Weird. If the relationship between the characters of Grandpa and Grandma could be described in one word, it would be weird. Then again, Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a shining example of everything unconventional, exploring the nuances of grief through multiple and varying perspectives, each with a unique approach that attempts to achieve recovery and solace. The relationship of Grandpa and Grandma is an example of one such attempt at recovery, one that tries desperately to reconcile past traumas, yet ultimately acts as a futile effort that harbors more grief and denial.
In order to delve into the relationship between Grandpa and Grandma, an understanding of their pasts is necessary. Both Grandpa and Grandma have harrowing experiences of the Dresden Bombing; however, each has a distinct response that initiates certain changes within them. Grandpa’s narrative is a telling of a desperate search and rescue for Anna, which ultimately end in failure, disappointment, and grief. This later affects Grandpa, creating an “inability to let the unimportant things go [and] inability to hold on to the important things” (132). This incapability to come to terms with his past later translates in Grandpa’s relationship with Grandma. His constant search for reconciliation from that night in Dresden clearly hinders his ability to re-establish a true romantic love life with Grandma. This therefore inhibits his capacity to successfully move on and recover from Anna’s death.
On the other hand, Grandma’s situation reveals a different form of trauma. Her life in Dresden is largely centered around her sister, Anna. Grandma’s sudden loss of Anna the night of the bombing and later the choice to leave her father behin...
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...the existence of binary restrictions prevents the relationship from developing. Grandpa and Grandma are stuck in an interstitial space, a rope that does not move in a game of tug of war. In questioning whether or not their relationship is something or nothing, Grandpa responds with, “‘Something…but I knew, in the most protected part of my heart the truth” (111). In contrast, Grandma tries to create a relationship that is “something.” This thus creates a connection that is both something and nothing. This can be best explained by comparing this something-nothing relationship to a “rebound” act. Both Grandpa and Grandma try to move on from their past relationships by being with each other. But like many rebound relationships, they are usually merely physical and short lived. By using each other a method of healing, they seem to only cause further damage to themselves.
In the article Skin Deep written by Nina Jablonski and George Chaplin, they discuss and look deeper into the diverse differences in skin color. Our skin color has developed over the years to be dark enough to prevent the damaging sunlight that has been harming our skin and the nutrient folate that it carries. At the same time out skin is light enough to receive vitamin D.
Darryl’s life is worth fighting for. “You can’t buy what I’ve got.” ‘The Castle’ directed by Rob Sitch, about one man, his family and neighbours on the verge of being homeless. Darryl Kerrigan, the “backbone of the family” won’t stand for that. Of course no one can buy what he has. He’s spent almost his entire lifetime building what he has, why should he give it up? Darryl’s way of life is simple yet filled with family values. 3 Highview Crescent is the home to Darryl, his wife Sal and their 3 children: Wayne, Steve, Tracy and Dale. (Wayne currently being in jail.) The house is made up of love, and simple family values. Darryl’s also added bits and pieces to it. He’s added on so much to the house, his own personal touch. His neighbours, also in the same bout are almost family to the Kerrigans. Jack and Farouk are another reason why Darryl’s ready to take matters into his own hands.
After a reader first notices the title of Firoozeh Dumas’ essay, “The F Word”, it may be hard to believe her writing is not about curse words. Her writing is about her experience moving to America and living in a society that is unwilling to accept outsiders. Immigrants face hardship when they come to the United States and she knew that before she moved. But she never thought living with a foreign name would be so challenging. Dumas brings light to those difficulties and how she dealt with them through sentence structure, excellent word choice, and well-written metaphors and similes.
The granny and the misfit are two completely opposite characters that possess two different beliefs. The grandmother puts herself on a high pedestal and the way she calls the misfit ‘a good person’ based upon his family background gives the reader an idea of what the grandmother acknowledges to be considered as ‘good’. Self absorbed as sh...
...ther is losing her daughter to time and circumstance. The mother can no longer apply the word “my” when referring to the daughter for the daughter has become her own person. This realization is a frightening one to the mother who then quickly dives back into her surreal vision of the daughter now being a new enemy in a world already filled with evils. In this way it is easier for the mother to acknowledge the daughter as a threat rather than a loss. However, this is an issue that Olds has carefully layered beneath images of war, weapons, and haircuts.
