization of the characters unhealthy relationships. Gabriella notices Liam is not invested in their future as much as she is when she hears that he wants to go on a three month expedition without her. Gabriella’s first instinct is to run away from Liam. Thus, he follows her and they come face to face with a grizzly bear that “…stood twenty paces ahead…” of them and Gabriella standing still hears “Liam [not] just stepping back …[but] running away as fast as he [can]” (Helgason 75). Liam is running away from the grizzly knowing that Gabriella is still in danger portrays how he only thinks of himself. As a result, the bear shoves Gabriella to the ground and lunges after Liam. Therefore, helping Gabriella eliminate her toxic relationships because she knows Liam’s true intentions. Nature helps the protagonists realize the atrocious ways of antagonists. Likewise, in “The Prospector’s Trail” the characters are in conflict with the nature but in the end help the protagonists to remove their unhealthy relationships. Nature connects with the characters internal emotions evidently, when the gloomy rain and smell of garbage do not have an effect on Norman. Roy finally agrees to take Norman to show him the secret of being a successful entrepreneur. However, Roy instead admits to him that he makes his money by refurnishing items and “ Norman’s eyes [become] misted over and his t [is] constricted, but the cause was neither the rain in his eyes nor the stench in his nose” but in fact because his perception of success is completely incorrect (Jewison 29). The pouring rain sets the scene for Norman to remove and clean his life of the toxic relationships. After the rain clears up his mind does as well and he puts on the red flannel shirt he found at the dump while he awaits Jennifer. Both Authors are using nature in their short stories to relate the evil leaving from the protagonists’ lives. The characters are now ready to be free of their troubles; nature in the form of the rainfall and the bear take away their problems to help the characters realize how to move forward with life. Conflict effectively relates how the characters have to overcome obstacles to receive the result they want even if the issue is their spouse. Helgason and Jewison use the person versus person conflict to demonstrate the toxic relationships between the antagonists and protagonists. In “Bluffing” Liam’s dreadful personality and arrogant personality trait is revealed. As the couple takes a rest while on their hike they hear loud conversing and laughter and Liam becomes annoyed. Gabriella relates back on a different event when she remembers Liam getting just as annoyed. Liam got agitated because another explorer, Clive got to go on a big expedition so “...Liam told [him] to go to hell [because]… Liam is secretly jealous of Clive… [he] has never been asked to join a big expedition” unlike Clive (Helgason 72). Liam is thinking very high of himself and Gabriella unaware of his regard for self-importance continues to support him. She does not realize the negative aspect Liam is in her life. Therefore, Gabriella must isolate Liam from her life if she wants to be peaceful because he is indeed bringing negative qualities which she is unaware of due to her emotional attachment to him. Subsequently, in Jewison’s short story Jennifer is terribly poor-mannered and hence, verbally abusing Norman constantly. He still has a strong attachment to her and hence, keeps around him but it results in him becoming a pushover just allowing her horrid actions and comments. Norman enters the tent where Jennifer does not allow him to “’… move for the rest of the night…’” and he does not acknowledge the way she speaks to him and simply agrees with “’[o]kay…’” (Jewison 23). Norman will never live in peace if he cannot terminate his relationship with Jennifer due to the way she mistreats him. Jennifer demonstrates absolutely no respect towards Norman but he must deal with her ways for because they still share that relationship bond. The conflict with Norman and Jennifer is very unhealthy for both individuals because they have very opposing personalities and Norman is receiving it worse. In both stories, the bad qualities of antagonists are exploited to reveal that life with disrespectful and wretched people is very unhappy therefore, need to be eliminated to live contently. In conclusion, people always develop attachments to others but when the relationship becomes unsafe and unhealthy for the individuals the accurate strategy is to remove that person from their life.
Some of the antagonists’ poor personality traits are revealed by implication of what will happen later in the story. Jennifer threatens to leave Norman for ridiculous reasons showing she does not truly care for him and Liam’s ignorance is revealed. Nature is also connected with the characters feelings. The bear and rain represents the characters problems, now gone. Jennifer and Liam’s true characteristics are revealed throughout the stories more so, when in conflict others. Liam is proven to be jealous and always thinking high of himself as Jennifer is beyond disrespectful. . Both protagonists in the stories have to rid themselves of their unhealthy relationships and the negativity in their life to be self-empowered thus being the only way to gain
serenity.
Knowles further manipulates Finny and Gene’s relationship in their escapades together. At the beach, Finny shares his inner emotions with Gene, an act likened to “the next thing to suicide” (48). Surprised, Gene attempts to share his own feelings, but hesitates and does not follow through. Knowles uses Gene’s hesitant, distrusting nature, to suggest dishonesty in his relationship with Finny. In the scene where Finny saves Gene from falling out of the tree, Knowles continues to imply power disparity. Realizing that “Finny had practically saved [his] life” (32), Gene feels personal debt to Finny. This widens the power gap even further ...
Brockmeier’s short story represents a damaged marriage between a husband and a wife simply due to a different set of values and interests. Brockmeier reveals that there is a limit to love; husbands and wives will only go so far to continually show love for each other. Furthermore, he reveals that love can change as everything in this ever changing world does. More importantly, Brockmeier exposes the harshness and truth behind marriage and the detrimental effects on the people in the family that are involved. In the end, loving people forever seems too good to be true as affairs and divorces continually occur in the lives of numerous couples in society. However, Brockmeier encourages couples to face problems head on and to keep moving forward in a relationship. In the end, marriage is not a necessity needed to live life fully.
