Throughout the novel Burial Rites, the book portrays many of the obstacles encountered by Hannah Kent’s characters due to the Icelandic landscape and severe weather conditions. The setting of the novel based in Iceland, becomes a crucial part of the unfolding story of Agnes Magnusdottir’s execution, where the striking Icelandic landscape manipulates the characters behaviours and shapes how the characters in Burial Rites narrate their own stories.
Challenges for women such as childbearing and childbirth are exacerbated for women whose role as child bearers can be dangerous in such extreme conditions. Chapter 6 is where Agnes voices the story of one of the most traumatic events in the novel. Agnes describes in gruesome detail her foster mother
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Inga’s death in childbirth, partly due to a blizzard that was so bad that it was literally impossible to get out of the house, let alone raise a cry for help so that neighboring women could come and aid in the birth. As a result the body of Inga’s stillborn child is put in the storeroom, as the remains of Inga herself are likewise stored until the ground thaws enough to allow for a burial. The weather adds further horror to Agnes’ narrative and we read of the terrifying image of a dead Inga lying kept “like butchered meat, drying in the stale air”. Not only do women have to deal with the general hardships of life in Iceland and the way these exacerbate biological hardships like childbirth, they also struggle against a general culture of misogyny and classism.
For poor women who must act as servant, social violence and coercion seems to be nearly a given in Kent’s imagination of 1828 Iceland. Agnes describes her own experiences of sexual coercion throughout the novel, discussing how many of the men she worked for forced her to have sex with them or else risk being thrown out into the cold. Again with the harsh realities of life in Kent’s novel clearly intensify this problem, since for most of the year, sleeping outside would be a certain death …show more content…
sentence. In this heavily patriarchal and Christian society, Agnes is given a spiritual advisor named Tóti, who takes on the responsibility to ‘save her’.
As Agnes’ begins to confide in Toti and learn to rely on him the weather gradually becomes increasingly miserable making it difficult for the two to meet. At the climax of the novel, ‘travelling to Kornsa in this unfit weather’ has resulted in Toti’s fever, leaving Agnes ‘scared’ and deprived of her spiritual advisor. These Icelandic weather conditions limit social interaction between characters and create a sense of isolation between Kent’s characters.
Agnes often describes her surroundings using metaphors from nature. At one point she describes Natan’s lingering in the air like “a cloud of ash over a volcano”. Furthermore in another instance, as Agnes is being transported from prison, she describes the crowd’s anger bursting forth like a “geyser”. These descriptions reflect that Agnes’s vocabulary and sources for comparison come from the nature present in Iceland in that period of time, portraying just how much of an affect these conditions have on the individuals in Burial
Rites. Although at times this landscape was harsh, it was often beautiful. As characters went about their daily lives, they interacted with the nature around them, stumbling over rocks, listening to seagulls and taking in the views of the valleys. Although these encounters with the landscape were daily, they still created amazement in many of the characters lives. Agnes for example, whilst recounting what life was like at Natans’ farm, describes the driftwood appearing on the shore like ‘magic’. She talks about how, although miserable when the weather is bad, the ocean is ‘beautiful’ on a clear day. Kent’s description of the landscape creates a sense of proximity to the natural cycle of life and death. The landscape and the weather is the most powerful force in the novel, shaping days and deciding destinies for the Icelanders who live with such a restrictive climate. The weather’s impact is unavoidable; literally everything from burials to executions is dependent upon the weather.
She sees her father old and suffering, his wife sent him out to get money through begging; and he rants on about how his daughters left him to basically rot and how they have not honored him nor do they show gratitude towards him for all that he has done for them (Chapter 21). She gives into her feelings of shame at leaving him to become the withered old man that he is and she takes him in believing that she must take care of him because no one else would; because it is his spirit and willpower burning inside of her. But soon she understands her mistake in letting her father back into he life. "[She] suddenly realized that [she] had come back to where [she] had started twenty years ago when [she] began [her] fight for freedom. But in [her] rebellious youth, [she] thought [she] could escape by running away. And now [she] realized that the shadow of the burden was always following [her], and [there she] stood face to face with it again (Chapter 21)." Though the many years apart had changed her, made her better, her father was still the same man. He still had the same thoughts and ways and that was not going to change even on his death bed; she had let herself back into contact with the tyrant that had ruled over her as a child, her life had made a complete
Reconstruction began in 1865 and ended in 1877. Reconstruction is known as the rebuilding of the U.S. following the Civil War where they would allow southern's back into the union.The military then organized for new elections, which were three groups and they were; freedmen, carpetbaggers, and
This article is a narrative. It does not aim to analyse the topic. It describes the author's experiences at the mortuary and the resulting disturbing thoughts she had.
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The starting point of this book shows how much she hates Ms.Leone and complaining about her current situations. For example, in one of her first entries, she talks about when she got in trouble for coming home late from school. Her foster parents think she is doing drugs, so they search her. After that they lock her in the laundry room. ...
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The novel complicates its own understanding of women
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absence of parental guidance in the novel and in which she explores the individual’s search for
At the beginning of her first real encounter with calamity, Astrid is inundated with a deluge of emotions, leaving her dazed. It is during this time of bewilderment that the young girl is placed in her first foster home in the custody of a Sunday Christian named Starr. With the absence of a father figure in her life, Astrid’s feelings for Ray metamorphose into those of desire and what began as a timid liking, turns into something much more. The Oedipal feelings she harbors towards “Uncle” Ray, Starr’s boyfriend, lead ultimately her expulsion from the home.
Once a slave, Nanny tells of being raped by her master, an act from which Janie’s mother was brought into the world. With a
Set in the harsh patriarchal society of 1829 Iceland, Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites uses historical fiction to reimagine the life and death of Agnes Magnusdottir; a woman sentenced to death for her involvement in the murder of two men. The role of women in this oppressive society is thoroughly explored, establishing a social commentary which juxtaposes the double standards, sexual abuse and primitive gender roles of 19th century Iceland to the independence, equality and lifestyle choices for women in the 21st century.
Since Ma’s kidnapping, seven years prior, she has survived in the shed of her capturer’s backyard. This novel contains literary elements that are not only crucial to the story, but give significance as well. The point-of-view brings a powerful perspective for the audience, while the setting and atmosphere not only affect the characters but evokes emotion and gives the reader a mental picture of their lives, and the impacting theme along-side conflict, both internal and external, are shown throughout the novel. The author chooses to write the novel through the eyes of the main character and narrator, Jack. Jack’s perception of the world is confined to an eleven foot square room.
Throughout the story, the different roles and expectations placed on men and women are given the spotlight, and the coming-of-age of two children is depicted in a way that can be related to by many women looking back on their own childhood. The narrator leaves behind her title of “child” and begins to take on a new role as a young, adolescent woman.