In Mark Dunn’s novel, “ Ella Minnow Pea”, the High Island Council determines the rules and regulations. As a result, major issues have occurred amongst the citizens of Nollop, when the council bans the incorporation of various letters in their vocabulary. The citizens of Nollop seem to be quite unhappy with these absurd rulings. Despite the many attempts in resisting the council’s rulings, the majority of the characters failed in doing so, due to fear, inferior power, and lastly oblivion. People tend to avoid situations and things they fear. Some know how to overcome it in order to accomplish something, and others let it control them. In “Ella Minnow Pea”, Agnes writes a letter to Mittie stating, “ This will be my last letter to you. I can …show more content…
write no more. (…) there has been too many slip-ups. The next will surely result in my banishment.” (Dunn 86) In this quote, Agnes confesses her fear of receiving a punishment if she accidentally ever slips-up. Despite the banishment of letters, Agnes still found ways to communicate with the ones she loved, up until she let her fear stop her from doing so. In the beginning of the book, Agnes took the risk in communicating with her family and writing letters to Mittie, regardless of the council’s rules. However, now Mittie is giving up against the council. This action aroused from her fear of being punished, which outcomes in her failing to resist the councils ruling. Additionally, in “Ella Minnow Pea”, Georgeanne Towngate wrote a letter to her sons teacher who is Mittie Purcy, demanding help saying, “Perhaps you might go to the school—might locate something to prove that Timmy won’t turn eight until Novempoopy 13; thus council proclamata cannot in any legal sense apply to him.” (Dunn 130) In this quote, the Towngates are asking Mittie to help them find something to help prove he hasent tured eight years old yet. Otherwise, Timmy will be severly punished by the council. Timmy Towngate is in risk to be taken away from Nollop. Instead of resisting the councils orders. Georgeanne is too afraid to stand up to the councils wishes. She’s letting fear overpower her, and is attempting to do whatever is possible to obey the council by protecting her son. This demonstrates how fear can be the barrier to one’s overcoming of resistance towards something they strongly disagree with. These two scenarios from the book are also how society is these days. Many people have goals they want to achieve, and obstacles they need to overcome, however they fail to do so, out of fear. This relates to the story because many people in the book strongly disagreed with the coucils rules, however they were not able to successfully resist them, due to their fear or receiving consequences. All in all, this demonstrates that fear plays a big role in peoples lives as well as the reason why the characters in the book, weren’t able to resist the councils rulings effectively. Power can be distributed in 2 different ways.
Either you have inferior power, or superior power. In “Ella Minnow Pea”, the superiors were the High Island Council, because they had all the power, and the inferiors were the citizens of Nollop because their power did not compare to the councils. This is proven when Tassie mentions in her letter to Ella that, “Willy, as it happens, does not believe in obeying laws written by madmen. And while many of us applaud his independent spirit, he is, nonetheless, one slip-word away from banishment”. (Dunn 19) In this quote, Tassie is telling Ella about one of the two people who have reached the second level of offense, Willy Creevy. Willy did not agree with the council’s rules, and decided to rebel against them. He was a mischievous man who didn’t obey rules that he hadn’t agree with, therefor he did his best to resist the council. Unfortunately, his power was no match for the council’s. Consequently, Will Creevy received severe punishments for his courageous actions, thus unsuccessfully resisting the councils ruling. Additionally, in another letter that Tassie had written for Ella, telling her “Perhaps, by now, you have heard of the tragic public flogging of the Rasmussen family – all six members whipped like misbehaving canines. (…) Their offense? Each member in deliberate provocation of the High Island Council had marched single file into last Tuesday’s open session wearing cartoon masks and making loud duck sounds.” (Dunn 48) In …show more content…
this quote, the Rasmussen family took the risk and rebelled against the council. Although they knew that this was forbidden, they still decided to go through with it. Unluckily, they all got a punishment and failed to resist against the council. A situation similar to these two events are dictators such as Hitler and Stalin. They both seized control in their countries, made cruel rules, invaded peoples privacies, etc. Although many people did not agree with these harsh rulings, no one was able to resist them, simply due to the fact that they didn’t have enough power against them. If they ever attempted to disobey, we would just get killed. The citizens were inferior compared to them. This relates to the story because in “Ella Minnow Pea”, characters such as Willy Creevy and the Rasmussen family got severely punished, for standing up to the council, and rebelling. As much as they wanted to successfully resist the council’s rulings, they solely weren’t superior enough to do it. All in all, distribution of power can immensely determine ones fate, as shown in the characters of the book, being too inferior to successfully resist the council without getting punished. Being oblivious, can impact peoples judgement, which can prevent them from successfully doing the right thing.
