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The theme of death used in literature
Essay death literature
Theme of death in literature
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In this group of authors, the writers use their own unique personalities. They added into their writing the parts of their lives that has influenced them the most. Grouping the authors together hardly seems relevant, at least not all of them. Kate Chopin, Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman, Robert Frost, and Edwin Arlington Robinson all experienced death within his or her personal lives. Whether it was his or her parents or his or her spouse, this in some ways, showed in their writings. Chopin and Freeman were both writers of equality. They both envisioned a life where both sexes existed equally; men and women were not more than the other was but rather played on the same field, together as one. Chopin used this in her writing “Désirée’s’s Baby.” She touched on equality within races, not placing each character as an individual by race but rather an individual by a person. She hinted in her writing that there may have been a slight skin difference …show more content…
The analysis of each of their writing differs a little but ultimately, they both discuss death. The context of Robinson’s writing leaves the readers guessing and does not give a clear reasoning but one’s own interpretation. The writing of “Richard Cory” says that the author planted hidden reason within the writing. This hidden aspect leads the reader to assume a psychological issue not seen from the outside, but rather an issue that one feels within himself. Chopin takes the death of one of her characters and makes the reader feel as though the character is free because of death. The shocking horror to assume one is now free from a life of personal misery just to discover that the person you thought was dead is now alive and standing in front of you. Chopin also used death in her writing “Désirée’s Baby.” At the end of this writing, Chopin’s character Désirée walks off into the bayou, with her baby, and never returned, leaving the reader to interpret the character’s
Grace Paley’s “Samuel” and Kate Chopin’s “Désirée’s Baby” both deal with tragic deaths caused by peoples’ actions both directly and indirectly. These two short stories have similarities whose narrator tells the deaths of two young and innocent people who were the victims of a harsh and unsuspecting society. Paley’s “Samuel” is about a group of boys who are having fun on a subway train leaping from platform to platform between the cars. The adults are watching the children with mixed emotions. The men watching the boys reminisce back to memories of their childhood; while the women are angrily showing discontent on their faces directed at the boys. The action of one of the passengers causes the train to come to a halt throwing one of the boys
Males have always fiddled with the lives of women for years, they play it well and society is the audience asking for an encore, it is society that says it’s okay. They take advantage of their circumstances and the other gender has to endure the harsh results from that. Janie, a black woman in Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God and Edna, a white woman in Chopin’s “The Awakening” live in two
The presence of death in the novel looms over the characters, making each of them reflect on the
Peoples’ personal life experiences usually affect the topic of their work. John Keats was a famous poet who grew up in an idyllic life until tragedy continuously stroked until his death at twenty-five years old. At eight years old, his father died in a tragic riding accident. Six years later, his mother died of tuberculosis (TB). In the midst of his troubles, his teacher strongly encouraged his reading and literacy ambitions. Living next to an insane asylum, Keats eventually started to develop physical and emotional problems. Diagnosed with TB, Keats helplessly watched his beloved brother die from the final stages of the same disease. Furthermore, he was unable to marry his fiancée, Fanny Brawne. Drawing from his individual experiences, Keats wrote very vividly about the pains and suffering he was going through. He expressed his unfulfillment as a writer, his love and struggles, the fleetingness of life and happiness, and his inner conflicts. Jack Stillinger writes, “It is this combined experience of suffering, death, and love all at once, against a background of serious conversation, reading, and thinking, that accounts for Keats's sudden rise to excellence in his poetry” (qtd. in Everett). All of Keats’s life experiences combined to make works of arts that could only be inspired by individual human experiences. John Keats’s background directly affects the topic of his works in order to realistically articulate his feelings in poetic form.
The background of both authors, which was from the South, we can conclude how they could described the situations that they faced such as political and social presumptions problems especially for women at that time. The story explains how Chopin wrote how women were to be "seen but not heard". "The wife cannot plead in her own name, without the authority of her husband, even though she should be a public
Many female writers write about women's struggle for equality and how they are looked upon as inferior. Kate Chopin exhibits her views about women in her stories. The relationship between men and women in Kate Chopin's stories imply the attitudes that men and women portray. In many of Chopin's works, the idea that women's actions are driven by the men in the story reveals that men are oppressive and dominant and women are vulnerable, gullable and sensitive. Chopin also shows that females, like Desiree and Eleanor, undergo a transformation from dependent and weak to stronger women free from their husbands by the end of the story. In the short story 'Desiree's Baby,' Kate Chopin reveals her idea of the relationship between men and women by showing instances of inferiority and superiority throughout the story. In 'A Point at Issue,' there are many instances where the idea of hypocrisy and the attitudes that the main characters display and how their actions affect each other's lives, show the impact that men have on women's lives.
