Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Gender roles of women in literature
Gender roles of women in literature
Gender and its roles in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Mama Day by Gloria Naylor
The comparisons--North vs. South, city vs. country, technology vs. nature--are numerous and have been well documented in 20th century literature. Progress contrasts sharply with rooted cultural beliefs and practices. Personalities and mentalities about life, power and change differ considerably between worlds... worlds that supposed-intellectuals from the West would classify as "modern" and "backwards," respectively. When these two worlds collide, the differences--and the danger--rise significantly. This discrepancy between the old and the new is one of the principal themes of Gloria Naylor's Mama Day. The interplay between George, Ophelia and Mama Day shows the discrepancies between a "modern" style of thinking and one born of spirituality and religious beliefs. Dr. Buzzard serves as a weak bridge between these two modes of thought. In Mama Day, the Westernized characters fail to grasp the power of the Willow Springs world until it is too late.
"When I was just out of school I worked with a team of engineers in redesigning a nozzle for a nuclear steam turbine generator... It was an awesome machine... And when it ran... lighting up every home in New York, a feeling radiated through the pit of my stomach as if its nerve endings were connected to each of those ten million light bulbs. That was power. But the winds coming around the corners of that house was God" (251). George's experience in the hurricane is just one example of the contrasts between technology and spirituality. George ardently believes that every problem can be solved with rational thinking, planning and plenty of hard work. His obsession with fixing the bridge after the hurricane further illustrates this point; despite assurances from Mama Day and Dr. Buzzard that the bridge would be built in its own time, George diligently pushes the townsfolk beyond their capacity to work. His behavior surrounding the bridge--not to mention the boat he tries to mend--is based on his desire to save Ophelia from a strange illness. He ignores the advice and guidance of Mama Day and plunges into the crisis through rational means. Ultimately, he loses his own life when saving his beloved wife, though George never understands how or why. Dr. Buzzard had warned him that "A man would have grown enough to know that really believing in himself means that he ain't gotta be afraid to admit there's some things he can't do alone" (292).
While visiting her relatives in Willow Springs, Ophelia becomes deathly ill as a result of evil forces on the island. George tries to think of ways to save her, but he cannot get to a real doctor. The real doctors are across the bridge, which has been destroyed by the hurricane. George helps with rebuilding the bridge practically 24 hours a day, but eventually he becomes disgusted with the others who are working on the bridge, believing that they work too slowly. In his frustration, he speaks in his mind retrospectively to Ophelia: “If there was a boat ...
Summary and Response to Barbara Kingsolver’s “Called Home” In “Called Home”, the first chapter of the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year in Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver presents her concerns about America's lack of food knowledge, sustainable practices, and food culture. Kingsolver introduces her argument for the benefits of adopting a local food culture by using statistics, witty anecdotal evidence, and logic to appeal to a wide casual reading audience. Her friendly tone and trenchant criticism of America's current food practices combine to deliver a convincing argument that a food culture would improve conditions concerning health and sustainability.
The setting in the short story “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason works well to accentuate the theme of the story. The theme portrayed by Mason is that most people change along with their environment, with the exception of the few who are unwilling to adapt making it difficult for things such as marriage to work out successfully. These difficulties are apparent in Norma Jean and Leroy’s marriage. As Norma Jean advances herself, their marriage ultimately collapses due to Leroy’s unwillingness to adapt with her and the changing environment.
Country music singer, Reba McIntire, recorded a song called "The Greatest Man I Never Knew." In the song, she speaks of how she never really knew her father. It exemplifies the way I feel about my own father. Everyone has a person who has made a deep impact on his or her life. For me, it was my father Donald Alexander. He was a great man with a wonderful sense of humor. He was the reason I wanted to become an attorney. He said I never lost an argument. I feel tormented that I was unable to know what a great person he really was.
In the novel, Beauty by Robin Mc Kinley, the family of a wealthy merchant looses their wealth when the shipment boats get lost at sea. There are three daughters named Hope, Grace, and Honour, whom is nicknamed Beauty, and a father. The family is forced to move to the country and start a life more modest than accustomed. After the family adapts to country life, one of the older sisters gets married to an iron worker who used to work at the shipyard owned by the father. They have babies. Life goes on in the country.
The story, “Raising the Blinds”, by Peggy Kern, inspired the reader to correct their life from difficult dilemmas. The author was excited to be in college, and there was a different reason she wants to be in college. In the past year, Peggy started having problems with her parents. At first, her parents would argue in their bedroom, but the quarrel became extreme. Soon her father moved to the basement, and he no longer ate at the dinner table with them.
