Grand Avenue
In the novel Grand Avenue. Greg Sarris uses the theme thread of poison to connect all of his separate stories about the Toms’, a Pomo Indian family. He proves that the roots of a family are the basis which gives the family its structure, even if those roots are bad. In the Toms’ family they’re roots were poisoned from the very founding of the family starting with Sam Toms’. His poison was not the fact that he tried to steal a married woman away, but that he was filled with secrets, deceptions, and self hatred. His family was founded on these poisened roots and passes the poisen down generation after gerneration. The only way to stop the poison, or inner self hatred taken out in other forms, was to let go of past and talk about the secrets and lies. Once a person does this they are able to learn from their mistake , in a sense the break free from the poison. If Sam Toms’ , the founder or root of the family,would have broken free of his poisen by talking about his mistake he made, his whole family per haps would have turned out completely different. As a result of his secrets and lies his family was rasied to make the same immoral desisions as he made throughout his life. His family, like Sam, didn't take responcilblity for their mistakes, which spread the poison onto the next generation. Tracing the poison throughout the Tom’s beginning at the roots, shows just how important the roots indeed are.
In the first story, entitled The Magic Pony, one learns about the “Man Poison”. The story is narrated by Jasmine, who lives with her Auntie Faye Faye tells her daughter Ruby and Jasmine that all men are poisoned because of a mistake from her past She stole her cousin Anna’s boyfriend Joaquin, by lying t...
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...d few such as Anna, Stella, and Alice who broke free of the poison, lived their lives as Sam Toms’ did who rooted the family. They as he did lied, cheated, manipuled, and kept secrets to try to live a happy life which in actuality their lives were anything but.
The strong Toms’ that broke free of the poison spoke of their problems and took responsibility for them. The rest just followed in their ancestors footsteps and lived unhappy and immoral lives as they did. The Toms’ family poison connected the whole family, generation after generation together, and helps to prove how important an influential a families’ roots really are.footsteps and lived unhappy and immoral lives as they did. The Toms’ family poison connected the whole family, generation after generation together, and helps to prove how important an influential a families’ roots really are.
eat and keep the children healthy. Margaret, the only girl dies and Frankie's mother and
Growing up Mary Karr didn't have a “stable” childhood. Her parents Pete and Charlie had many obstacles they faced throughout their life. Pete, who worked at a graveyard at the oil refinery was an alcoholic. He would drink every day, whether it was at home or with the liars club, he always had a drink in his hand. Charlie, who dealt with many illnesses such as an anxiety disorder and being a hypochondriac was not the best role model in Mary and Lecia life. At only 2 years old, Charlie almost died of pneumonia. After surviving that, she wasn't a normal kid, she had many issues.
There is a destructive nature of man is shown in Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon through the absence of family. Sci...
Durango Street is a novel by Frank Bonham. He writes about a young boy who lives in an extremely bad neighborhood. His name is Rufus Henry. Rufus was in a correctional camp for stealing a car. In the camp he met a friend named Baby. Baby lived where Rufus's mother had moved. Baby got released a little bit before Rufus and then went on to his home "the flats." Rufus was left out from camp with a parol officer. His parole officer tells him not to get involved with gangs but Rufus knows he has to join a gang to survive. He runs into one of the local gangs The Gassers, and gets into a little fight with them and the leader Simon Jones. He gets away in good condition, but knows that The Gassers are goin to be looking for him. So he finds his friend Baby and joins the gang The Moors. Rufus gets beat up into the gang, and soon after takes over. He beats up the leader Bantu. Rufus the takes contorl of the gang. The rival gang knows about this, and then beats up Rufus's little sister. Rufus then gets back at them and beats up the gang and blows up there car. He then meets up with a man named Alex Robbins. The man is a social worker who "sponsors" or helps gangs. They have meetings every week and talk about The Gassers and ideas they have. Alex suggests to go to the local football team (TheMaurders) and watch them train. Little did Alex know is that Rufus has an obsession with their star running back Ernie Brown. Ernie is actually Rufus's father, but no-one knows except Rufus and his mother. Simon Jones steals Rufus's book of Ernie Brown that he keeps in secret and in provate. Simon then reads it in front of everyone how Ernie is really Rufus's father. This makes things with the gangs very hostile. The Moors then meet these two girls named Nonie and Jannet. They talk with the gang and convince them to throw a graduation dance. The gang rounds up some money and has the dance. The Gassers try to ruin it by setting off smoke bombs in the ventalation systems, but the dance is not spoiled but turned out great. After the dance Rufus and Alex talk about Rufus going back to school, and they end off with a nice smile.