Throughout the years many variations of the ideas on race, class, and culture have been presented based upon different factors. In earlier times people’s views were not nearly the same as they are presented today. Ideas that women belong in the kitchen or that African-American’s were an inferior race were common. Those views were very popular during the time of Kate Chopin’s book “Desiree’s Baby.” Chopin’s book explores the controversial areas of race and class as well as touching on the subject of culture. “Desiree’s Baby” shows the life of Desiree from a young child through adulthood. The young Desiree was found by a rich family alone on the streets. Even in a time where race and social class was important the wealthy, a rich couple took in young Desiree without knowing her ancestral background. Desiree lived a good life with the family. The story then switches to when Desiree was a young adult and falls in love with Armand Aubigny. Armand also comes from a wealthy background and still falls for Desiree without knowing her racial background. Eventually, the young couple has a baby but to their surprise the baby comes out with African traits. Armand is not happy and rethinks whether she has African in her background or if maybe she had an affair with a slave. Desiree’s mother offers to have her and the baby come back and stay with them but when Desiree leaves she disappears and is never seen again. Later, Armand finds out that it may not have been Desiree that carries African roots but himself, from his mother’s side. Overall, Chopin’s work looks into the controversial issues of race, class, gender and culture using ironies and the story-line to infer the views of these topics.
In the story of “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, there are many literary themes that can be analyzed such as love, racism, gender inequality, and miscegenation. What this analysis will focus on is primarily on the central male character, Armand Aubigny, and on his views towards racism. More specifically, what this essay will aim to prove is that Armand Aubigny looked down upon the African race to the point where he hated them. One of the biggest driving points to aid this idea is how his family name shaped his behavior and actions according to the societal normalities of his time period. Another important aspect that will be considered is his very relationship towards his slaves in how he treated them cruelly even to the point where he is described as “having the spirit of Satan” (Chopin 3). In addition to this, the reader will also see Armand’s negative reaction to being aware of the implications of his son and wife having mixed blood in where he practically disowns them. With all this culminating to Armand finding out the ugly truth that the race he had treated so horribly is actually a part of his very own blood as well.
The six poems poems I have chosen to write about each incorporate death in a different way. There are many ways that the authors use death, and they all achieve something different in the way they use it.
The climax of Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin takes place when Desiree’s husband, who has been happy “since the day he fell in love with her”, accuses her of belonging “to a race cursed with the brand of slavery” (26). Desiree was a young lady who “grew to be beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere (21), and she was married. Their new family “softened Armand Aubigny’s imperious and exacting nature greatly; he was an arrogant, racist, slave owner. Desiree tells her mother, “I’m so happy; it frightens me” (23). And because Armand couldn’t have been happier when their son was born, he has been less aggressive with the slaves, “he hasn’t punished one of them – not one of them” (22). A few months passed before Desiree felt “there was something
...th or the ending of the world in a peaceful manner. Since all of the writers are from different periods of time and from different cultures, their poetic styles and points of view on death vary. Although all the poems touch on aspects of death that many people should contemplate, and easily relate to, they are unique, which makes them all more striking, because they are all about a similar subject, yet they all have different perspectives.
Kate Chopin wrote “The Father of Desiree’s Baby”, later changed to “Desiree’s Baby,” in 1892 and was first published in Vouge, a female magazine (Gilbert 9). According to Cynthia Wolff, this story has “layers of ambiguity and uncertainty” (37) about the problems that occurred in the South during the 19th century. Chopin points out the problems of race, gender, and miscegenation throughout the short story. However, the most important thing to recognize from this story is how Chopin uses structure, symbolism, and foreshadowing throughout the short story. Kate Chopin uses structure, symbolism, and foreshadowing in “Desiree’s Baby” to reveal that Desiree intertwines her identity and happiness among other characters in the story, which ends in her suffering and death.
It could be said that Poe used his own melancholy life experiences to fuel his somber subject material. Wherever Poe may have went, he could not outrun death, for those he held close all fell to their graves until he was almost completely abandoned. In similar fashion, the main characters of
Mother Savage takes place in Virelogne during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. The narrator retells the story behind the ruins of a thatched cottage. At thirty-three years of age, Mother Savage’s son volunteered in the war (on the French side), leaving his mother alone. Mother Savage lived alone in her cottage until the Prussians came one day. Since she was known to have money, she had to take four of them. They seemed to be good boys. Since they saw Mother Savage was an elder lady, they showed consideration toward her and helped with as much as they could. She fed them and treated them well even though they were the enemy and her own son was fighting against them. One day she asked them if they know where the French regiment was, since her son was in the 23rd of the line. The Prussians said they knew nothing.
Life and death are two things that we as humans must all face. The road from one to the other, from life to death, is a long and at times, both joyous and painful one. Robert Frost’s poems are a prime example of these times and trials. The poems I chose for this paper highlight them, and with Frost’s allegory, they present a sort of silver lining to the string of dark and dreary words he’s pieced together for these poems. The depressing tone to the poems “Acquainted with the Night”, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, and “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowing Evening” could be attributed to the death of many of Frost’s family members, and how despite this he overcame it all, and at the end of his life, was a successful writer. These poems to not go into great explanation of the details of Frost’s life, however, I believe that they are representations of the things path that he’s walked, and how he viewed his actions and death in general.