Claire development story:
she begins optimistic
she believes the girl needed help and that her husband should have helped
claire attempts to understand the situation however she acts violently and breaks dishes after fighting with her husband.
she pitties her husband characteristics
attentive towards her husbands actions
there is a sense of isolation between her and her husband
the movie stays true to Claire’s character based on the short story
“it is evident that claire is not only alone but disconnected from stuart
Though it is not explicitly said in the opening scene of the story, later the reader realizes that Claire suspects that Stuart and his friends may have possibly killed the young girl. This suspicion is noticeable when Claire
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and Stuart are sitting on the beach. Claire tells Stuart about the Maddox brothers suggesting to Stuart that ‘they said they were innocent.’ This is important as it suggests to the reader that Claire really doesn’t know who Stuart is anymore (identity). That he may be capable of murder.” Also after they leave the beach, Claire realizes there is nothing she can say (communicate) to Stuart that won’t make him agitated. Once again, there is the idea that Claire is not only alone (or isolated) but she is disconnected from Stuart. The symbolism of Stuart ‘looking into the rear-view mirror’ when they are driving home is also important as it suggests that Stuart longs to return to the way things were between him and Claire. However Claire is starting to question, not only her marriage to Stuart but her own identity. Water also plays a significant part in the story and can be seen as symbolism for violence.
First there is the incident at the sink (near water) when Claire pushes the dishes onto the ground. Also the girl’s body was found in water. Then as Claire and Stuart pull up to the picnic ground the reader becomes aware of the creek running under the bridge. It is at this stage that Claire is thinking about why Stuart and his friends had to travel so far to go fishing, when there was so much water close by (again suspicious of Stuart). Also at the creek, Claire identifies with the dead girl and water plays a significant part again, ‘I look at the creek. I’m right in it, eyes open, face down, staring at the moss on the bottom, dead.’ Another incident involving water is when Claire is driving to the funeral. She pulls over and a man knocks on her window. This is important as Claire fears that she will be raped by the man and at the same time she can hear the river below the trees. Water is also mentioned near the end of the story when Stuart is opening Claire’s blouse. It is obvious that Claire doesn’t want to have sex with Stuart (for the second time) and he is forcing himself on her but Claire ‘can’t hear a thing with so much water
going.’ Claire’s decision to attend the young girl’s funeral is also significant because it further suggests that Claire identifies (as she did in the creek) with the young girl. What is also worth noting is that Claire tells Marnie in the hairdressers when discussing going to the funeral that ‘we weren’t all that close. But you know.’ Again this suggests that Claire identifies with the young girl, even though she never knew her. It is also interesting that despite Claire finding out after the funeral that the girl’s killer has been found, she remains unsure, telling the woman outside the church that ‘they have friends, these killers.’ This might be important as it could signify that Claire still has doubts about her relationship with Stuart and remains suspicious of him and his friends. There is also a sense at the end of the story that just as Claire has her doubts about Stuart, likewise she appears to be unsure of who she is. JINDABYNE: CLAIRE: The story is told in retrospect by Claire, the wife of one of the men, and picks up after the incident has become public and all hell has broken loose, as the men are calumnied for not respecting the dead. The incident has thrown Claire into a deep reflection of her life - not only because she feels ambivalent towards her husband, but because she finds that the incident fails to impart any deep meaning to her – and that absence of feeling seems to be telling her that life is passing her by, sliding into grey indifference. She attends the young woman’s funeral, but nothing signifies. Claire reconciles with her husband – but nevertheless wakes up that night and asks, ‘how could you?’ and the story ends. Unable to admit the awfulness of this act, Stewart is presented as a flawed, average character who, in Claire’s words, is "piss weak." A personal tension between Stewart and Claire, as well as in other relationships, stands out from the very first sequences. Almost everybody has a demon to fight. As the protagonists, Stewart and Claire are at the centre of this discourse on alienation and shattered identities. When confronted with the facts about the body at the fishing site, Claire reacts violently, refusing to remain passive and act as a victim herself. Laura Linney’s fine performance — the tension in her body, the cold fury in her eyes and the severity in her voice — reveal the character’s innermost feelings. She tries to persuade her friends to accept their responsibilities as human beings towards the Aborigines. Her way of dealing with the situation — particularly her visit to the mortuary — suggests a masochistic attitude, as if her concern for the dead young woman and her family is in part the result of very personal feelings and a lingering sense of guilt. Following a nervous breakdown, Claire once abandoned her new-born son, and her failure as a mother haunts her and catches up with her again when her little boy Tom almost drowns. Being pregnant, she decides to have an abortion when, in the course of the film, she discovers she is pregnant. For Claire, the present situation is a journey back to this past, a means to overcome it and to reconsider decisions
Sonnenblick portrays this climax by Claire’s brother to state he views it as just another sign of how much closer she is to their father than him, that he has a nickname for her. She then realizes that she has someone that actually loves and cares for her, and now that she is not abandon. Towards the end of the story, the story come back to the present which is what the author start with at the beginning, which was Claire at the dance, but something happens “...spins me around so that I am facing away from him and the gives me a gentle push in the small of my back. And-somehow-my father is there in front of me.”(Sonnenblick, Page 257), her father shows up at the dance. This further shows and proves Sonnenblick's theme of someone is always there to care and love you, even if there is unfortunate situations going on in your
In the book, The Glass Castle, I feel each character I can identify with in some way, whether that is through actions, thoughts, or events. However, there is one character that stood out to me and that is Jeannette. She chronicled her life and her dysfunctional upbringing along with the struggles and challenges that go along with it. No matter what she went through, she never allowed herself to feel defeated or depressed. She saw her situation for what it was and found ways to improve her condition through pure determination. There are many similarities I feel we both share such as, we both were taught independence from an early age, we are both middle children, and we are both carefree and intelligent. Though, the main contrast between Jeannette and I are that we are both timid, positive, and forgiving.
