Jack Hodgins “By the River” is a short story that delves into the lives of an isolated woman named Crystal and her husband, Jim. An unnamed narrator explores Crystal’s life with Jim as she walks through the forest to meet Jim at the train station. Jim wanted to live isolated and independently from civilization, so he and Crystal moved into the woods and started working on a farm together. Crystal had different plans for her life, but Jim talked her out of them, and she moved onto the isolated farm with him. Things did not go as planned at the farm, leaving them unprepared for what was to come. Crystal continuously believed in Jim and what he could do, but he did not have that same belief in himself, so the farm failed. Crystal was always by …show more content…
Crystal is an extremely complex and somewhat naive character who is created through other people’s perspectives of her, her perspective on herself, and her delusions and ideas about Jim. Crystal's self-perception is largely determined by the opinions and beliefs of those in her life. Crystal, from the start, has shown that other people’s opinions affect how she thinks about herself. When she went on a date with Jim Styan many years ago, she was embarrassed by what people would think of her for going out with him. It is said that when she was young, she wanted to continue going to school and furthering her education, but Jim talked her out of it, and she moved into an isolated house in the woods with him, even though she was not doing it for herself but instead doing it for Jim. Jim works or goes to the city every day, leaving Crystal behind all on her own, making Jim the only person Crystal can “depend on” while he more than likely has people other than the Crystal he can socialize with. This is one of the reasons Crystal is under the impression Jim will come back to her in the …show more content…
Crystal being so easily influenced by what people think of her has made her lose the opportunity to pursue the life that she wanted to live. She is now stuck, isolated from society, and under the impression that Jim is coming back to her. She could break free from these ideas and delusions that other people, specifically Jim, have created for her; she could pursue a life back on the island she grew up on with her family and have more support from her community. Furthermore, she does not have to isolate herself any longer, but she does, and she is suffering, even if she does not realize it. Crystal has a hard time forming ideas for herself and is easily influenced by other opinions of her, which warps her perspective on life. As previously stated, Crystal primarily bases who she is and how she lives her life on what others think of her, but there are rare cases where she does show who she truly is and what she wants to be. She often thinks about having children, and she used to think about going to university to further her
In the short story “Cornet at night” by Sinclair Ross, Tom Dickson is a young farm boy who lives on a farm with his parents. He is very naive and has not had a chance to experience the outside world for his own. He knows only what he learns from the farm and school, but now that he gets to go on a small adventure on his on, he grows up in a variety of ways. One way in which Tom grows up is when he goes to town by himself. He has gone before, but with the security of his parents with him, and for a young boy to go to another town “eight miles north of here” is a large task for such a young boy, thus showing one way that he matures.
Susanna’s actions prove that she is continually working towards recovering. Jim Watson visits Susanna, asking her to run away with him, however, Susanna denies his proposal and stays at the institution: “For ten seconds I imagined this other life...the whole thing...was hazy. The vinyl chairs, the security screens, the buzzing of the nursing-station door: Those things were clear. ‘I’m here now, Jim,’ I said. ‘I think I’ve got to stay here’” (Kaysen 27). Susanna wants to stay at McLean until she is ready to leave; her choice supports what Buddha said, “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting” (Buddha). Susanna finds reassurance from McClean as she undergoes her journey. Susanna sees the young nurses at the ward who remind her of the life she could be living: “They shared apartments and had boyfriends and talked about clothes. We wanted to protect them so that they could go on living these lives. They were our proxies” (Kaysen 91). Susanna chooses to take these reminders as a positive motivating force along her journey. However, Susanna is also surrounded by patients who have different, more severe psychoses. These girls do not hinder Susanna’s progression, but instead emphasize her
The Jump-Off Creek introduces the reader to the unforgiving Blue Mountains and the harsh pioneer lifestyle with the tale of Lydia Sanderson, a widow who moves west from Pennsylvania to take up residence in a rundown homestead. She and other characters battle nature, finances, and even each other on occasion in a fight for survival in the harsh Oregon wilderness. Although the story is vividly expressed through the use of precise detail and 1800s slang, it failed to give me a reason to care because the characters are depicted as emotionally inhibited.
... harsh and tragic. Similarly, Hodgins symbolizes a life full of hardships in Portuguese Creek with the death of Elizabeth, for she had been the only good thing that had come out of the war. The positives of the families and communities working together were ultimately overshadowed by the negativity of these same families and communities falling apart; only further showing readers that new beginnings are not a chance for a better life, but center stage for one that is worse.
Jim had run away from his abusive father and enabling small town to find himself traveling down the Mississippi on a raft. His traveling partner was a black slave, Jim. Wondering why Jim was there, Huck discovers that Jim had run away from his slave owner, Ms. Watson. Jim had spoken about his harsh life as a slave, and resented talk of being sold down to Orleans for a “big stack o’ money.” Huck felt that Jim’s escape was wrong, but kept his promise of secrecy, like any good friend would.