This is shown in “Ella Minnow Pea”, when Nash Towngate writes a letter to Ella. In this letter, he mentions that the reason why they respect Mr.Nollop so much, is “simply because without him, this island would be a shallow shell, an empty conch compared to what it has, in fact, become: a beautiful, sandy-shored haven of enchantment and delishmerelle.” (Dunn 40) In this quote, Nash is explaining the reason they worship Nollop, is because of his many advantages to the island they live on. They believe Nollop impacted the island positively. This shows how oblivious and naïve they are, to believe that Nollop has benefited them and the island. They don’t see that Mr.Nollop has caused only harm to the island. Additionally, later on in the book, Georgeanna Towngate writes a letter to Mrs.Mittie asker her to “locate something to prove that Timmy wont turn eight until Novempoopy 13; thus council proclamata cannot in any legal sense apply to him, otherwise he will have to go!” (Dunn 130) This quote emphasizes how oblivious the Towngates were about the councils laws and Mr. Nollop. They believed that these laws must be respected because its for the islands best interest, up until the point where the council threatened to take away their son from the island. This shows how the Towngates spent the whole time defending the rules, and reporting people who disobeyed them, then
suddenly they realized they were too ignorant to understand how harmful Mr. Nollops contribution to the island truly was. This relates to many teenagers in society. Teenagers these days, sometimes don’t think enough, and show a lot of ignorance, due to lack or experience or lack of judgement. Teenagers hear many stories about rape, kidnaping, murders, assault, however they are too naïve, and think this wont happen to them. They believe that out of all people in the world, they are unlikely to be the ones something like this happens to, regardless of all the warnings, stories and news they hear. This relates to the story because just like many teenagers, the Towngates were oblivious to how negative and harmful the island has become due to the councils rulings. The towngates oblivions towards the councils intention, affected them severly because they were unable to accurately resist them, simply due to the fact that they didn’t think the council needed any resisting. Fear is a big reason that impacted why some characters in the book, were unable to successfully resist the councils rulings. This was shown in Agnes giving up and surrendering to the council, when Agnes decided to stop writing letters to her loved ones. This is also shown in Georgeanne Towngates attempts to ask Mrs.Purcy for help, in order to keep her son on the island. Both of these events, were done out of fear. Another reason that impacted why the characters in the book failed to resist the council, is processing inferior power. The council made all the decisions, and was able to punish anyone who rebelled or resisted against them. This is shown in Willy Creevy and the Rasmussen family rebelling against the council, followed by a severe punishment. Lastly, the third factor that impacted the unsuccessful resistance towards the council, is oblivion. This is shown in the Towngates believing that Mr.Nollop and the council had the island best interest at heart and then them needing to plea for Mrs. Purcy’s help in order to keep Timmy on the island. This showed how wrong and naïve they were to believe that Nollop influenced their island positively. Although many of the characters pursued rebelling against the councils wishes, failure was evident due to fear, the councils superiority, and lastly oblivion. In conclusion, the character would have succesdullu resisted the councils rulings if they were courageous enough to risk the consequences, if the council didn’t have as much power against the citizens, and finally if they were wiser with their judgement.
In the Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria both display straightforward, hardworking, and stubborn character traits. Firstly, Homer and Mother Maria both display a straightforward personality by being brutally honest about their opinions. For example, when Mother Maria asks Homer to build a chapel, Homer speaks his mind by telling her he does not want to build it. Mother Maria shows her straightforward behavior during Homer’s stay at the convent. One morning, when Homer sleeps in late, Mother to becomes extremely upset and is not afraid to show how she feels about him. Secondly, both Homer and Mother Maria display a hardworking spirit. Homer is a hardworking man because after finally agreeing to build the chapel,
April Morning, by Howard Fast, is a novel that depicts what it was like for a 15 year old boy, Adam Cooper, fighting in the Revolutionary War in Lexington. His struggles began with his father, who is the antagonist, Moses Cooper. Moses Cooper is a character who is strict, strong-willed, and loving.