Her family life is depicted with contradictions of order and chaos, love and animosity, conventionality and avant-garde. Although the underlying story of her father’s dark secret was troubling, it lends itself to a better understanding of the family dynamics and what was normal for her family. The author doesn’t seem to suggest that her father’s behavior was acceptable or even tolerable. However, the ending of this excerpt leaves the reader with an undeniable sense that the author felt a connection to her father even if it wasn’t one that was desirable. This is best understood with her reaction to his suicide when she states, “But his absence resonated retroactively, echoing back through all the time I knew him. Maybe it was the converse of the way amputees feel pain in a missing limb.” (pg. 399)
While living in her father’s house, Goldman became a victim of her father’s abuse, and of her mother’s lack of emotion. Her eldest sister, Helena, showed Goldman as much love as she possibly could but was still unable to fill the void.
Granny Weatherall is prideful and has a need for control. In contrast, Miss Emily lives in a fantasy land and is obstinate. Like anyone dealing with trauma, Miss Emily and Granny must find a way to deal with it. Their differing personality traits dictate how their coping mechanisms. Granny Weatherall pushes away the hurt, and Miss Emily denies it in favor of clinging to a fantasy. Granny Weatherall and Miss Emily may both have skeletons in their closets, but what they have done with them is what separates the
The grandmother played a good game. She learned from her mistakes and found new approaches to manipulate her targets. Every action she took in the story were to benefit herself. In the end, she stayed true to herself and died trying to manipulate someone for her own survival. She remained manipulative and selfish throughout the story, even under a layer of faked goodwill. She was given a chance to change herself into a round character, but she never took the opportunity. She will never get another chance to prove herself as anything but a flat character now, because she is
My grandmother has a certain look in her eyes when something is troubling her: she stares off in a random direction with a wistful, slightly bemused expression on her face, as if she sees something the rest of us can’t see, knows something that we don’t know. It is in these moments, and these moments alone, that she seems distant from us, like a quiet observer watching from afar, her body present but her mind and heart in a place only she can visit. She never says it, but I know, and deep inside, I think they do as well. She wants to be a part of our world. She wants us to be a part of hers. But we don’t belong. Not anymore. Not my brothers—I don’t think they ever did. Maybe I did—once, a long time ago, but I can’t remember anymore. I love my grandmother. She knows that. I know she does, even if I’m never able to convey it adequately to her in words.
The second portion of the semester has had a focus on how the Holocaust has continued to cause devastation and familial conflict even after the war ended. Of the texts we have read, Maus by Art Speigelman and Still Alive by Ruth Kluger were two very different accounts of the Holocaust, however there was one strong continuity between the texts: the effects of the Holocaust were not exclusive to any single person or family, survivors and their offspring continued to suffer long after escaping the camps. The constant tension documented in Maus between Speigelman and his father was not exclusive to their family as Holocaust survivors; Ruth Kluger also incorporates her family struggles into her book by detailing the differences between her and her mother, even after her mother has passed away. Because their experiences differ, with Speigelman being the son of a Holocaust victim and Kluger actually enduring it, the texts took different forms, both linguistically and aesthetically, to communicate their messages of familial conflict.
... uncles slugging each other with such force that they had to be in love. Strangers would never want to hurt each other that badly.” It is something so true, but so unknown.
Powder, a short story written by Tobias Wolff, is about a boy and his father on a Christmas Eve outing. As the story unfolds, it appears to run deeper than only a story about a boy and his father on a simple adventure in the snow. It is an account of a boy and his father’s relationship, or maybe the lack of one. Powder is narrated by a grown-up version of the boy. In this tale, the roles of the boy and his father emerge completely opposite than what they are supposed to be but may prove to be entirely different from the reader’s first observation.
She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her
The main characters in this story were Zach Wahhsted, Alan Mender, and Joey Mender. Zach Wahhsted was a schizophrenic sixteen year. He often hallucinates voices and people; but when ever he would forget to take his medication, he would hear two voices that would tell him to kill himself. Zach had a hard time understanding what was real and what was in his head. Alan Mender was a seventeen year old who grew up in a rough neighborhood with his little brother and their mom, who was diagnosed with cancer. He has a kind disposition, but lives in rough circumstances. Joey Mender was a fourteen year old younger brother of Alan Mender, who also lived with his mother, he is temperamental and thought zach was just a retard.