“To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try,” (Gilman). There are an extraordinary amount of stories written about women that go insane for certain reasons. Two of those stories are, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. Both stories are about women who are driven insane by situations that are happening in their lives; both women turn to isolation for different reasonings. Both A Rose for Emily by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner show similarities and differences with dysfunctional lives.
The narrator makes comments and observations that demonstrate her will to overcome the oppression of the male dominant society. The conflict between her views and those of the society can be seen in the way she interacts physically, mentally, and emotionally with the three most prominent aspects of her life: her husband, John, the yellow wallpaper in her room, and her illness, "temporary nervous depression. " In the end, her illness becomes a method of coping with the injustices forced upon her as a woman. As the reader delves into the narrative, a progression can be seen from the normality the narrator displays early in the passage, to the insanity she demonstrates near the conclusion.
In individual searches to find themselves, Frank and April Wheeler take on the roles of the people they want to be, but their acting grows out of control when they lose sense of who they are behind the curtains. Their separate quests for identity converge in their wish for a thriving marriage. Initially, they both play roles in their marriage to please the other, so that when their true identities emerge, their marriage crumbles, lacking communication and sentimentality. Modelled after golden people or manly figures, the roles Frank and April take on create friction with who they actually are. Ultimately, to “do something absolutely honest” and “true,” it must be “a thing … done alone” (Yates 327). One need only look inside his or her self to discover his or her genuine identity.
In the stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin both women suffer through expectations brought on by society and the ideas of marriage. Emily loses her sanity trying to obtain love and live up to the expectations of society. Emily kills the man she loved so that he would never leave, and so that she could maintain her reputation. She was put on a pedestal, and that pedestal would end up being her destruction. Louise is a woman afflicted by heart problems, which could relate her unhappiness. After losing her husband she starts to feel free; however when her husband walks through the door she dies. Louise was a prisoner of societies making, she was never given a voice. She could never explain her unhappiness because women were expected to love and obey their husband’s without complaints. Marriage to these women meant different things, although the idea of marriage damaged both women. Louise and Emily were women damaged by the pressures of who they are expected to be.
Individuals may or may not go through a situation where they would enjoy nothing more than to yell, scream, or even fight another person for something that he or she said or did. It is challenging to hold back such intense emotions, but it is the wise thing to do in order to avoid further conflict. In Carolyn Kizer’s “Bitch”, the speaker demonstrates holding back her emotions in front of her ex-lover. It was tough for her to do so because she wanted him to understand how she felt. Overall, Kizer establishes the importance of being the better person by holding back one’s feelings in order to avoid further consequences. She illustrates this through portraying the speaker’s true emotions, revealing information of her ex-lover, and showing how the speaker carries herself on the outside.
“Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.
All relationships go through both good and bad times. Some last through the ages, while others quickly fall into nothing. In Terrence McNally’s “Lips Together, Teeth Apart,” the heart of this haunting play is a dramatically incisive portrait of two married couples—the Truman’s and the Haddocks. Uncomfortable with themselves and each other, they are forced to spend a Fourth of July weekend at the Fire Island house that the brother of one of the women left his sister when he died of AIDS. Though the house is beautiful, it is as empty as their lives and marriages have become, a symbol of their failed hopes, their rage, their fears, and of the capricious nature of death. The theme of love and death in relationships is quickly developed, as well as an overwhelming fear of homophobia. The two couples McNally brings to life are both going through rough patches in their marriages. While Chloe and John are fighting through John’s esophagus cancer, Sally and Sam are expecting and fearful that this time it will be another miscarriage. Showing how society has struck fear into the couples about AIDS. While everyone except John is worried about catching “AIDS,” the play begins to unveil troubled marriages as well as superficial values and prejudices.
Emotional discomfort can sometimes be perceived as mental instability. A person may look, act, or feel insane, when in truth they are just very uncomfortable in their own skin. The narrator has a genuinely difficult decision to make which far outside his comfort zone. He is choosing between a woman who has been like a mother to him and much needed job that he feels he may enjoy. This choice is tearing him apart from the inside out. From the ringing noises that interrupt his every thought to the skin he is scraping off. The author uses diction, syntax, and extended metaphors to express the complete and utter discomfort of the narrator, both physically and emotionally.
The audience sees through staging and conversation between the two main characters that the communication of modern relationships
William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper” are two short stories which incorporate many similarities, both stories are about the emotional and psychological experiences of two women living in a reclusive environment. The women presented in both of the stories experience moments of insanity, loneliness, feelings of being controlled by others, and of loss of psychological self-control. In both of the stories, each of the women experience similar situations, in a complete different environment, and while one is practically force to refrain for outside stimulation, the other voluntarily avoids them.
Kate, seeking both relationship and personal space, missed out an important factor. The factor was that in relationships, whenever something had bothered her, she preferred to keep it to herself because she has a weakness for confrontations. Kate would prefer to suffer inside for a long time before admitting her feelings to someone else. This behavior led Kate to open up to Aaron too late, and although breaking up with him allowed her to restore her freedom, it merely just replaced her “I don’t have time for myself” frustration with the “I am not in a relationship” frustration.
Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York: Pearson-Prentice, 2010. 40-49. Print.
Several different elements are necessary to create a story. Of all the elements, the conflict is most essential. The conflict connects all pieces of the plot, defines the characters, and drives the story forward. Once a story reaches its climax, the reader should have an emotional connection to the both story and its characters. Not only should emotions be evoked, but a reader should genuinely care about what happens next and the about the end result for the characters. Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” is the perfect example of how a story’s conflict evolved the disposition of its characters.