Character Analysis of the Elder Mrs. Winning of Flower Garden
The oppression of tyranny breeds either rebellion or its counterpart, conformity, as was the case for the character Helen Winning in the story "Flower Garden" by Shirley Jackson. The static, intrinsic traits of the Elder Mrs. Winning, which are influential to the outcome of the story, are developed in detail by Jackson's use of description and dramatic scenes. The elder Mrs. Winning is characterized as a woman with an authoritative, domineering personality who is unyielding in her convictions.
The elder Mrs. Winning is a sovereign matriarch in her household. After a morning breakfast, as the two Mrs. Winnings "[linger] over a pot of coffee . . . [sitting] together silently" (490?91), the younger Mrs. Winning tries to initiate a conversation. With a curt response, the elder Mrs. Winning cuts her off and "[begins] to move indicating that the time for sitting was over and the time for working had begun" (491). Through this description Jackson demonstrates that the elder Mrs. Winning is accustomed to initiating action, taking charge, and setting the pace for the day's routine. Jackson also develops the trait of leadership in the character of the elder Mrs. Winning by describing the reaction and thoughts of the younger Mrs. Winning in this scene. Jackson states that, "Young Mrs. Winning, rising immediately to help, thought for the thousandth time that her mother-in-law would never relinquish the position of authority in her own house until she was too old to move before anyone else" (491). With this statement Jackson unfolds characteristics of supremacy and power in the personality of the elder Mrs. Winning. While describing another event, a typical af...
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... after a big storm, the elder Mrs. Winning asks Helen, ". . . did it wake you?" (509). With this question the elder Mrs. Winning is apparently showing an interest in Helen's potentially interrupted sleep which is a type of worry that was absent in her character in the dramatic scenes that came prior to this event.
Portraying an image of respectability by her own insolent standards, the character of the elder Mrs. Winning falls short of being honorable. In reality, her characteristics are despicable. The elder Mrs. Winning is a despotic, narrow-minded woman. Her ideals are immovable, and she is overwhelmingly invasive. She exemplifies absolute self-righteousness.
Works Cited
Jackson, Shirley. "Flower Garden." Introduction to Literature: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing. 2nd ed. Ed. Dorothy U.Seyler and Richard A. Wilan. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1990.
Steinbeck, John. “The Chrysanthemums”. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama. 2nd ed. Ed. Robert DiYanni. New York: McGraw, 2008. 459-466. Print.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
American Literature. 6th Edition. Vol. A. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003. 783-791
One might think, based on the cultural importance of individualism in the United States, that a person can lead a successful life without any companions or loved ones. However, in The Bean Trees, author Barbara Kingsolver shows otherwise. Through the development of a flowering plant motif in this novel, the world is shown to be a place where people need others who love and care for them to live a fulfilling life. The motif of flowering plants develops meaning through the author’s continued use. Kingsolver introduces this motif in the chapter “The Miracle of Dog Doo Park” when the wisteria blossoms out of the seemingly hostile environment of the polluted, parched park. The word “miracle”
Jokinen, Anniina. "Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature." Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. N.p., 1996. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. http://www.luminarium.org/
The essay begins with a phone call between Yackel and a Social Security Office worker. Her mother had just recently passed and Yackel was attempting to retrieve the $255 death benefit. As she is left on hold, she begins to reminisce her mother’s life and the struggles she endured. This form of dialogue both began and concluded the narrative. It is a unique form of telling the story of Martha Ruth Smith and the dedication to her family. She was first employed as a manager at the general store where she worked full time. It was thereafter when she was “wooed” by the man she had been conversing with via mail and married in February 1921, even though she dreaded the consequences that would come from being a “farmer’s wife.”
As in this example in “Flower Garden,” Shirley Jackson uses color throughout “The Lottery,” “Elizabeth,” and “Flower Garden” to symbolize a persistent theme of underlying cruelty in everyday life. Although she achieves it sometimes through a shocking twist as in “The Lottery” and sometimes through subtle characterization as in “Elizabeth,” human malevolence is common in Jackson’s works. It is difficult to imagine a writer with a greater focus on the subject. Jackson has taken a clear position regarding the question of the humanity’s true nature. It is up to the reader to decide whether to follow her views or reject them.