Beautifully realized, exquisitely detailed film directed by George Stevens I Remember Mama tells of a Norwegian family living in San Francisco during the beginning of this century. It is an old classical movie, based on Kathryn Forbes' novel titled Mama?s Bank Account. The film is rendered and it is a moving act of memory about how an immigrant family copes with poverty and how they try to overcome the odds of living in a foreign country. I could identify with almost every scene in the movie and not because of the era but because of the feelings it provoked. There was so much warmth, so much hope and yet it wasn't the "perfect" family, it was just people living life on life's terms.
The entire structure of Mama Day is fitting to the telling of multiple love stories entertwined. Like the most heartfelt episode of Seinfeld ever Gloria Naylor doesn’t tell a love story, but rather lays out in detail the events of everyday life for all of the central characters. In the process the love stories of the characters are all told at once. The most obvious example is the relationship between George and Cocoa (arguably the main love story). Through the book we see them meet, fall in love, and go through excitement and hardship; all that love is. There is also the love story of Mama Day, Abigail, and Cocoa. Even though Abigail is Cocoa’s grandmother and Mama Day is her great-aunt, they both take on the role of mother through their mutual love for her. There is also the love story between Bernice, Ambush and Little Caesar. Despite their squabbles, they love each other. Love is one of the major themes in this book.
This play is about a progress class, which go on a trip for the first
George shows extreme devotion and loyalty to Lennie by serving as Lennie’s “guardian angel”. Ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara had passed away, George has been caring for Lennie, providing Lennie with daily essentials including food and companionship, trying to give Lennie a life filled with honest labor, despite Lennie’s disadvantage. Most people would view Lennie as a mentally-ill person, and some may even take advantage of him. Instead, George takes Lennie’s life into his own hands and protects Lennie by watching over him. After all, they are both interdependent with one another; they both need one another. Lennie cannot think for himself and therefore depends on George’s intelligence to make good choices for him, allowing him to survive. On the other hand, George is a small man and requires Le...
Tuesdays with Morrie is an inspiring tale in which Mitch, a young man struggling with the concept of a meaningful life is given a second chance, and a new outlook on life when he meets his past teacher, Morrie. They quickly renew the relationship they once possessed in college. Morrie becomes Mitch’s mentor, role model and friend once again. This time around, however, the lessons are on subjects such as life, love, and culture.
"Women on the Edge of Time" by Marge Piercy, is a novel that illustrates some problems of today’s society and compares them to a possible future time. The other world that is presented in the book is called Mattapoisett. Mattapoisett is described as an utopian science fiction place because is much different from the place that Connie lived. Even thought Mattapoisett might be the world that Connie’s culture needed it is not a perfect world. Some of the problems that Marge Piercy presents in the book are poverty, women’s role, and problems of government, the environment, and prejudices that our society is facing today. However, how is the society different from the two cultures presented in the book? Connie, the heroine of the book will lead us as she describes the difference between the utopian culture of Mattapoisett and Connie’s culture.
There is perhaps no greater joy in life than finding one’s soul mate. Once found, there is possibly no greater torment than being forced to live without them. This is the conflict that Paul faces from the moment he falls in love with Agnes. His devotion to the church and ultimately God are thrown into the cross hairs with the only possible outcome being one of agonizing humiliation. Grazia Deledda’s The Mother presents the classic dilemma of having to choose between what is morally right and being true to one’s own heart. Paul’s inability to choose one over the other consumes his life and everyone in it.
Our Day Out by Willy Russell For our second module, we looked at the study of the play ‘Our Day Out’ by Willy Russell. The play is about a special needs class from Liverpool going on a day out to Wales, and the different dilemmas they put their teachers Mr. Briggs and Mrs. Kay through (like stealing animals from a zoo). We had to choose three key moments that we thought were the most important sections from the play and where we thought drama was built around. For us, the key characters in the story are Mr. Briggs, a strict teacher Mrs. Kay, a gentler teacher, and Carol, a quiet pupil in the special needs class. We used different explorative strategies whilst developing and performing our drama.
In Tuesday’s with Morrie, by Mitch Albom, Mitch begins to notice how the people around him are engrossed in magazines and tabloids containing gossip about people they do not even know. He realizes how silly our society is and remembers when Morrie told him, “The culture we have does not always make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work don’t buy it”(46). Our culture is filled with ways to waste our time. Sometimes while I’m scrolling through social media feeds, I feel a pang of guilt, knowing that instead of spending time with my family, I’m reading about a celebrity's family instead. The culture we live in can distract us from the things in life that actually make us happy. Furthermore,