In the novel Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, the main character, Lou Clark, struggles with the obstacles life throws at her throughout the book. To begin, she is laid off from her old job and has to take up the position for a caretaker. Lou took the position, and although nervous at first, ends up falling in love with the man whose name is Will. She soon finds out that the man she has fallen madly in love with has planned on killing himself in an assisted suicide facility within six months. She tries to get him to change his mind, but does not succeed. There is one characteristic about Lou that affects her throughout the entire novel. Her character flaw is her hesitance towards things and fear of change which, in turn, causes her to miss out many …show more content…
things such as traveling and jobs, and it also limits what she thinks she can do in the future. Lou is very hesitant toward her new job with Will which made her first few weeks much worse than they needed to be.
She is obviously afraid of how much different this will be compared to her last job working at the small cafe. At first, Will was being extremely rude, which is acceptable being that he can barely move the majority of his body. Lou took this irritability as though he hated her, but in reality, he was really just mad about his condition. In a conversation with her sister, Katrina, Lou says, “I really don’t think I can stick it out, Katrina. I really don’t”(Moyes). It is obvious from this example that Lou almost chooses to give up on something as soon as something gets a little hard or uncomfortable rather than giving it a chance. Another example of can be found before Lou knew that she was getting her new job, but after she was fired from the cafe. In chapter 1, Lou says “[she] had liked it in the cafe. [She] liked knowing everything there was to know about the Buttered Bun, and hearing about the lives of the people who came through it”(Moyes). She does not like it when things change around her without her consent. Even if an opportunity were to come along that could benefit her, she would miss out on it due to her fear of failure and hesitance toward change. Lou doesn’t give her new job a chance because she is so hesitant when it comes to a challenge and is nervous that something will change and affect her
negatively. Lou’s nervousness toward new things is also evident in her hesitance toward the future. In chapter two, Lou states that “[she supposed she would probably marry Patrick,” who was her boyfriend at the time, ”knock out a few kids, live a few streets away from where [she] had always lived”(Moyes). By having this mindset, Lou limits herself to a very boring life that she would probably regret if she followed through with this plan. Another example of this is in a conversation between her and Will in chapter 7. After Will finds out that Lou had only ever lived in the small town, he tells her, “You’re twenty-six years old, Clark. You should be out there, claiming the world as your own, getting into trouble in bars, showing off your strange wardrobe to dodgy men…”(Moyes). He gives her this advice in attempt to change her mindset because she is unaware that she’s trapped herself and made herself seem very small in the world. By being afraid of new things, and even opportunities that could benefit her, Lou limits herself to a very small, boring life in a small place that she’s never left. Being hesitant toward travel and moving causes Lou to miss out on seeing new things and having different experiences. This is evident in a conversation with Will in chapter seven when he asks her, “What, you’ve only ever lived here?”(Moyes) followed by Lou asking, “So? What’s so weird about that?”(Moyes). Once again, Lou is most definitely a person who dislikes change. If she were to have never met Will, this may have been her reality because she would not have stepped out of her comfort zone herself. She is nervous about starting new some place different. Her hesitance toward travel is also found in chapter seven after Lou states, “ I’m happy here”(Moyes), talking about the only town she has ever lived in. Will responds by saying “Well, you shouldn’t be”(Moyes), implying that the town has nothing to offer her and she has never gone anywhere else to know how those places make her feel. Lou’s hesitance limits her in the experiences she has including traveling to different places because she is afraid of change. In conclusion, Lou’s fear of new experiences and her aversion to involuntary changes prevents her from experiencing things such as travel, giving her new job a chance, and does not allow her to dream of a grand future for herself. This mindset limits what she is able to do and how far she thinks she can push herself when it comes to these experiences.
person was a hardship she did not understand what purpose in life she has and
...inding a way to make what she wants happen. Lou Ann's total transformation from a timid housewife to a strong single mother came through unique experiences that she was able to thrive from.
Based on the text "song of the Buffalo boy" The theme of the text is accept who you are or accept the life is given. In the beginning of the story Lou feels like no one is accepting her and feel she doesn't belong. Most importantly she doesn't like herself. "Why do you call me beautiful. when … I want to look like you and your family"Page 18.her father was Americans so she look different from other Vietnamese and people call con-lai."she hated that word, con-Lao!"pg(28). She hate being different. Later in the story Lou doesn't want to stay in the Village, she wants to run away with khai, A buffalo boy who is the only person that accept her, to America because she has to marry officer Heip, someone she doesn't Love. She want to be with khai
Through Lou's loss of The Little Seamstress, the novel shows that you can't change people to be what you want.
What would you do if you knew you could be dead in the matter of a few months? That’s the question Michelle, an inpatient dealing with leukemia struggles with on the daily. Although she’s a high school student with a bright future ahead of her, she can’t help but be pessimistic about her illness, and focus on the negative. In the story “the michelle i know” written by Alison Lohans, the author uses literary devices such as characterization, foreshadowing, and mood to convey the message that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Initially, the author uses characterization to effectively portray the theme of the story.