Pre 1902 Cuba was Spanish colony , after the Spanish American War , as per the Treaty of Paris Cuba and two other colonies were ceded to USA for a sum of $20 million. On may 20, 1902 Cuba gained formal independence for USA but USA still has the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finance and foreign relations. Post this scenario various revolts took place in Cuba time to time, leading to political instability until 1940, when a new and progressive constitution was adopted. Batista was elected president the same year and carried out major social reforms. In 1944, Batista lost in presidential elections but he again came into power in 1952 with a military coup.
Harmon, William, William Flint Thrall, Addison Hibbard, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
Although imagery and symbolism does little to help prepare an expected ending in “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, setting is the singular element that clearly reasons out an ending that correlates with the predominant theme of how innocence disappears as a result of facing a grim realism from the cruel world. Despite the joyous atmosphere of an apparently beautiful world of abundant corn and cotton, death and hatred lies on in the woods just beyond the sharecropper cabin. Myop’s flowers are laid down as she blooms into maturity in the face of her fallen kinsman, and the life of summer dies along with her innocence. Grim realism has never been so cruel to the innocent children.
The nurse should develop a close and trusting relationship with the mother and the entire family or whoever her support system is and let them know that the nurse is there to answer any questions or concerns that the mother might have (Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing). The nurse should educate the family on the benefits of kangaroo care and explain to them the importance of skin-to-skin contact and how to implement this contact on a day to day basis. Before the baby is born it is important for the nurse to talk to the mother about the importance of skin-to-skin contact and what they can expect in the moments following the birth of her child. The first contact that a newborn and a mother have is hopefully immediately after childbirth when the nurse places the infant on his or her mother’s bare chest. It is ideal for skin-to-skin contact to take place for at least 30 minutes out of the first hour after birth, but any skin-to-skin contact is beneficial. The nurse could also use skin-to-skin contact time to educate the mother on breastfeeding and helping the baby latch on to feed during this time (Nursing for Women’s Health). Skin-to-skin contact should be used more often than just for feeding times, it is beneficial to do even when the baby is sleeping for bonding purposes. Nurses can place the baby on the baby’s mother or father under a blanket for kangaroo care if the baby is a little cold, or if the baby has fast respirations but their oxygen saturation is normal, kangaroo care can help regulate respirations and possibly save the baby a trip to the NICU as well (National Center for Biotechnology Information). Communication, education and encouragement are three of the most important things a nurse can give to a new mother or any patient they might have. Patients, especially new mothers want to know that they can trust the person that is taking care of her and
There are many sins that can be created or completed at a normal business meeting. Knowing how to handle and resolve the problem is of utmost importance. Having highly trained staff in management positions could make or break a meeting. Regardless of the sin committed at a meeting, there are always resolutions and ways to make a meeting run more smoothly.
In the past, foreign wars and encroaching Western colonists left the Himba relatively untouched. However, globalization has wrought a new government mind in Namibia and Angola: progress is profit at all cost, which translates to extensive tourism and unquestioned governmental river and land exploitation through hasty damming projects. As both independent governments now urgently move towards Western ideals of ruthless progress, the international community must respond to Southwest Afrcia’s government proposals for Angola’s Iona National Park and Namibia’s Epupa Falls Dam. 25,000 semi-nomadic Himba “peasants”, divided between Southern Angola and Northern Namibia boarders, now fight for their rights to choose the way of their future. In the struggle for Himba sovereignty, these two cases stand out as blaring war cries of Himba cultural and political rights under attack.
To understand the logic behind the actions of the grandmother, the consideration of what may have been her past life is very essential. O’Connor writes this story in 3rd person omniscient allowing the reader to have limited access to the thoughts of the grandmother. A sense of distrust is established immediately in the beginning of the story when the grandmother did not want to go to Florida and “she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind.”(193). Along with the sense of distrust in the relationship between the reader and the grandmother created from her actions, the aspects of a aristocratic lifestyle that once engulfed the grandmother begin to surface. Character...
In Kew Gardens, Virginia Woolf takes advantage of the liminal quality of the short story in order to highlight the suspended world that she creates in the garden. For Woolf, the lyrical short story’s subversion of traditional narrative structure allows her to focus on creating a world rather than a plot. Further, the short story creates a liminal space by the very nature of its form. Caught in a space where it is not considered a poem or a novel, the short story exists as undefined. The liminality of the short story, however, is both liberating and restricting. Woolf explores this feature in order to suggest the unsustainable nature of Kew Gardens. While Woolf utilizes the form of the short story to create a liminal, impressionistic space that eradicates the boundaries between human and nature, she also uses the transitory quality of the short story to suggest that such a space can only exist for a short duration due to the restrictions of the imposing outside world.