In the memoir, The color of Water, the author James McBride's life is rawly laid out for the reader. It discusses his life and his search to understand his mother's identity. In understanding who she is, he believes that he will better be able to identify himself and who he is. His memoir involves stories from his mother's and his own point of view, that help the reader understand the hardships that both individuals encountered, and overall how similar their perspectives truly are. Throughout the book, James tells the reader about many different events that took place over the course of his life. There are a select few that truly influenced the path his life took, and the way he sees himself. These major events include James' step father passing
The element of setting is used to create a definite atmosphere, and therefore, helping to create a desired mood .In Kate’s childhood, she and Matt visited the ponds regularly. They used to go “through the woods with their luxuriant growth of poison ivy, along the tracks, past the dusty boxcars lines up receive their loads of sugar beets, down the steep sandy path to the ponds themselves” (Lawson 4). Lawson has used powerful imagery to further describe the ponds. The settings of the ponds are a central part of the story. The ponds are a symbol of the tight relationship between Matt and Kate. They had spent “hundreds of hours there” (Lawson 15). Ponds were like a home to her. In the prologue, Kate stated that “there is no image of my childhood that I carry with me more clearly than that” (Lawson 4). The ponds also symbolizes Kate’s childhood. Matt and Kate were able to overcome the tragedy of their parent’s death by visiting the ponds, but however, they did not survive Matt’s “disloyalty”. The ponds later developed into the scene of the crime. Kate mentions in the book “By the following September the ponds themselves would have been desecrated twice over, as far as I was concerned, and for some years after that I did not visit them at all” (Lawson 218). Therefore, the ponds are of great significance in Crow Lake. The setting has developed from a warm, sweet, memorable place to a scene of crime in crow Lake.
She allows her mother to control her and make decisions for her. During their conversation, she asks her mom if she should marry Mr. Jones even if she does not love him. Her mother does not seem to care until Helen mentions that he is Vice-President of the company. Her mother says that she should marry him whether she loves him or not because he will be able to take care of her and Helen. They continue to discuss how Helen can marry this man that she doesn’t like so she will never have to work again and he can support her mother, or she can say no at the risk of losing her job and not being able to support her mother anymore. Helen ties in how life is making her “feel like I’m stifling!” (591). Again, I feel this is another representation of Helen not being able to handle the pressures of society. Helen can’t talk about important decisions she has to make without feeling claustrophobic and blowing up by saying things like “I’ll kill you!” (592). I think she blows up because her mother is always nagging her and she can’t handle it in that moment anymore, especially since it is a conversation about
Back when I was a little girl, I always fascinated over water. I remember that I loved to be able to go down to Lake Chatuge, which is directly behind my house, and sit there, thinking about how my wonderful God is to make such a beautiful thing that we do not appreciate like we should. According to Oxford Dictionary, water is “a colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain and is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.” Ron Rash used symbolism, which is “something that represents something else” (Mays 205), in his book One Foot in Eden drastically in many different aspects of water. The symbolism of water in One Foot in Eden has many various meanings that are vividly expressed within
Sethe left Sweet Home pregnant with Denver, "and ran off with no one's help" (p.224). She ran scared and fearful of the trackers following her trail. Sethe met Amy Denver, a white woman, on her way to Ohio. Amy helped Sethe find the Ohio River. The river was "one mile of dark water.[and] it looked like home to her and the baby"(p.83). When Amy left, Sethe traveled downstream and met Stamp Paid. He helped her and Denver cross the river to freedom.&nbs away the memories of Sweet Home and began her life with Denver at 124. Water represents the transition of Sethe's slave life to her life of freedom. Again, water has cleansed the soul of the sin of slavery. The river is now a barrier. It separates Sethe's life of slavery, to her new life of freedom. Water introduces the end of Sethe's life without Beloved and the transformation of Beloved from a spirit to a physical being. Beloved emerged from the river fully clothed and nineteen years old. Beloved's emergence from the river symbolizes her new life in the world. She was no longer trapped in 124; she was human once again. Beloved had "new skin, lineless and smooth, including the knuckles of her hands" (p.50). She was new and unused.
