Mother Teresa once said, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” In Carol Rifka Brunt’s novel, Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Brunt tells the story of the protagonist and narrator, June, a girl who struggles with her Uncle Finn’s death along with her relationship with her immediate family, especially her older sister, Greta. During this rough time, June fears that Greta resents her, so she meets and befriends Uncle Finn’s partner, Toby, but beyond June’s belief Greta wishes to rekindle her relationship with June. As June and Toby’s relationship progresses, Greta is left behind trying to escape life’s hardships by abusing alcohol and carousing in the woods during dangerous storms. In Carol Rifka Brunt’s novel, …show more content…
Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Greta indulges in her sorrows through alcohol abuse, disregards her allegiance to June, and inserts herself in precarious situations to gain attention during her most significant moment and feeling of alienation. Greta uses alcohol during the play performance to subside her depressive state that was caused from her feeling of forlorn loneliness. During Greta’s play production that she had been preparing for for months, June recognizes that her sister is heavily intoxicated and immerses into her role as a lonely woman. June quickly became aware of Greta’s feeling as she,“I watched her and listened to her singing about a place...It starts out being about a place, but by the end you start to realize that Bloody Mary is talking about herself. She’s the island. She’s the one floating way out in the middle of the ocean waiting to be found.”(Brunt 297) During this moment of time, Greta embodies her role as Bloody Mary and is talking about herself being the island. Greta is the island that is floating away from society due to her sense of belonging being absent. She is floating away, but wants to be found again by her sister, June. Greta’s feeling of alienation ventures its way to her personal life and productivity when she is performing her big play completely intoxicated. Greta then abandons her sense of loyalty to June when she deliberately neglects to help June in her most pressing moment as an act of retribution for abandoning her.
After Greta was found drunk and immobile in the woods by Toby, the police arrested Toby and brought Greta back home. Despite receiving directions from June to save Greta, many pressing questions about Toby carrying Greta had arose during the police inquiry that concerned June’s parents. June’s best friend, Toby, was in danger and the only person to rescue him from getting sent to prison was Greta. During this time when Greta refused to look up and save Toby, June thought that, “She wasn’t going to help. She was going to leave me [June] drowning in all this mess. She was going to let me watch Toby get everything she thought he deserved,”(309). June stating that, “She was going to leave me drowning in all this mess”, would solidify the idea of Greta seeking revenge for June abandoning her for Toby because she would make June feel exactly how she felt, troubled and lonely. The idea of Toby getting, “everything she thought he deserved,” would be the greatest form of revenge for Greta because she’d make June feel stripped of her best friend and she would also be lonely. Greta looks for retribution against June and Toby to sooth her lonesome
aches. Greta’s intoxicated and depressive state causes her to gamble her own safety during her darkest moments in the woods to gain attention from June. After Greta’s play, she navigated her way under a wet massive tree while the sky was illuminated with lightening and then waited for June. As the night of the play was coming to its end after the police questioned Greta and June on the incident of which Toby carried Greta’s nearly unconscious body out of the woods, Greta confesses and explains why she continuously had disappeared into the woods. She states,“All these years I watched you and Finn. And then you and Toby. How could you do that? How could you possible choose Toby over me?...I kept thinking that you’d find me in the woods and…you’d be worried,” (317). Greta saying that “all these years I watched you and Finn. And then you and Toby,” reveals that she non-intrusively observed June’s life like an outsider looking in for years, so for multiple years, Greta has been feeling rejected and unwanted. “How could you possibly choose Toby over me?” creates a sense of rejection for Greta because June would rather befriend a complete stranger over herself. Then when Greta admitted that she, “kept thinking that you’d [June] find me in the woods and…you’d be worried,” which is her way of justifying endangering her own life. Greta taking that gamble with her life conveys her depressive state of mind where she doesn’t respect or appreciate her own life unless she has the attention of her sister. Greta neglecting to take care of herself by positioning herself in perilous situations in attempt of obtaining attention from her sister June. In Brunt’s novel, Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Greta succumbs to alcoholism, she betrays June’s trust, and disregards her own safety to attract attention from June in her finest moments of misery and utmost feeling of alienation. At an important event in her life, the play, she purposely becomes intoxicated to cope with her feeling of mentally and socially being separated from June. After that, she refuses to help June’s friend, Toby, in a dire situation as retribution for being rejected by June. Then after a disorderly night, June admits her frustrations with June for choosing a stranger over her making her feel rejected and extremely alienated. Greta revealed the most about her feelings on the night of play when she endures her most trying moments of social isolation and alienation. Greta proves that the greatest poverty truly is loneliness and feeling unwanted, for that’s the time when she takes the greatest and most dangerous risks and becomes the most depressed.
I read the book Lonesome Howl, which is a drama book and a love story. The book was about two main character whose names are Jake and Lucy. They lived with their family in two different farms, but in the same community besides a mountain covered in a big wicked forest where many rumors took place. The farmers around the place lost many sheep’s since a feral beast. It was a quite small community and a lot of tales was told about it to make it even more interesting. Lucy was 16 years old and lived with her strict father and a coward of mom who didn’t dare to stand up for her daughter when she were being mistreated and slapped around by her father. Lucy was a retired and quite teenager because of that. She had a younger brother whose name was Peter. Peter was being bullied in school and couldn’t read since the education of Peter was different compare too Lucy’s. She helped him in school and stood up for the mean bullies, although all she got in return was him talking bullshit about her with their cruel dad which resulted with her getting thrash.