It is clear that in their marriage, her husband makes her decisions on her behalf and she is expected to simply follow blindly. Their relationship parallels the roles that men and women play in marriage when the story was written. The narrator’s feelings of powerlessness and submissive attitudes toward her husband are revealing of the negative effects of gender roles. John’s decision to treat the narrator with rest cure leads to the narrator experiencing an intense feeling of isolation, and this isolation caused her mental decline. Her descent into madness is at its peak when she grows tears the wallpaper and is convinced that “[she’s] got out at last, in spite of [John] and Jennie… and [they] can’t put her back!”
For an example in one particular scene, Tiffany has an episode of irritability towards her sister with assumption that her sister hates her; which included loud inappropriate comments and an abrupt exit. There were also symptoms shown such as an excess desire for sex. Tiffany casually talks about all the men she has slept with since her husband’s death, including “the whole office” at her previous job. This is a way she has learned how to deal with her depression.
There is no one to listen to her or care for her ‘personal’ opinions. Her husband cares for her, in a doctor’s fashion, but her doesn’t listen to her (Rao, 39). Dealing with a mentally ill patient can be difficult, however, it’s extremely inappropriate for her husband to be her doctor when he has a much larger job to fulfill. He solely treats his wife as a patient telling her only what could benefit her mental sickness rather than providing her with the companionship and support she desperately needs. If her husband would have communicated with her on a personal level, her insanity episode could have been prevented. Instead of telling her everything she needed he should’ve been there to listen and hear her out. Instead she had to seek an alternate audience, being her journal in which he then forbids her to do. All of this leads to the woman having nobody to speak or express emotion to. All of her deep and insane thoughts now fluttered through her head like bats in the Crystal Cave.
Life can bring unexpected events that individuals might not be prepared to confront. This was the case of O’Brien in the story, “On the Rainy River” from the book The Things They Carried. As an author and character O’Brien describes his experiences about the Vietnam War. In the story, he faces the conflict of whether he should or should not go to war after being drafted. He could not imagine how tough fighting must be, without knowing how to fight, and the reason for such a war. In addition, O’Brien is terrified of the idea of leaving his family, friends and everything he loves behind. He decides to run away from his responsibility with the society. However, a feeling of shame and embarrassment makes him go to war. O’Brien considers himself a coward for doing something he does not agree with; on the other hand, thinking about the outcome of his decision makes him a brave man. Therefore, an individual that considers the consequences of his acts is nobler than a war hero.
Even though her husband treats her with what seem at first as love, it becomes clear she is nothing more to him than a piece of property. Every time he talks to her, he asks her to get better for his sake and the children's, and only after mentions hers interests. He doesn't think that she has any normal human feelings or worries and attributes her behavior to minor nervous depression. He doesn't see her true suffering since he believes "there is no reason to suffer" (574). He could never understand that a woman can be unsatisfied with the role imposed on her by society. Even though the heroine recognizes that her condition is caused by something other than John's theory, she is too scared to voice her opinion.
Although, towards the end of the play she realizes that he merely used her for her body and his personal image. While Williams implies that Laura, also being naive and childish, is desperate to feel normal; so she gives her virginity to Jim O’Connor in order to achieve that feeling. Both A Doll’s House and The Glass Menagerie share an emphasis on sexual control through their main characters. Nora is naive in the fact that she is unaware of the true hardships faced by adults in the Victorian Era. While Laura, who was from the Depression Era, was naive, in that; she is unaware of her social surroundings and separates herself from reality. Nora was never able to grow up as a child because she was married so early, thus Nora is very childlike, as a technical adult. On the other hand, Laura plays with glass and barricades herself inside away from society and the judgments from others that come with it. As a result of Nora and Laura being childish and naive they are easily able to be manipulated by Torvald and Jim. All that Torvald and Jim want is to achieve power over their conquests, whether at work or in a relationship, they ultimately achieved their
Nora is a dynamic character. When the play begins Nora is viewed and presented as a playful and carefree person. She seems to be more intent on shopping for frivolous things. But, as time goes on it becomes apparent that Nora actually has a certain amount of seriousness in her decisions and actions in dealing with the debt she incurred to save Torvald’s life. Nora’s openness in her friendship with Dr. Rank changes after he professes his affections toward her. Her restraint in dealing with him shows that Nora is a mature and intelligent woman. Nora shows courage, not seen previously, by manipulating her way around Krogstad and his threats to reveal her secret. After feeling betrayed by Torvald, Nora reveals that she is leaving him. Having
For any educator that is searching for a poem to arouse the interest of students enlisted in upper level literature classes, the poem “In the Orchard” by Muriel Stuart, written in the early twentieth century, conveys the ageless theme of unrequited love. The poem has all the elements of making students understand how far back the feeling of unrequited love has been around. We can understand these elements better through the rhetorical strategies.
It is a story that provides the ultimate explanation of how two different people who are witnesses to a crime give completely different psychological recollections of the same event. The author reminds us that truth depends on the telling. Someone must step forward and tell that truth.
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.