As the story goes we start with a family who appears as a typical family where the desires of the parents are for their children to be smart and successful in life and the desires of the children are those of any typical child. However, as the story unfolds we are given the insight of the true nature of the family that follows most laws of nature that there is greed and deception even among loved ones. That every family has its secrets and that every secret comes with a cost no matter how small.
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
...and how we perceive ideas about what writers are trying to get across. This story is a clear representation of family values and true inheritance.
Diamant’s magic enables a romance to flower from violence and the formulation of a “voiceless cipher” into an ingenious being transpire (1). She forces the reader see that in the eyes of trial and tragedy, happiness and love, we find reflections of ourselves no matter the age gap. She emphasizes that such a task could not happen if not for the “scolding, teaching, cherishing, giving, and cursing one with different fears (2),” that “summon up the innumerable smiles, tears, sighs and dreams of human life” (321). All this, Diament reminds all females, can be sequestered in the red tent.
...eives nothing from the children. It should be obvious to the reader at this point that the children are obviously in no way doing any wrong and are telling the truth to the best of their knowledge. The continual obsession of the governess over maintaining the protection and innocence of the children gets so severe that it causes Flora to come down with a serious fever and Miles grows seemingly weaker and sicker without his sister there with her.
...allows us to see how Tom is so influenced by his unearned wealth which leads to a bloated perception of his own importance. Tom had grown up unappreciative of his wealth and realized the powers it held which to him meant he could have affairs as he was this man of affluence. Yet, Tom later realizes how Myrtle and the affair he spawned out of arrogance stemming from his wealth was crumbling. Myrtle had a different life from hers with Tom and with his need for power, “the shock had made him physically sick.” This shock shows how Myrtle not being reliant or dependent on him was a shock to him and so much so that it made him physically sick showing that when an individual doesn’t earn his wealth that wealth plays a much larger part in their decisions compared to those who earned their wealth.
Showcasing a strong tie between plot and character background strengthened the foundation of each character and made them more relatable to the reader. The portrayal of the families and their dysfunction shows that not every family is a picture-perfect example of what a typical family is but its unrealistic to believe that every family doesn’t have their own troubles and rocky patches but it’s the family’s dysfunction that in all builds the characters to who they are and what moved the plot forward in many ways and can be related to ones own
They worked in easy business jobs. They drank and had parties every night. It was like no one had a care in the world. They did what they wanted, when they wanted, especially the men. In the great Gatsby Tom has been having an affair and has been for a while. Yet when he finds out that Daisy is having one he flips out; Tom confronts Gatsby. Gatsby and daisy leave and end up killing Tom’s mistress on accident. The mistress’s husbands, George, finds the car that killed Myrtle, he assumed it was Gatsby. George goes to Gatsby’s house and kills Gatsby and himself.
Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet incorporate figurative poisons through their dialogue and play on the different meanings of the uses of poison. Their desperation for these poisons and herbal remedies accentuates the utter violence and hate that revolves around their families. Oxymoron reflects the violence of feud that eventually consumes the love that evolves between Romeo and Juliet. The feud creates the passion of their new love as well as cause their downfall. Their deaths conveys that opposites become closer, including the force of the two dignified families, Montague and Capulet.
In the novel, women were affected by racism and gender role equality more than men. Pecola is one if the main characters, and she deals with the figure of a man who violates her. The female characters in the novel were apprehended by females roles that made them feel like they were non existent. Each character had their own personality. Claudia, another character in the novel escapes her suffering by pulling apart from Shirley Temple dolls. The expectations of theses women in the novel have been created through our society, and how we view our gender
Throughout their childhood and adult lives Tom and Louisa both come to resent the Gradgrind philosophy but are otherwise affected by it in completely different ways. Althoug...