A misconception that we often have about family is that every member is treated equally. This fallacy is substantially portrayed in Alistair Macleod’s short story, “In The Fall”. Typically speaking, in a family, the Mother is the backbone for kindness and provides love and support with no unfair judgements. However, when we relate to the portrait of the Mother in Macleod’s short story, we perceive the portrait as a self-centered woman whose affection is only shown upon what interests her. The Mother’s unsympathetic persona is apparent throughout the story as she criticizes all that holds sentimental value to her husband and children.
In the touching and gripping tale of John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, he explains many themes throughout the books. One of the major themes is loneliness, which is shown throughout many different characters, for example, Curley’s wife, the stable buck (Crooks), and Lennie.
In William Faulkner's 1930 short story "A Rose for Emily," the protagonist, Miss Emily Grierson is a desperately lonely woman. Miss Emily finds herself completely isolated from other people her entire life, yet somehow manages to continue on with her head held high. French philosopher and writer Voltaire said "We are rarely proud when we are alone," but Miss Emily's case is quite the opposite. The strength that Miss Emily gains from pride is what helps her through the loneliest of times.
The thought of her brothers still being in her former home environment in Maine hurt her. She tried to think of a way to get at least one of her brothers, the sickly one, to come and be with her. She knew that her extended family was financially able to take in another child, and if she showed responsibility, there would be no problem (Wilson, 40). She found a vacant store, furnished it, and turned it into a school for children (Thinkquest, 5). At the age of seventeen, her grandmother sent her a correspondence, and requested her to come back to Boston with her brother (Thinkquest, 6).
Radicyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness explains that gender roles are confusing and bring about unhappiness in life. The protagonist Stephen Gordon, although born a female, strives throughout the novel to be socially accepted as a male. However, in order for her to be considered this ‘privilege’, society must first grant her a God like ability to provide protection. Within this novel emphasis is placed upon a gendered meaning to provide protection, which Hall translates as only being accessible to males, and solely accomplished through marriage and sexual reproduction. In this way, gender roles are restricted to males being the provider of protection and females the receiver of this gift. Therefore, Hall’s The Well of Loneliness illustrates social inequality of perceived gender roles as a form of social alienation that limits the freedom to choose alternative paths to happiness. Males have a God given power/ divine rights , while
Curley’s wife is a complex, main character in John Steinbeck’s novella, “Of Mice and Men”. She is introduced as an insignificant secondary character, but evidently posses the importance of causing the end of the novella. Despite the weight of her role, her value is hindered because of the culture towards women in the 1930s. Steinbeck uses imagery, foreshadowing, and metaphors to show loneliness analyzed through a Feminist Lens.
Even with the pain of bearing children, raising them, doing household and even farm chores, their efforts have never been truly appreciated. Mrs. Wright was “…real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid—and fluttery…” as Mrs. Hale, her neighbor, describes her (22). This would all soon change after her wedding day. With Mr. Wright’s insipid character and lack of patience of any joyous sound, Mrs. Wright’s spirit dwindled to nothing. It seems she spent hours at a time focusing on her quilts, preserves, and caring for the only life there was in the house, her canary. Even when Mr. Hale offered to get a party telephone, Mr. Wright responded, “…folks talk too much anyway…”(5). This silence he preferred also applied to his spouse. There were no hugs given out much less a smile. He failed to give her even the most minimal sing of appreciation much less the emotional warmth she hungered for.
“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” - Mother Teresa
During the era of the Great Depression in the 1930’s, many people lost their jobs and became very lonely. This was around the time when John Steinbeck released his famous book about these “bindle stiffs”. The book was called, Of Mice and Men. Loneliness is one of the major themes of this novel. Several of the characters in the book are alone. In this novel, John Steinbeck shows how being alone affects different characters. Each is affected in a different way. Throughout the novel, the theme of loneliness is mostly expressed in the important characters of Candy, Curley’s wife and Crooks.
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
Glaspell authored this feminist short story, now considered a classic and studied in many institutions of higher education, in 1917, a story that underwent reawakening in the 1970s (Hedges). As the investigation of Mr. Wright’s murder takes the sheriff of Dickson County, neighbor Mr. Hale, and their wives to the Wright farm, the story “confines itself to the narrow space of Minnie’s kitchen--- the limited and limiting space of her female sphere. Within that small space are revealed all of the dimensions of the loneliness that is her mute message” (Hedges). It is evident through Glaspell’s writing that Minnie Wright feels distress from being trapped in the confines of her kitchen with no telephone and no outreach to the world outside her husband’s farm. Mrs. Wright being quarantined to her own home every day--- a common occurrence in housewives of ...
Well known author Gretchen Rubin once said, “Keep in mind that to avoid loneliness, many people need both a social circle and an intimate attachment. Having just one of two may still leave you feeling lonely.” In the novel Of Mice And Men written during the Great Depression by author John Steinbeck loneliness is one of the main themes throughout the story. In this essay I will be writing about how loneliness affects three of the characters, George, Crooks, and Curley's unnamed wife.
Most women in Mrs Mallard’s situation were expected to be upset at the news of her husbands death, and they would worry more about her heart trouble, since the news could worsen her condition. However, her reaction is very different. At first she gets emotional and cries in front of her sister and her husbands friend, Richard. A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...
Throughout this powerful novel, we observe the injustice in societal rejection and the pain caused by this. However, another extremely dominating theme involving the need for friendship surfaces again and again in all of the prominent characters. The Creature's isolation reveals the effects that loneliness can have when it is the strongest feeling in one's life. Taken as a whole, while the ability to care for oneself is important, people will always need someone to be there when the road gets rough.