To inaugurate, it is lucid that Louie from Unbroken and Pi from Life of Pi share reflecting qualities in their mental state. For example, in the text Unbroken, it states,”His vibrant body had shrunken until only the bones remained, draped in yellow skin, crawling with parasites. All I see, he thought, is a dead body breathing.” This shows that even though Louie is in a very unfortunate situation and tends to lose hope and confidence, that very element of his mental state is what pushes him to strive to live and continue with his life. Likewise, in Life of Pi, it similarly states, “ You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result, I perked up and felt much better.”. This coherently indicates how along
Lou is very understanding, and actually listens to Kek. Kek comes from a life where elders are very respected, thought as beautiful and wise. Kek calls Lou very wise, and calls the wrinkles “little moons”. Lou respects that respect, and plays it back at him. She listens intently to him, answers all of his questions, and takes all of his information on his cow, and eventually ends up giving Kek the job. Lou is a very important part of Kek’s bridge, as well as Hannah and the cows. She is one of the only adults that listens to Kek and feels for him. That trait is very important in helping Kek cross his
This statement also emphasises much of Blanche’s own views on sorrow and explains how it has affected her life since she has made the comment from personal experience. To conclude, Tennessee Williams’ dramatic use of death and dying is an overarching theme in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ from which everything about Blanche’s character has formed from. Without the death of Allan, Blanche would not have resorted to prostitution and the brief affairs with strangers, also the deaths of her family have driven Blanche to Stella’s where she is “not wanted” and “ashamed to be”. Therefore these dramatic deaths have lead to the past which comes back to haunt
Gay mentions lots of memorable memories and what she has lost. Always trying to blame herself or needed to blame someone for what she is doing. Specially what her body is like broken.Still looks like
Our lives are consumed by the past. The past of what we once did, what we once accomplished, and what we once could call our own. As we look back on these past memories we seldom realize the impact these events have on our present lives. The loss of a past love mars are future relationships, the loss of our family influences the choices we make today, and the loss of our dignity can confuse the life we live in the present. These losses or deaths require healing from which you need to recover. The effects of not healing can cause devastation as apparent in the play A Streetcar Named Desire. The theme of A Streetcar Named Desire is death. We encounter this idea first with the death of Blanche and Stella's relationship as sisters. Blanche and Stella had a life together once in Bel Reve and when Stella decided to move on in her life and leave, Blanche never could forgive her. This apparent in the scene when Blanche first arrives in New Orleans and meets Stella at the bowling alley. Stella and Blanche sit down for a drink and we immediately see Blanche's animosity towards Stella. Blanche blames Stella for abandoning her at Bel Reve, leaving Blanche to handle the division of the estate after their parents die. As result of Stella's lack of support, we see Blanche become dependent on alcohol and lose her mental state. Blanche comes to be a a terrible reck through out the play as we learn of the details of her life at Bel Reve. Her loss of the entire estate and her struggle to get through an affair with a seventeen year old student. This baggage that Blanche carries on her shoulders nips at Stella through out eventually causing the demise of her relationship. As Blanche's visit goes on with Stella, the nips become too great and with the help of Stanley, Stella has Blanche committed to a mental hospital, thus symbolizing the death of the realtionship they once had. The next death we encounter in the film is the death of Stella and Stanley's marriage. Our first view of Stanley is of an eccentric man, but decent husband who cares deeply for his wife. However, as as Blanche's visit wears on, we come to see the true Stanley, violent and abusive.
Throughout Tennessee Williams’s play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Blanche Dubois exemplified several tragic flaws. She suffered from her haunting past; her inability to overcome; her desire to be someone else; and from the cruel, animalistic treatment she received from Stanley. Sadly, her sister Stella also played a role in her downfall. All of these factors ultimately led to Blanche’s tragic breakdown in the end. Blanche could not accept her past and overcome it.
The essay, “Walk to Morning”, by Joseph Boyden details the failed suicide of the author. If one was to describe said story with a single word, no word would do better than the word decision. What is evident to the reader in the beginning of the story is how the author was mistreated the night of his attempted suicide, claiming she “was, saying nonsensical things and being mean to me”. At any time during this sudden change of attitude, the author could of made a decision to inquire about the cause of this sudden hostility. If this action was taken, perhaps his girlfriend would of at least explained the causes of why she wanted to break up with him or at least give him some meager sort of comfort following the break up.
Blanche represents a deep-seated attachment to the past.5 Her life is a lesson how tragic events events in the past can ruin a person's future. Her husband's death affects her the most.
Tennessee Williams in A Streetcar Named Desire creates one of the most profound accounts of desire versus death; in doing so he designs Blanche Dubois whose only wish is to be desired. Unfortunately in this tragedy death prevails over desire. The two elements of death and desire as binaries are not able to to exist without each other, and this idea is manifested throughout the main character, Blanche Dubois.
One character that has been plagued by betrayal, throughout her entire existence, is Blanche. Blanche’s husband, Allen, first betrays her. She catches him with another man and then shortly after he commits suicide. Being one of the influences behind his death, Blanche began to carry the guilt around with her. Their young love blinds them and hides all the obstacles they had to face. After catching him, she felt like she had lost part of herself, and after he shot himself, she felt like she