When the character of Claire is first introduced, the audience is given very little information as to who she is or why she has come; Durrenmatt merely reveals that she is a famed millionaire returning to the town of her youth, Gullen. With this being said, it does not
In Beloved, one of the things that water represents is birth. When Sethe was running away form Sweet Home, she was pregnant. In order to get to freedom, she had to cross the Ohio River. On the way to the river, Sethe met a young white girl named Amy Denver. Amy helped Sethe to keep going because her feet were swollen up. When Sethe and Amy got to the river, Sethe thought the baby had died during the previous night. However, she soon felt the signs of labor. “It looked like home to her, and the baby (not dead in the least) must have thought so too. As soon as Sethe got close to the river her own water broke loose to join it. The break, followed by the redundant announcement of labor, arched her back'; (p. 83). Sethe crawled into a boat that soon began to fill with water. It was in this boat that Sethe gave birth to Denver. “When a foot rose f...
The Tamassee River in Saints at the River is honestly more important than any character, and the river is the most definitely a character in the book. Without the river, there would not be a story line. The river is with us the whole way and tell us the story from cover to cover. The river is a major part of Tamassee and now many people are literally a part of the river... even some people that are alive are a part of the river. The hydraulic is a major characteristic of the Tamassee, and ever since the beginning of the story, it's been important. It holds secrets, and even the ones in love with the river will never know them. "The Tamassee and it’s watershed can hide a lot," Billy said, "Even from Luke Miller (Rash 26).
Claire's thought process though out the story shows her suspicion. This suspicion causes Claire to notice minuet details, which would usually be overlooked by the common person. At the dinner table she watches his every move, "he seems tired, edgy.... He looks at me and looks away again"(Carver, 278). These are usually the mannerisms of some one who has done something wrong, acting out of the norm and having shifty eyes is an unconscious way of showing guilt, but in this instance it could be Claire imagining these things. When someone needs to believe something so drastically, they can make things up to justify their thoughts. It is quite possible that Stuart was acting fine but Claire's suspicion took hold of her perspective causing her to see these characteristic ways of a guilty person. While on a drive with Stuart Claire thinks "so much water so close to home, why did he have to go miles away to fish?" (282) She believes the men went to the lake so far away so that no one would see them murder the girl. Even the husband notices his wife's suspicion, saying "don't look at me like that. Be careful now. I mean it. Take it easy, Claire"(280). Stuart says this because he can feel the distrust Claire has in him. Yet again, this is another instance that Claire is acting in suspicion.
In the first place, the ponds are full of Kate’s memory about childhood and hometown. They are Kate’s favorite places before she grew up. In the prologue, Kate mentioned that “there is no image of my childhood that I carry with me more clearly than that” (Lawson, p.4). Kate remembers her first trip to the ponds. “ I was so small he had to carry me on his shoulders-through the woods with their luxuriant growth of poison ivy, along the tracks, past the dusty boxcars lined up to receive their loads of sugar beets, down the steep sandy path to the ponds themselves”(Lawson, p.4). From riding on Matt’s shoulders to follow Matt to the ponds, they spent “hundreds of hours” (Lawson, p.5) there. Kate cherishes the vivid and sweet memory of the time she spent in the ponds.
In Hemingway's In Our Time, the author refers to clean water in the form of lakes, rivers, and streams in almost all of his short stories, while he makes direct reference to water in his chapters only when that water is stagnant or contaminated. Perhaps this collection of Hemingway's is representative of the conscious mind through his stories, and the subconscious through his chapters. Read as such, water can be seen as a central element in consciousness for Hemingway. Perhaps this was an attempt to use "stream of consciousness" style, made popular by Virginia Woolf, in a very different way--with the stream as a concrete piece of the writing. Water, then, can be interpreted in the work as the difference between what is real and what is dreamt.
Unquestionably, Amy Bloom the author of heart-rending story “Silver Water”, effectively produces deep sentiments in the story. As you mentioned, author Bloom makes a tremendous use of a character Violet, who is the one who narrates the story about her elder sister. By using her character, the author considerably evokes several of emotions. For instance; in the beginning of the story, when Violet introduces her sister Rose, as a wonderful personality with a magnificent voice, which arouses the emotion of love, which she has for her sister. In the middle of the story, when the author narrates the death situation of Dr. Thorne, enhance the anguish emotion. While, at the end, when describing the Rose’s death, author Bloom via using Violet’s character,
The madness and nothingness of the family gets the better of Shelly and she begins to doubt her own existence as well: