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In Anne Bradstreet's poem "The Author to Her Book," the controlling metaphor is the image of a baby being born and cared for. This birth imagery expresses the complex attitude of the speaker by demonstrating that the speaker's low regard for her own work and her actions are contradictory. The first effect of the birth imagery is to present the speaker's book as a reflection of what she sees in herself. Unfortunately, the "child" displays blemishes and crippling handicaps, which represent what the speaker sees as deep faults and imperfections in herself. She is not only embarrassed but ashamed of these flaws, even considering them "unfit for light". Although she is repulsed by its flaws, the speaker understands that her book is the offspring of her own "feeble brain", and the lamentable errors it displays are therefore her own. When the speaker's book is returned by the publisher, the speaker's attempt to "wash (the) face" of her child only worsens the image of herself that she sees in it. Washing the child, rubbing off a blemish, and stretching its joints but failing to improve his imperfections all contribute to an image of the speaker rewriting her book, desperately trying to raise its quality up to her high standards, but discovering in the process that its imperfections and errors run too deep to be corrected, as do her own. In the second half of the poem, a new facet of the speaker's attitude is displayed. In line 17, she wants to improve the ugliness of her "child" by giving him new clothes; however, she is too poor to do so, having "nought save homespun cloth" with which to dress her child. In the final stanza, the speaker reveals poverty as her motive for allowing her book to be sent to a publisher (sending her "child" out into the world) in the first place. This makes her attitude seem to contradict her actions.
This is displayed in lines one through five, as he expresses through imagery the bliss of a first chapter. Many examples of positive imagery is displayed when he says lines such as, “how even the banisters are polished for us, / that we feel free to walk out / with the lady of the house and smoke / a cigarette, down the grand alley of elms” (9-12). The fact that the poet enjoys the first chapter of a book helps develop a positive connotation towards the chapter, which helps contribute to the innocence of the first chapter. When readers relate this to their own life, they will think back at how joyous and buoyant their early life was. The first chapter and early childhood go hand-in-hand because they are both so simple. The first chapter is mostly the exposition, where you explain the time, place, and characters. Nothing that furthers the plot or suspense of the book is introduced in the first chapter. The poet institutes this simplicity by saying, “Nothing really happens now, / beyond the delivery of breakfast trays” (15-16). This can relate to one’s own childhood because no sense of responsibility is established. So, someone will be stuck being a kid with no worries of the outside world and no mature
Stanza two shows us how the baby is well looked after, yet is lacking the affection that small children need. The child experiences a ‘vague passing spasm of loss.’ The mother blocks out her child’s cries. There is a lack of contact and warmth between the pair.
Old’s metaphor of “the pressure of Mother’s muscles on her brain,” (5) compares the literal pressure of the mother’s muscles during childbirth to the mental strain that a child can endure from their parent’s expectations for their children. This is an effective metaphor in that both meanings can cause some form of strain, either physical of mental, on the daughter. Also, in both cases, this pain is caused by the speaker’s mother and inflicted on the eldest daughter. The third similarity between the two is that both are in some way lessening the effect on the younger sister. In the case of childbirth, the first birth is usually more difficult than each successive birth. In the sense of the Mother’s expectations for her daughters, the eldest child often receives the brunt of the parent’s vicarious aspirations, thus making it easier for the younger children to please them. Because these linked meanings share these characteristics, Olds’ metaphor is effective.
...d the economic, ethical, and practical aspects of international regulation. Different views of ecology, culture, and legitimacy as they pertain to a valued resource and its exploitation for human purposes. While it is safe to say one must preserve the historical and cultural value of whaling nations and nations around the world, it can also be said of animals. While many nations continue to cling to their cultural ancestry background of whaling and the right for scientific research, it is proven that such human endeavors must be carefully and faithfully regulated. Commercial whaling has essentially seized to exist in the clear claims of such, but Japan and other nations are ever so slightly getting closer to that boundary. “We should remember in our dealings with animals that they are a sacred trust to us…[They] cannot speak for themselves” (Harriet Beecher Stowe).
Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping someone because of the color of his or her skin and a fleeting suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal behavior (Meeks, p. 4-5). This practice can be conducted with routine traffic stops, or can be completely random based on the car that is driven, the number of people in the car and the race of the driver and passengers. The practice of racial profiling may seem more prevalent in today’s society, but in reality has been a part of American culture since the days of slavery. According to Tracey Maclin, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, racial profiling is an old concept. The historical roots “can be traced to a time in early American society when court officials permitted constables and ordinary citizens the right to ‘take up’ all black persons seen ‘gadding abroad’ without their master’s permission” (Meeks, p. 5). Although slavery is long since gone, the frequency in which racial profiling takes place remains the same. However, because of our advanced electronic media, this issue has been brought to the American public’s attention.