I agree with Kesey's view of power. I once had a teacher who would grade harder for people he didn't like. As a result if he disliked one of his students, they were guaranteed a `C' or lower. His abuse of power went unchecked and unchallenged due to his seniority and the difficulty of proving his crime.
Murphy, B. & Shirley J. The Literary Encyclopedia. [nl], August 31, 2004. Available at: http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2326. Access on: 22 Aug 2010.
When somebody abuses a great amount of power, that individual can lose all their power. The struggle against someone who abuses power is perfectly depicted in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey. When someone abuses their power, they can impose certain feelings and actions onto others. If someone tries to conceal their personality, . Finally, if someone abuses power and is constantly challenged by another individual who is trying to take the power abuser’s power away from them, the power abuser will always be frightened of his or her challenger. When someone abuses power and takes full control, they can lose all their power and respect quickly.
When I was a little girl I often saw the caricature of a big black woman holding a broom I was always curious as of who she was and what she portrayed. I quickly came to find out that this would be the mammy character. She was characterized to care for her white family and be pleased by doing so. Even though the mammy is well loved and has considerable power with her white family, she still knew her place as a servant. Annie played a big role as a black maid in imitation of life. Even though she was given an immense role not overshadowed by a white actress, she was still stereotyped by playing a mammy role. The mammy character was seen as a good figure to the whites but it was seen
Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Bean Trees is a realistic fiction bildungsroman story. A bildungsroman story is a story of a character’s growth and development over a course of time and stages. The first stage is the character’s search for identity through painful experiences. The character then undergoes a change or a rebirth, and will find a mentor figure that will give the character advice. The third stage is often the process of maturing and overcoming conflicts. The final stage is when the character finds their purpose in society and becomes who they are supposed to be in the end. In the beginning
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
The Civil War was a tragic event, that caused trouble for everyone in the States, but it was us, Native Americans, who paid the ultimate price. Many of our tribes were split up due to the war and were forced to move West. Although a few families, such as mine, stayed here. Coming from the Catawba nation in the South, my husband, Gawonii (“he is speaking”) and my son, Wohali (“eagle”) were passionate about the war. I tried to convince them to stay home, to be safe and not put their lives in danger. But no, they were being stubborn “powerful” Native men, and decided to go anyway. And not only did my husband and son leave me by myself in our house, they went against each other on separate sides of the war. My husband was loyal to the Confederates in the South but my son didn’t want to follow the norms of our tribe, and went on to fight with the Union soldiers up North.
have power are imposing their will on those with less power. The fact that at some point in the
All people have power, some people are just more powerful than others. Having power is the ability to create change. Examples of power being used wrongly is during the French revolution, and the residential school crisis. During the French revolution, two examples were shown of people abusing their power. King Louie XVI raised taxes so that he could buy things that he and his wife Marie Antoinette wanted, and took away rights from the third estate. In the residential schools crisis, the teachers, priests and nuns had power over the students and abused the students in different ways. Superior people take away the rights from those who are below them, but they end up corrupt.
22 of Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Rpt. in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag.
113- The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Vol.
Power is defined in the course study notes as the “ability of individuals or groups to get what they want despite the opposition”. Power is derived from a variety of sources including knowledge, experience and environmental uncertainties (Denhardt et al, 2001). It is also important to recognize that power is specific to each situation. Individuals or groups that may be entirely powerful in one situation may find themselves with little or no power in another. The county Registrar of Voters, who is my boss, is a perfect example. In running the local elections office, she can exercise the ultimate power. However, in a situation where she attempted to get the county selected for a desirable, statewide pilot project, she was powerless, completely at the mercy of the Secretary of State. Power is difficult to measure and even to recognize, yet it plays a major role in explaining authority. In organizations, power is most likely exercised in situations where “the stakes are high, resources are limited, and goals and processes are unclear” (Denhardt et al, 2001). The absence of power in organizations forces us to rely on soley hierarchical authority.