The poem starts with the line, “This girlchild was born as usual,” which suggests that as soon as a girl is born, society already expects her to learn the role she will soon play in when she hits puberty (1). Thus, showing why we are given dolls as little girls to illustrate how we should act and appear according to society. After we learn all the roles we will soon take part in, “the magic of puberty,” hits and girls immediately begin applying the ideals to their own lives (5). As if this attempt to conform is not enough we have other people telling us we are not to perfect. “You have a great big nose and fat legs,” says a classmate to the girl (6). This type of pressure can slowly but surely destroy even the little confidence women do have in themselves.
Giles Corey’s strong personality allows him fight for what he believes in. His intense nature is displayed early in the play as he confronts Thomas Putnam about his rights to a piece of land. This confrontation with Putnam is one of Giles’ primary motivations, along with his desire to save his wife, for trying to challenge the veracity of the allegations of the girls. When Giles presents his deposition to the judges, he accuses Putnam of forcing the girls to say that George Jacobs is practicing witchcraft in order to get his land saying, “there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so a great piece! This man is killing his neighbors!” (Miller, 96). Although this, together with his thirty-three prior encounters in court, has alienated him from other townspeople, his attempt at trying to disprove the girls serves as an important stepping stone to making the judges realize that the girls are lying. Another event that shows Giles unyielding personality is his refusal to admit to practicing witchcraft as he was tortured to death. Elizabeth describes his death by stone press while t...
...st person. The narrator is looking back on this story and remembering things from a child’s point of view. The reader only sees the narrator’s opinion in the story, but that allows the reader to have his own opinions as well, questioning the literary work constantly. This makes the story more complex and permits the reader to wonder what is going on inside each of the characters’ heads.
Although the little girl doesn’t listen to the mother the first time she eventually listens in the end. For example, in stanzas 1-4, the little girl asks if she can go to the Freedom March not once, but twice even after her mother had already denied her the first time. These stanzas show how the daughter is a little disobedient at first, but then is able to respect her mother’s wishes. In stanzas 5 and 6, as the little girl is getting ready the mother is happy and smiling because she knows that her little girl is going to be safe, or so she thinks. By these stanzas the reader is able to tell how happy the mother was because she thought her daughter would be safe by listening to her and not going to the March. The last two stanzas, 7 and 8, show that the mother senses something is wrong, she runs to the church to find nothing, but her daughter’s shoe. At this moment she realizes that her baby is gone. These stanzas symbolize that even though her daughter listened to her she still wasn’t safe and is now dead. The Shoe symbolizes the loss the mother is going through and her loss of hope as well. This poem shows how elastic the bond between the daughter and her mother is because the daughter respected her mother’s wish by not going to the March and although the daughter is now dead her mother will always have her in her heart. By her having her
with a mortal frame” (Hawthorne 354). By tracing the tipping scales of perfection vs. dissatisfaction, readers of “The Birthmark” witness the slow demise of Georgiana and Aylmer, and gain important insight into human nature.
These final words sum up her feeling of helplessness and emptiness. Her identity is destroyed in a way due to having children. We assume change is always positive and for the greater good but Harwood’s poem challenges that embedding change is negative as the woman has gained something but lost so much in return.
Men and women will always strive for perfection whether it is in themselves or in each other. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s allegory “The Birthmark, “ the audience is informed of a young couple, Aylmer and Georgiana. Then soon transpires into a husband's obsession with his wife's flaw, “The birthmark.” The young husband gets too wrapped up in fixing his wife that he forgets to show her attention and love. Incapable of feeling anything but determination to make his wife perfect; he uses a potion to remove the birthmark. The potion successfully begins to fade the birthmark however, the potion also fades his wife's life as well. . Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to give “The Birthmark” a deeper meaning, foreshadowing to build suspense, and third
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The Oregon Trail is a 2000 mile long wagon route and emigrant trail made by fur trappers and traders from 1811 to 1840. The trail was then only possible on foot or horseback. By 1863, the trail was cleared from Independence, Missouri, to Fort Hall, Idaho. The trail later kept being cleared until Willamette Valley, Oregon. Improved roads, cutouts, and bridges made the trip faster and safer every year. The Oregon Trail had three offshoots: the California, Bozeman, and Mormon trails. The eastern half of the trail spanned future Idaho and Oregon. The western half of the trail spanned part of future Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Modern highways pass through the same course as the Oregon Trail. It was sometimes called “The Highway of Hope”.
The tone for “The Birthmark” is insensitive yet romantic. Like many of Hawthorne’s works, “The Birthmark" is an indirect representation of a fable and much of the parable content is documented through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of symbolic notations. Many of the symbols in “The Birthmark" pertain to deeper parabolic meanings. For example, the permanence of the birth mark that stains Georgiana’s cheek is in the shape of a crimson hand which is evident that nature had a genuine hand in the “imperfection" placed upon Georgiana’s cheek. Symbolic notations in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark" are also evident in other characters as well. For exemplification purposes the character Aminadab’s name is derived from the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible. This character happens to be described as a beastly man who is despite contrary belief more of a man than Aylmer because he is familiar with his natural being and verbally expresses his admittance to Aylmer that he would not remove the birthmark. Whereas, Aylmer is a selfish scientist obsessed with abolishing the birthmark.